Stand up, don't get trampled!

So many times I see Christians take the attitude that they have to be doormats for everyone they meet because it's what Christ would do. Or so they think/say. That is NOT what Christ did. Christ stood up for himself and his beliefs. He wasn't rude. He didn't retaliate, but He did stand up for what's right.

And when he sent His disciples out to spread the Gospel He told them that if they met resistance in a town to leave the town, kick off the dust from the town off their sandals, and turn that town and it's people over to Satan and move on!

The other thing that I really love about Christ's earthly example is that He was always completely honest and didn't mince words (as my husband likes to phrase it). He was honest without thought to whether it was "PC", whether it would hurt someone's feelings, etc. The truth was what it was and He spoke the truth every day, everywhere He went to whoever He spoke with.

As a woman it's doubly hard to understand where that line is of when you speak up and when you should remain respectfully silent. I struggle with this a LOT. Although my husband will be the first to tell you that my biggest struggle is submission...submission to not only him but to God and society, etc.

However, the more I draw closer to God the more I feel the freedom and power and urging to stand up for what I believe in. To not remain silent and forgive and forget for the sake of my faith. I think then all you end up being is a doormat for society. I have been faced over the last few days with a barrage of situations where I had simply had enough. There were a few different people who had just crossed a line with me and I just wasn't going to stand silently any longer.

Although that led to an internal struggle within me. How do you react as a Christian woman when you feel like you've just reached your limit? With each person I went to God in prayer. Some of the prayers were more of my screaming in my head at God out of sheer anger at that person and situation. Other times I was just at a loss for how to deal with it. Then there were cycles of anxiety, worry, fear....you name it I felt it. I was on an emotional rollercoaster, but the one constant through it all was my communication line with the Lord. I went to Him when I was angry, scared, bitter, frustrated. I gave it over to Him and waited on Him to give me direction. In each instance it took more than 12-24 hours for me to feel His leading, but He did lead my heart.

In one of the instances I gave into Satan and followed the enemy's plan, but even then God was faithful to know my heart and my desire to follow His lead and He led me back to His straight path. In the second instance I remained silent for a long time and then briefly spoke my mind and His outcome came about. In the third instance I blatantly spoke my mind, made decisions, and there were and will be consequences accordingly, but it was something God led me to do and I have His peace with my response.

There will be situations for all of us more often than we'd like to think about where we will lose our way due to anger, frustration, fear, or any other emotion that we as human beings are created to have. However, if we will stop in the midst of the storm and honestly and continually bring our troubles and trials and thoughts to God He is faithful to stand by us and lead us through the storm. Sometimes He will remove the storm. Sometimes He will calm the storm. And sometimes He will simply walk us through the storm. But no matter what option He in His divine wisdom chooses it is better to go it God's way than our own way.

Living Extraordinary

What if I told you that you had the power to live an extraordinary life? I life filled with peace, prosperity, joy that transends circumstances, with blessings abounding. Would you be interested? It's within your reach and even more empowering than that is the fact that if you are a born again believer and have entered God's family then living an extraordinary life is your birth right! God is standing with arms extended offering it to you and all you have to do is stand up and claim it!

How does one go about claiming an extraordinary life? God asks one thing of you in return for a life above anything you could even think to ask for. He wants your obedience.

He promises that if you make Him first in your life then He will pour out his blessings among not only you, but among all those who are in your sphere of influence - family, friends, co-workers. But you have to be sincere. God could care less about your actions. It's your heart He's concerned with. Actions impress the world. You heart is what will cause God to move mountains to bless you.

Yes, I know. I can hear the responses already. "I try to read the Bible, but it just doesn't make sense to me." "I go to church every Sunday and I'm a good person. That's enough." "I say prayers every time I eat and when someone needs help I pray for them, but I just don't have time to sit down every day and do a Bible study. I'm too busy!"

Shall we tackle these responses one by one? For those that think the Bible is just too hard and can't possibly make any sense to them. Here's what God would like to tell you -

""The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." -1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV

In layman's terms - people without the Holy Spirit indwelling them cannot understand the Bible because they don't have the Holy Spirit to interpret it for them. They read the Bible and it sounds like foolishness to them. They can't understand it. So if you can't read the Bible and make sense of it I would urge you to do a spirit check and humble yourself before the Lord and really analyze whether you really have given your life over to God and allowed Him to come and live within you.

For those who think it's enough to go to church and just be a good person. I will use Christ's example so you don't think I'm just being harsh here. The saduccees and pharacees in Jesus' day were the men who were the priests and teachers of religious law. Essentially you can liken them to priests today. They were by all accounts the most moral and decent men in Jesus' day. They were "good people"....in fact, they were set apart because they were considered elite in how moral and upright they were. Taking their lifestyle into account Jesus informed them where they would be spending eternity.....in hell. And shall we not forget that murderer and thief that was hanging on the cross beside Jesus? For those that think we have to be a good person to earn our way into heaven and that "bad people" don't go to heaven....this man on the cross was by all accounts a horrible person. He was a thief and a murderer and had had a lifestyle of sin. However, he chose to believe in Christ as the Son of God and Christ's response to his "deathbed conversion"?

