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| God is at the Alter |
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Lately I have been thinking about the symbolism of marriage and how very important it is to Father, Christ, and His church. How very important it is to you and I as part of that body...
Marriage in today's society is loosing its significance. It is being watered down by living together outside of a marriage commitment. It is beginning to be redefined as a relationship between any two people, when God created us man and woman to be wed. This is the main reason I believe God calls homosexuality an abomination. The Lord is the one who created this union and it has multiple benefits but almost everywhere you look today those are being disregarded. I believe Satan has made an all out war on the institution of marriage and the reason why is because it symbolizes Christs relationship with the church and with each of us personally. Satan's assault includes couples never getting together in the first place in a marriage contract. Living together suffices for many. There seems to be more comfort in the almost than the absolute. I have never seen so many singles in the church, divorce is leaving a trail of "unmarrieds" by the droves, church numbers are no different than the worlds numbers in the divorce rate, it just should not be so...
In my Bible study group of women I hear the dissatisfaction in their marriages, they know it is there but they are clueless at how to obtain true happiness within the walls of their marriage covenants. There is so much disillusionment with the roles these days that women and men are at a loss as to how to even treat each other. Marriage for many has become you do this for me and I'll do that for you, it is about bargaining...Pop psychology has even made its way into the church for us to "fix" the issue at hand. Let me tell you if your perspective is warped about this all important relationship that Father Himself created no amount of worldly psychology will help you until God heals the wounds you hold in marriage.
I've come to believe that no matter where you fall in this category if this is an issue that is not resolved, how you feel about marriage, your relationship with God will never be what it should be. No matter what anyone wants to admit our earthly experiences often dictate or are the template for our celestial ones. If you have lived in a bad marriage in childhood, then lived it out in real life there is no way your unaffected. Just like our earthly fathers often set the tone for how we see God as the Father, so will our marriage experiences here on this earth affect our ideas of being the "bride of Christ". If you don't see the benefits...if your a female and run from the word submission, if your a male and don't want a role of leadership then something is wrong...you have an issue that needs to be tended to between you and the Father...and my guess is it is your view of marriage in this life.
I heard once from a woman that she never looks at the Bride when she walks down the isle...she always looks at the groom because that gives her a glimpse of how Christ sees us...That was powerful to me. I have seen men cry at the sight of their bride, run down to meet her out of joy, and then there are some that don't seem to be moved at all by the scene....What do you think God does today as He sees you as His bride, is He going to be unmoved or is He going to weep with joy and run to meet you? When your told to submit to the Lords will in your life does that word make you cringe? If your called to lead and lead boldly have you lost your tenacity? If you find yourself there then go to the Lord and ask Him to open your eyes to whatever the issues are because He is waiting to love each of us as a bride, male or female, we were created to partner with the Lord, and we can't truly do that with a warped sense of what marriage has become in this world. God is there at the alter and He waits for each one of us...
62:4Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. 62:5For [as] a young man marrieth a virgin, [so] shall thy sons marry thee: and [as] the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, [so] shall thy God rejoice over thee. |
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| To add a comment to "God is at the Alter" |
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| November 09, 2008 |
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Loriin,
Awesome post! Marriage is important to our Father as it exemplifies our relationship with Him to the world. Our society is upside down, inside out and twisted in their beliefs of the roles we have in marriage and as men and women. Roles confusion is a source of discontentment within a marriage. It is clear when we turn to our Bibles of how He intended us to be. When we go our own way, we are going against Him and that never works out.
We are under the expectation that our mate is there to only make us happy and when they fail to do so it is looked for in another person or by another avenue. We should find our joy in the Lord as He is to be the first relationship in our lives and the foundation on which to build. People are in the flesh and when we base our happiness in them, it is bound to disappoint but He never does. |
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| November 09, 2008 |
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Lori,
Thank you. Your words were simply beautiful as they reflect the Lord's eager anticipation of us His bride! Oh sweet Beulah Land...I just love that song!
 Send "Beulah Land" Ringtone to Cell Phone 
Verse 1
I'm kind of homesick for a country
To which I've never been before.
No sad goodbyes will there be spoken
for time won't matter anymore.
Chorus:
Beulah Land, I'm longing for you
and some day on thee I'll stand.
There my home shall be eternal.
Beulah Land -- Sweet Beulah Land
Verse 2
I'm looking now across the river
where my faith will end in sight.
There's just a few more days to labor.
Then I will take my heavenly flight.
