2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Example of Martha and Mary
Luke 10:38-42 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
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Believer’s prayers have tremendous impact, particularly on their own faith and life.
“…, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18
Prayer is the lifeblood of an intimate relationship with the Father. But believers often have questions about its power and effectiveness. Don’t hesitate to take your queries to the Lord, dig into Scripture for answers, and seek the counsel of a trusted spiritual mentor. Prayer is too important to neglect.
Will God’s plans fail if I don’t pray? God is not subservient to believers or dependent upon their prayers. The time we invest in speaking with Him involves us in the work that He is doing in our lives and in the world, but He will carry on without us. Laboring alongside the Lord is our privilege.
Does my prayer (or lack thereof) impact God’s work? I believe that Scripture indicates the answer to this question is both yes and no, depending upon the situation. There are times when God’s purpose is set. He is in control and has determined the best course. In the Old Testament, the Lord often prophesied what He would do and then brought those events to pass.
In other cases, “you do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2). There are some good things that He holds back until we put out prayerful hands to receive them. But because God is a loving Father, He also pours our blessings that we wouldn’t even think to request.
Believer’s prayers have tremendous impact, particularly on their own faith and life. Do you understand what an awesome privilege it is to kneel before the all-powerful Father and know that He listens and will respond? God loves to be good to His children and answer their prayers.
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Does the Bible allow a Christian husband to treat his wife any way he decides is best? Does a Christian wife have to submit to her husband at all times? The apostle Paul has the following to say to Christian husbands and wives regarding their conduct toward each other:
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. (Eph. 5:24)
However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (Eph. 5:33)
The Greek word for “submit” in Ephesians 5:21–24 is hypotassó, which refers to a wife’s “recognition of an ordered structure” in which her husband is the person to whom she should show appropriate respect “as to the Lord” (BDAG, 1042; Eph. 5:22; see also 1 Pet. 3:1–6). Similarly, the Greek word for “respect” in Ephesians 5:33 is phobētai, which means to have a profound measure of reverence/respect for someone (BDAG, 1061).
While some Christians have wrongly used these Bible verses as an excuse for husbands to mistreat their wives, the verses actually communicate the vast responsibility a husband has to care for his wife and the wife’s duty to honor her husband. In an upcoming article, we will focus on a Christian wife’s responsibilities to her husband. First, here are six things (in no particular order) every Christian husband should give his wife:
1. Love
A Christian husband should love his wife as he does himself and always protect her from all harm (Eph. 5:25–29). He should do his best to “nurture and cherish” his wife in the love of Christ as he would his own flesh and tend to her spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical needs (Eph. 5:29; Col. 3:19).
2. Respect
A Christian husband should always respect his wife. When Paul tells wives to submit to their husbands in Ephesians 5:24, he does not mean that wives must endure abuse, neglect, or mistreatment of any kind by their husbands. Rather, Paul is reminding the church that a wife is under the leadership of her husband (Eph. 5:23). A Christian husband must always show his wife honor, both publicly and privately, and protect her dignity and reputation from any and all slander (1 Pet. 3:7).
3. Spiritual Leadership
A Christian husband should provide his wife with spiritual leadership. Even though his wife may be well equipped in biblical doctrine and application and spend a considerable amount of time instructing their children in the faith, a husband must be diligent to oversee and guide the spiritual training of his family (Eph. 6:4).
4. Attention
A Christian husband should be attentive to his wife. He should always do his best to set aside a substantial amount of time to be with his wife, enjoy her company, and seek to understand her better. In doing so, a Christian husband and his wife can grow closer to each other and build a stronger marriage that honors God in all (Prov. 5:18–19; Eph. 5:31).
5. Devotion
A Christian husband should always be faithful to his wife. Even when times are difficult due to financial, emotional, or physical challenges, a husband’s personal happiness must always be subordinated to sacrificially loving his wife “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25; see also 1 Cor. 7:1–5). In doing so, he honors not only his wife but also his Lord.
6. Enjoyment
A Christian husband should enjoy his wife. She is a precious gift from God given to comfort, support, encourage, and love her husband (Prov. 18:22; 31:10–12; 1 Pet. 3:1). The more a husband values, cherishes, and nurtures his wife, the more she will reflect God's love as his radiant bride.
“Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17
Thoughts on today’s verse
Everything! All! No matter what we say, no matter what we do, it is to be offered as a gift of thanks to God with Jesus’ name, power, and honor attached! This makes all of life our worship and thanksgiving to God. There’s no such thing as going to worship; if we live, if we talk, if we act it’s worship. So how has your worship been lately?