Luke 23:42-43 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

For those that like to spout of memorized prayers at meal time and send up a quick prayer-o-gram whenever they are in need or are thankful there is a term for that - lukewarm Christian. It's someone who, while they are a believer and do have faith, they couldn't be bothered to exercise that faith and make it the center of their life.

God's response to lukewarm believers can be found in Revelation 3:16 - "But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!"

God has a definite desire for His children. He desires them to be on fire for Him! To give Him their first and their best and He promises to bless them ten fold for everything they lay at His feet. If you are not seeing the fruit of the Spirit in your life, if you are living a life that can only be described as ordinary then you are missing out on the extraordinary life that God has waiting for you! He wants every part of your life to be on fire! He wants your marriage to be a marriage that makes you giddy every morning and sends you peacefully to sleep every night. He wants your children to bless you and uplift you. He longs to bless you financially! The Lord wants nothing but blessings for you, but He will not be second. You cannot and will not claim the blessings you have waiting for you if you put anything or anyone as Lord over your life.

Challenge yourself to live for God. God humbled himself, took on a human body, spent his life in service to others without thought to his own need, suffered, and died simply to have a relationship with you and so that you could have all the bounty He desires to give you. Put this God who loves you enough to die for you as Lord of your life (your actions, your words, your thoughts) and He will pour out treasures to you that He says you can't even imagine. He says that if we asked for the best thing we could think of it would pale in comparison to what He longs to give us! You can't out give God. Make Him Lord of your life today and see how your life can change overnight!

Submission is not for me....or so you think!

In an age of feminism, empowerment for women, and equal rights we have lost God's plan. It is the classic scenario of women trying to get for themselves by their own means what they deam the things they deserve and their "rightful place" in the world. They want to be their husband's equal in the home, the boss in the workplace, et cetera. They set up their marriages in this vain, sacrifice their homes and their families to be seen anad treated how they view as equal and when they reach they stop to look around they see children who have been lost to drugs, alcohol, or a variety of sinful things; a marriage that has either fallen by the wayside or is only a shadow of what it was intended to be; and themselves are tired, unfulfilled, and dissatisfied.

I have seen it time and time again. Women fight Godly submission like it was a thief trying to invade their home and steal their most valuable possessions. They say things like - "Submitting makes me a slave," "He has no right to tell me how I should do things! I'm his wife not his child." "I can do it better than he can so why should I listen to his way?" "I'm his equal. We should decide things together. He shouldn't hand out orders that the rest of us have to follow." Any of those statements or feelings sound familiar?

God never intended for us as women to be slaves to our husbands. However, he never intended us to be their equals either. Now, before I lose most of you please just bear with me. Any woman who strives to be her husband's equal will fail as will her marriage. I have never met a woman yet who tried to be her husband's equal who was successful and had a happy, healthy marriage. It doesn't work. Why? Because it's not how God set marriage up to work. Men and women were not created equal in the context of marriage. Women were created to be the man's "help meet". (Check out Genesis for the whole story!)

Men were created to need women and women were created to fill that need. And in truth, that's how any relationship works. There is always a dominant party. Even with children. If you see two children playing one will always submit to the other or else their play won't last very long before an argument breaks out. Marriage is no different. One party must submit to the other or else all you have is two people constantly rallying for the role of authority.

What God intended from the first marriage consecrated in the Garden of Eden was that the husband would be the authority and the wife would submit to his authority. Notice I did not say submit to him. That was never God's intention. Men are sinful. Sometimes they are even unsaved. That does not release the woman from her duty of submission. Because God's commandment to women was to submit to their husband's authority. Meaning you submit to your husband because of his role. You don't submit because he is the most Christian man you know, because he is a good father, because he is a good provider, even tempered, etc. You aren't let out of your duty to submit because he has a temper, is jealous, over-reacts, doesn't handle the kids well, etc. You submit because you are called to. Period. Your husband is not perfect, but my dear, neither are you. You will fail your husband as much as he will fail you. When you fail him as a wife does he then have the right to stop providing for your needs? No! He provides for you irregardless of your actions because that is what he is commanded by God to do.

Now, what does submission look like? If you are looking for a do this, don't do this list I can't give you one. Submission isn't that simple. It's not a cookie cutter idea. It's a heart thing. Bottom line....you should wake up on a daily basis and strive to glorify and bless your husband with every action and every word spoken. When you get dressed in the morning do you choose your clothing based on what you feel would please him? Do you strive to fix meals that will nourish him? Do the words you say both while he's there and when he's not honor him and his name?

Submission is a heartfelt act of love. It's the simple act of putting your husband's needs and desires before you own. And in return husbands are commanded to love their wives as their own bodies. When both spouses live under the provisions God set for marriage it is a beautiful thing! The husband feels loved, honored, and most of all respected as the authority of his home that God intended him to be. And the wife feels loved, protected, cherished, and uplifted as the help meet for her husand that God intended her to be specifically for that man.

I have seen far too many marriages where both parties are vying for the position of authority and where neither husband nor wife are submitting to God and their intended places. It is my heartfelt prayer that every year there are more and more couples who seek God's guidance for their marriage and are willing to whole heartedly and without excuse submit to God's will for their marriages!