YouTube - Sweet Beulah Landhttp://www.revski.orgThis is a memorial song, sung by Squire Parsons. ... Sweet Beulah Land - performed by Larry Smith. 05:16 From: LarrySmithMinistries. Views: 8,663 ...
www.youtube.com |
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| November 09, 2008 |
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| Excellent words on marriage Lori. It is an institution under attack. What a shame it's weakening! It's such a beautiful picture of God's committed relationship w/us, his church. I often say, there is NO marriage as one-sided and messed up as God's marriage to the church. But he redeems us, and makes us so beautiful! |
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| November 09, 2008 |
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D...can't agree more than with what you have said
In2books...so glad to see you on here! Thanks for the post and song link..
Mike, even after divorce of Israel He still loved her...that kinda says it all doesn't it... |
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| November 20, 2008 |
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Lori,
I was at a men's conference last weekend. On our way back, in the car, I said, "Our husband is the King of the universe! How does that make you feel?"
There was silence. So I said it again, making it clear that we are the bride of Christ. It was hilarious. Most Christian men do not have this perspective.
When Jesus came back and saved me from my sins, He made it clear that I'm His little bride. He loves me like a bridegroom loves his beautiful little girl. There is nothing He wouldn't do for me. It revolutionized the way I read the bible. 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. That's my King telling His little bride that if she sticks with Him, there is NOTHING He won't do for her.
It makes you want to cry, doesn't it?
Good post,
Rob |
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| November 20, 2008 |
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Rob,
I love your perspective, and I agree most men never see themselves as the bride, but can they not see themselves as a little muddy boy bringing home a snake as a trophy and their father awaiting him with total glee on his face....see to me that is how it is between God and men...it is awsome to be a bride, to be cherished and adored for what just makes you individually you...and yes that and your scripture makes me want to cry...very seldom do we even come close on this earth how much God loves us in real life, it is not offened patterned for us...how sad is that...I think it is time we change our persepectives and actions so we can change the outcome....Thanks for your comment Rob, I really appreciate it! In Him, Lori |
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| November 21, 2008 |
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Lori,
I was recently chastised on MyChurch for this perspective. The rhetorical question was asked, "What parent would never say no to their child?" But the context of John 15:7 was not parent to child, was it. Actually, it wasn't even husband to wife. It was friend to friend.
There are many relationships that typify our relationship with God. In 2003, it was the husband/wife relationship that meant so much to a guy like me. The marriage I was in had been so ruined by sin and mistakes that I ached for that kind of closeness - a perfect husband and wife relationship. It may sound strange or perverted but I believe that it was my desire for this kind of relationship that drove me to do what I did with whom I did it. I believe I sold my soul for the kind of relationship Jesus said He and I had had all along. What a waste.
Now, here I sit, a convicted felon who is responsible for damaging the life of not only my immediate victim but also the lives of my family, her family, even my neighborhood. The list of victims goes on and on and all because I did not internalize the relationship God had prepared for me, in Jesus.
I wish that when I was saved the first time that my teachers would have impressed on me how much my Husband desired me. I wish I'd have paid attention to those passages of scripture that were designed to assure me that God loves me and is deeply concerned about every area of my life. Of all sad words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been".
They say, "experience is the best teacher". Would that it were not true. But I have learned something about hero worship from being worshiped myself by a little starry-eyed worshiper. I know that Jesus is my hero and the worship that I'd experienced is the kind of worship I should have for Him. It's almost as if He told me, on my way back in, "You know how it feels to be worshiped. That's how I feel when my little bride worships me." Now I really want to cry.
Don't get the wrong impression about any of this. Sin is sin and I am chief of all sinners. But life teaches us things along the way and God causes all things to work together for good. Even criminal things, I suppose. I pray for my victim and her family and all the victims of my sin.
Rob |
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| November 21, 2008 |
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Wow Rob how candid, I wish others in the body would really get it that your slate is clean. OFTEN times when we expose our skeletons others (and I'm talking about Christians here) think..."Well they can't really be redeemed of that", or man I might have sinned but I never did anything like "THAT" People often regard sin in levels of righteousness with your level being totally different than their level...and to that I just have to say the Word says if your guilty of any sin your guilty of ALL....I guess that makes us all the chief of sinners...but some will just never view themselves that way....