Prayer:
Almighty and Most Holy God, I want all of my life to be lived out to your glory, a living testament of thanks to you for the grace you have given me in Jesus. While I do not always do this as well as I would like, I lovingly offer you my words, my actions, my heart and my mind to bring you glory by doing your will. Please, use your Spirit to remove the areas of self-deception from my life so that weakness and hypocrisy will not rob my discipleship of its intended worship of your majesty. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Deuteronomy 33:25b. “Your strength will equal your days.”
2 Corinthians 13:4 “Jesus was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him to serve you.”
Beloved one, by your Father’s strength you have life.
I bless you with strength in your spirit for each day. I bless you with waking up every morning knowing that the living God is sustaining, strengthening, and renewing your spirit, soul, and body for the opportunities and problems that he sets before you today. I bless you with knowing that your Father’s power provides everything you need today for being who you are called to be and doing acts of obedience to him that he appoints for you to do in Jesus’ name. I bless you with the assurance of inner quiet, security, and strength for each day for as long as God chooses your lifetime to be. I bless you with assurance of his help and presence in all the majesty of his glorious detail with which he has ordained your days. I bless you with a constant and growing sense of his presence with you for his purposes and his pleasure.
By your Father’s promise you have life. Beloved one, listen with your spirit to God’s Word in Psalm 119:50. “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.” Your Father renews your heart and your spirit with his promises. I bless you with recalling the many times that your Father has been with you, has loved you, has taken care of you, has blessed you. I bless you with holding on to promises that he is making to you from his Word and by his Spirit. I bless you with deep understanding that his words are your very life. I bless you with knowing that your faithful Father is watching over his purposes that await a future time for fulfillment. I bless you with enjoying life, being renewed, refreshed, and restored in your relationship with God and his faithfulness expressed in his Word.
By your Father’s life you have life. Beloved one, listen with your spirit to God’s Word in John 5:26. “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.” Your Father has life, and he has given his Son life in himself. I bless you with the life that Jesus has in you. I bless you with knowing the life of your Father and of his Son living in you and enlarging your spirit to know him better and love him more. I bless you with knowing that you are alive and well and awake and fully present to life today by the power of his Holy Spirit.
By the power of the Living One you have life. Beloved one, listen with your spirit to God’s Word in John 11:25. “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live...’ ” I bless you with believing that the Living One lives in you as your life for today. I bless you with appropriating with your spirit the full measure of the life of Jesus within you for the here-and-now.
By the light of Jesus you have life. Listen again with your spirit to John 1:4. “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.” I bless you with light that comes from the life of Jesus living in you and through you. I bless you with his life that lights your way, your relationships, your time, your decisions.
By the words of Jesus you have life. Beloved one, listen to John 6:63. “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” I bless your spirit with hearing and knowing the words that Jesus speaks to you. I bless you with meeting him daily spirit-to-Spirit. I bless you with not doing anything by mere human effort. I bless you with being energized with the life of eternity upon all that you are, and think, and do.
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As I prepare to turn the page and begin a new chapter in my life, I wonder what this new year will hold? What new joys await me this next year? What challenges? What trials and heartaches? What new lessons? What dreams will come true and what new ones will be birthed?
Perhaps your own heart is filled with similar thoughts and questions. Do you look ahead with anticipation? Or is it more like dread? Does the unknown future paralyze you with fear? Or are you expectant of the good things God will do? Instead of looking forward to the next year, would you rather turn around and go back the way you came? Or maybe you are feeling some of both?
The great news is that God is the author of 2023. He knows each and every twist and turn that lay ahead both for you and for me. He has planned 2023 down to the minutest detail, all with the goal of his glory and our good. So when it comes to facing the new and unexpected, when the future seems frightening and uncertain, and when we come to a new and unfamiliar junction in the road of life, the best and greatest thing we can do is pray.
Through Christ, we can come to the throne of grace with confidence, casting our cares and anxieties upon the Lord, and know that we will find grace and help in our time of need. God hears our prayers, he uses our prayers, and he desires that we come before him in prayer.
While the list of things we could pray for this year is endless, I've created a list to get us started. Will you join me in praying these things for ourselves and others?
1. That we would know the love of Christ.
This is one of Paul's prayers for the Ephesians. It is a prayer that opens our eyes to seeing Christ's love in new and fresh ways:
That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:17-19)
We will spend an eternity plumbing the depths of Christ's love for us, but don't you want to get started now?
