She Does Him Good

Posted on 2022-10-04 by Mirjam Fels

She does him good and not evil,
All the days of her life.

Proverbs 31:12

LORD Jesus we praise You for You are the Creator. You have created man in Your own image, and You have created them male and female. Hallelujah! Forgive us, O God we pray, whenever we are not staying focused on Your Word and whenever we doubt Your Promises. Enable us to draw near to You, and to stay protected under Your mighty and loving Wings. Help us to hear, trust, and obey Your Word. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.

It’s nearly two years ago, one year and eleven months to be exact, since I have published the Bible Study post on Proverbs 31:12 (https://mirjamfels.com/2020/11/04/proverbs-31-woman-verse-12/) I enjoyed reading it again today, but I also caught myself shaking my head while doing so. Why? Oh, dear one, there is (still) so, SO much for me to learn and change and improve in regard to doing good and not evil to my husband. Ouch!

Let me tell you about three influences which can make a big difference on how we view our marriage—and how we are treating our husband.

The most important Guide that will help us to grow in our marriage is, of course, God’s Word. How else should we know our Father’s purpose and plan for the bond of two people that will become one on their wedding day?

Friends and family members can also have a tremendous influence on how we are thinking about and treating our husband. Who, besides the LORD, will we seek answers from or listen to most of the time? Do we watch other people and, perhaps, use their marriages as a guideline for ours? Remember, there are the good and the bad, the godly and the ungodly examples we will either follow or will have to reject to follow.

I received a lovely text this morning, saying:

… Happy Holidays to you both! … I’m in town at the moment, but going home soon for a scone and coffee with my husband. …

What a thoughtful friend, wishing us a happy week of vacation, and what a text to keep as a reminder of my friend’s love and care for her husband. Now that is an example to follow.

A few paragraphs ago I mentioned that there are three influences that can make a big difference on how we are viewing our marriage and how we are treating our husband. You will have to come back on Thursday, please, to find out more about the third influence.

Do your husband good today.

Posted in Helper at Home | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on She Does Him Good

The LORD Your God is the One and Only

Posted on 2022-09-29 by Mirjam Fels

And God spoke all these words, saying:

I am the LORD your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage.

You shall have no other gods before Me.

Exodus 20:1-3

LORD Jesus, we praise You for this wonderful day that You have made today. We praise You for Your great Love in that You have died for us. Forgive us, O God we pray, whenever we doubt Your Word, whenever we neglect to take time to earnestly seek You in Your Word, and whenever we fail to see that we have made anyone or anything a god in our life. Enable us to look up to the One who has made everything beautiful in its time. Help us to put aside any kind of worship of false gods, and guide us to worship You alone. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.

God commands us not to have any other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3). What could the false gods look like in our life? Instead of committing our whole heart to the LORD, what or who are we in danger of worshiping?

Matthew Henry, in his commentary on Exodus 20:3, writes that:

The sin against this commandment
which we are most in danger of
is giving the glory and honour to any creature
which are due to God only.

He gives us a few examples. Listen to that:

Pride makes a god of self,
covetousness makes a god of money,
sensuality makes a god of the belly;

Then he explains to us how and what we are in danger of making a god of:

whatever is esteemed or loved,
feared or served,
delighted in or depended on,
more than God,
that (whatever it is) we do in effect make a god of.

He concludes his comment on Exodus 20:3 by writing, that setting anything or anyone else before God is very provoking to Him and a sin that He cannot and will not overlook.

Then Matthew Henry refers to the following verses:

If we had forgotten the name of our God,
Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,

Would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.

Psalm 44:20-21

Now these verses bring us back to Psalm 51. Remember that I  asked you to read that psalm on Tuesday? One of my readers was a little confused and so she asked, Why Psalm 51? Should it not be Psalm 115, I wonder? I said, No, and explained my reason for asking my readers to read Psalm 51.

You see, this psalm will teach us that
1) we are not at all sinless, and
2) who we actually sin against whenever we sin, and
3) who is able to wash away our sins and renew us.

After sharing my points with her, she showed me the bookmark that she just recently bought for herself:

Isn’t God amazing!?

Let’s read verse ten of that psalm together where it says:

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10

Precious one, make it your prayer today that God would continue to create a clean heart in you and that He would renew a steadfast spirit within you every day.

The LORD God is the One and only. Serve Him today.

Posted in Able to Perform | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The LORD Your God is the One and Only

Awareness of Other Gods

Posted on 2022-09-27 by Mirjam Fels

Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.

They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;

They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;

They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.

Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.

Psalm 115:4-8

LORD Jesus we praise You for You are God alone. Forgive us, O God we pray, whenever we are placing things and people before You. Enable us to love You more and more with each day. Help us to see when and where we do go wrong in worshiping foreign gods. Give us the courage and the strength to stand firm in our faith and love for our LORD and Savior, and direct our steps in pointing others to You. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.

It is quite easy to spot faults—including the worshiping of idols—in the life of another Christian, is it not? How much, do we ourselves, though, allow anything or anyone else to become false gods in our life? What or who demands our best hours of our days? Is there anything or anyone in our life that claims more of our attention and space than what we ought to give to that person or thing? Is the true God still in first place? Or are we, or anything or anyone else pushing Him aside so to make way for self and others?

The LORD says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)

True, God Almighty, King of kings, and LORD of lords is a loving God. He is, however, also a jealous God (Exodus 20:5) and He wants our whole heart. Half-hearted worship does not count: You cannot serve two masters! You will, eventually, have to decide and let go of one or the other. (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13)

Let’s be honest and ask ourselves: Is there anything or anyone in our life that we have allowed to become or even have made into a god?

What could the false god/s look like in our life? How do we recognize it/them? How are we to put away the god/s and serve the LORD our God only? That will be our topic in Thursday’s blog post.

Read and pray Psalm 51 today.

Posted in Able to Perform | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Awareness of Other Gods