What insight you have as to why what happened did...To me that makes your testimony all the more awesome...he who is free is free indeed! I'm sure you live that or your trying...Don't worry, I'm not the kind that gets the wrong impression, I just look at fruit and you seem to have much...and besides that I truly believe that besides the grace of God go I.... |
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| November 21, 2008 |
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Thanks, Pal. The Son has set me free indeed. It's totally awesome.
I can't take all the credit for coming this far. I attend group therapy once a week with guys who have similar criminal convictions. It's kinda like AA. Being honest about this thing would have been much more difficult had it not been for group. God causes all things to work together for our good but He certainly was NOT responsible for my sin. I did that all on my own.
When I came back to the Lord (actually, when He came and rescued me), I read the verse in John 8 that says, "I tell you the truth, everybody who sins is the slave of sin." The first time I read that, I gasped. For the first time in my life, I understood what Jesus was talking about. I remembered being a total slave to sexual immorality.
Now, I am free from sin and become a slave to God. When I read Romans 7, I understand that this is not Paul describing his miserable walk in Christ, this is the state of every man caught in the web of sexual immorality. Lori, I knew the right thing to do, I just couldn't do it. I had to sin. It owned me.
Jesus said that everybody who sins is the slave of sin (John 8:34). Paul said, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). That means that EVERYBODY was once completely owned by some sin. It's not sexual immorality for everybody but for everybody it's something.
I have asked different people on MyChurch what sin Jesus has set them free from but few have been able to answer. Most people who have "decided to follow Jesus" don't know that they used to be slaves of sin. If you were never the slave of sin, you don't need a Savior.
So I'll ask you; what sin has Jesus set you free from?
Rob |
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| November 21, 2008 |
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I have been set free from a bunch of stuff in my lifetime...where do I start?
Probably one of the biggest things is I was terribly abused as a little girl by my biological father, when I tell some people the things that happened it just makes them cringe...It was a torturous kind of mind-play abuse...I was definitely the scapegoat of the family for a long time a never really sought it but I wanted my families acceptance, the only one I was really bonded to was my step-father and mother, I'm really not close to my siblings, they had totally different experiences than I did, they just really think I'm odd...
For a long time I had a victim mentality, and that I needed to be set free from, I started to work on that in my 20's but honestly I didn't have boundaries or know how to work on relational aspects, I was truly doomed from the start. I wanted to be the one in control and that is not really where God places women, we are called to submit and I have had to learn that...IT WAS HARD to give up the reins...it so pained me...I just saw it setting me up to be abused all over again...I had to learn some people ARE indeed worthy of our trust. I had a fabulous step-father, one of the most Godly men I have ever known, if it wasn't for him I don't think I would have ever been delivered from the impact of my early years....I have learned if you lose your life you find it...but that certainly was a process...I made so many mistakes along the way, but I'm learning....
I guess I always lived with the knowledge that if someone tries hard enough they can break down your spirit...how I live now? Protective but open, I just try to use wisdom and I don't cast my pearls before swine...I stop and think and sometimes just stop...When people are not open to what my life is about then I move on...I have learned that is important to do...just let go...I will say I trust God implicitly now with my life and what and who I am exposed to so I try to learn from every situation I'm in...but I definitely have those boundaries...I learned long ago to look at the fruit of someones life instead of what they have to say, the fruit speaks volumes...so in a nutshell that is it, I won't post a lot of real personal stuff because it involves others and I don't think that is fair to them, as well as the casting of your pearls before swine, I have learned to treasure my story and only share it when God gives an open door...I don't want anyone trampling on my pearls...that is too painful to watch or take part in...
So what has God set me free from? My past and many of the ramifications of it...and I DON'T live in a victim mentality...I refuse to go there... |
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| November 22, 2008 |
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Very good.
My wife showed me a book called Boundaries. It's pretty good. It's authored by several Christian psychologists. I learned a lot from it. Jim Richards wrote a book called Breaking The Cycle that I enjoyed very much. Jim's book is much more bible based and a much easier read than Boundaries - but it's not as thorough.
Controlling others is a huge sin. Jim Richards says it's in the same family as witchcraft and murder because to control someone is to steal part of their life.
You and I have both been physically healed by God. Before we could be healed, however, we had to identify what was destroying us. We then had to take that infirmity to God to be loosed from it. Sin is the same way. We cannot be set free from someone else's sin - only our own. We have to identify our own depravity and own it before the Son can set us free from it.