2. That we would love God's word.
It was God's word that started this blue marble that we call Earth spinning and twirling in the dark void. It is his word that brings life and sustains life. It is his word that accomplished our redemption when Christ cried out at the cross, "It is finished!" And it is his written word which shows us the path of life. Scripture tells us all we need to know about who God is and what he has done for us in Christ. It is also his word that changes us and sanctifies us:
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)
Let us pray this year for hearts that love God's word.
3. That we would desire Christ above all else.
We cannot love God on our own. Left to our own devices, we would only love ourselves. Only God can bring our dead hearts to life, giving us hearts that love him and desire to obey him:
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezek. 36:26)
Let us pray this year for hearts that love Christ above all else. Let us pray for hearts that are dissatisfied with the fast food offerings of this world and that we would develop the taste for the rich and deeply satisfying love of Christ.
4. That God would show us the idols of our heart.
All the things we bow down to in our heart, the things that we love more than Christ, are idols. Success, affection, affirmation, money, possessions, family, jobs—these are all idols of the heart. Pray that God would reveal to you what idols stand tall on the altar of your heart. Pray that he would help you to remove them and put greater love for Christ in their place.
5. That we would be quick to repent.
Martin Luther described the Christian life as one of repentance. As long as we live in this sin-stained world, we will continue to sin. Let us pray for hearts that are quick to repent. May we readily turn to the cross and apply what Christ has done for us, washing ourselves anew in his forgiving grace.
6. That we would think less about ourselves.
Tim Keller describes humility in this way:
The essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less. (Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, p. 32)
This year let us pray that we would spend less time consumed with ourselves and more time thinking about loving God and loving others.
7. That we would have gospel joy.
Gospel joy is the joy that anchors us in the midst of the ferocious storms of life. It is the constant steady horizon in the swells of life. It stays with us no matter our circumstances. This is something I pray for quite often because I tend to notice the storm clouds and forget the sun shining above them. Gospel joy comes from knowing what Christ has done for us, what he accomplished for us, who we are because of him, and the eternal hope we have through him.
8. That we would love like Christ.
Just as we can't love God on our own, we can't love others on our own either. We need to pray that we would have a love like Christ, the kind of love that seeks the best in others, that takes the last place, that serves and sacrifices. The Apostle John said that we love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). This year, may we focus on the love Christ has for us and may it propel us to love others as he loves.
9. That we would number our days.
In Psalm 39, David prayed,
"O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!" (Ps. 39:4)
Let this be our prayer as well. May we realize how fleeting our life is and how important it is that we not waste our brief time. May we use every moment for God's great glory and praise.
10. That God's will would be done.
In the fictional Mitford book series, Father Tim would tell others that he was "praying the prayer that never fails." Praying that God's will would be done is the prayer that never fails. May we submit all our prayers and desires to God's will, trusting that his will is perfect, holy, righteous, and good.
That's my prayer list to start off this year. What's on your prayer list?
“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” Psalm 20:7
As we usher in another year, I recall a question a reporter asked Benjamin Franklin as he emerged from the Continental Convention that was forming the structure of America’s government. “What kind of government have you given us’” asked the reporter. Franklin’s response was “a republic if you can keep it.”
That statement was made more than two hundred years ago and history shows that the cycle of national dominance usually expires in about that period of time. Where are we in the cycle of nations?
The historical cycle seems to be: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more.
At the stage between apathy and dependency, men always turn in fear to economic and political panaceas. New conditions, it is claimed, require new remedies. Under such circumstances, the competent citizen is certainly not a fool if he insists upon using the compass of history when forced to sail uncharted seas.
As we usher in 2023 we are in worldwide economic chaos, fighting wars we cannot win against enemies we cannot identify. In our country, more people are getting from rather than contributing to the revenue stream that powers democracy. The world is encased in a turmoil.
Where can we place our trust and faith in the New Year? Certainly not in men nor in nations, as both will disappoint us. Certainly not in the economy. Certainly not in military might.
In this coming year, the only safe place to put our trust is in God.
“Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him” (Psalm 2:12). “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8).
The New Year is always full of resolutions. Let this one be yours from (Psalms 18:2)
“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold“
Put your trust in God!
For where your treasure is, there you’ll find your heart. Put your trust in him!
He won’t let you down.
God is our hope, so put your life in his hands.
May this be our resolution for the New Year.
By John Grant
Used by Permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