Everybody wants Jesus to be their Savior but not many want Him to be their Emancipator. Religion has deceived people into thinking that God wants them to free themselves from their sins. If I could free myself from my sins, I certainly wouldn't need Jesus. And that is the method to religion's madness.
Rob |
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| November 22, 2008 |
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Lori,
We share the experience of being the victim of abuse. For a long, long time I had the victim mentality until the Lord set me free of that bondage. I also had to forgive the abuser and realize that they are in just as much bondage as we were. Not truly forgiving keeps us the victim. Giving up the control has definitely been one of my biggest issues and I continue to struggle with it. As you wrote, it pains me and it is fear driven. I believe that we first have to give up the control to our Father and trust him completely with our lives. Seek His guidance in ALL things as He will never lead us down the wrong path: "and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to {the will of} God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to {His} purpose"- Romans 8:27-28. My versus to live by. It's been a struggle but I'm getting there. Thanks for sharing.
Donna |
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| November 22, 2008 |
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Donna, abuse is a terrible thing but unforgiveness is worse. I learned a long time ago as a child really how important it was to forgive...Why my Dad did what he did, there was no excuse, in all honesty he was an adult and in charge of his own behavior just like I am right now....I just chose to forgive him regardless of the reasons but I never did justify them to myself because to me somehow that continues to make me the victim or gives me the mentality that I deserved it some how...all I know is forgiveness is really a commandment of Jesus and it is there for our benefit...forgiveness sets us free..it sets us free from faulty relationships, it sets us free from bad thoughts, it releases us to start something new and trust in Gods redemptive power...I believe all things work together for good but NOT when it comes to abuse, esp that of a child...God never wanted this, Satan did...Satan is the one who kills, steals, and destroys....See, I believe God was right there telling him to stop it, he just didn't listen...again the free will thing...BUT God did move miraculously and my life was spared not just truly physically but emotionally and spirituality...and right were my bio dad failed God raised up another man to take his place...and that other man, my step-daddy I loved with an everlasting love and he brought so much healing in my life, but I don't for one minute believe that God wanted this, he wanted my bio father to walk in righteousness and be an outstanding husband and father, that was Gods plan....
Now, in saying all of that if someone reading this has hurt other people the difference here is God knows mens hearts, He created them, He knows if your repentace will come from the trash in your life...and if it has then you are totally set free and a new man or woman. See my dad never repented...ever...he has never said he was sorry to me, he won't even talk about it...he never changed those patterns in his life but continued in them and it cost him so dearly, it is truly sad to look at someone at the end of their life and know that they were destined for something great but never got there...and my bio Dad was...he never arrived, never finished his race....THAT I PITY him for....In no way by sharing these views do I ever want to convict someone over and over....God sets us free, and if you have ever been an abuser or been abused there is healing through Christ and that healing is I believe total. My Daddy had been truly awful to his first family but he learned and he was AN INCREDIBLE father to me...INCREDIBLE...he healed me and touched my heart in places the rest of my family seemed incapable of...I truly owe my Christian walk to him...
All of us at some point in our lives have been abusers, gossip does it, indifference does it, and even ignorance at times leads to abusive behavior...NONE OF us are exempt....NONE OF US...So I am not here casting stones or drawing any kind of a line between abuse vs. victim...I will say this too I have met people with a life of abuse in their past in someway...at least their families would describe them that way or society has labeled them that way...they can be some of the kindest, deep thinking, honest, true-gut Christians you will ever meet...whom much is forgiven applies here....I am drawn to those people with fruit in their lives and it is NOT some psychology thing either...because I come from a place of total healing in this area I am pretty discriminatory... I look at fruit, I don't really care what peoples past has been once Christ has redeemed them, don't we each have our own stories of redemption?
The two things that get to me most are the statements once an abuser always an abuser, and that those that are abused will more than likely abuse their own kids, if that were true my step-father would never have been able to minister to me like he did...if I believe that I would have missed out on the reception of his gifts to me...and I remember growing up with my little 4 year old mind saying "I will never treat my children like this" Those that come from abuse often times make the OPPOSITE strides when it comes to how they treat others...
I find now that I am most concerned again with what people believe, how they act, and sometimes I am with the why...the why that is deep speaks often to real redemption, and I love stories of redemption...God is ALWAYS there when that has taken place...
Anyway that is where I am at on this spectrum and I just had to speak out for those words that I know prick the heart of any father or mother, brother or sister, son or daughter, or spouse that has in someway failed in those close relationships I guess I'm with Tiny Tim here...God bless us every one....
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