I wonder how many clicks I will get on this blog post link. I have been surprised at the extent of people’s interest in articles about marital status. I suppose I shouldn’t be, but my thoughts on this topic don’t seem to fit what I hear from many…both single and married.
While I can experience desire for the joys of marriage, I crave acceptance for my singleness more. God has chosen singleness for me and I do not want to change His choice. God has blessed me through friendships, children’s ministry, etc. and I know I have not missed out.
I have seen numerous articles on singleness – I was hoping to write my own. However, the blog in the link below is so well written – a Biblically balanced view – and I decided to share this article.
My word for this year is prayer. How does that apply to marital status? We need to pray for a proper view of marital status. You cannot have a Biblical view of marriage without a Biblical view of singleness. I pray God’s name is honored in my singleness.
I was thinking last night about choices. We have a lot of freedom to make the choices we want. Along with that freedom of choice comes the freedom to experience the consequences. We don’t like negative consequences. We only want the happiness we think our choices will bring.
Friend, I pray you are aware of the direction your choices take you. The only way to make good choices is to take time daily to ask God to guide us. When we submit to His guidance, we will be more joyful and content with the decisions we make.
Last week I posted the story of help that came my way after a hefty snow storm. I was worn out from shoveling and thoroughly enjoyed the help. However, what happens when it feels like (or is really true) that help is not close at hand? We are looking at more snow tonight and after 52″ total snowfall in February, we are weary.
I have been praying the last few days knowing that more snow was coming. The prediction, of course, changes as we get closer to the storm (meteorologists don’t know what God will do, they simply look at weather patterns and make educated guesses). I am tired of shoveling and still getting everything else in life done. Complaining can come all too easily. However, God is still good and will use this time to perfect me. So I go back to praying. I need God’s help to keep up with life. Both the normal aspects of life as well as the storms. In this case it is another snowstorm.
So friend, whatever storm is in your life or will be coming – just keep praying. God will give strength and hope as you seek Him.
Today I want to tell a story from this past week. Minnesota has hit records for snowfall this past month. Not just snow for February, but snow for any month. Most of us are exhausted from the shoveling, bad roads, and other winter hazards. A week ago we had another blizzard. I knew there would be a lot of snow to shovel, so I prepared myself. I shoveled about 4 inches Saturday night before I went to bed. It was a bit heavier so I was glad to get it done before the worst hit. Sunday morning I woke up to bare spots on one side of my driveway and 3-4 foot drifts on the other side. I started shoveling knowing I had the whole day. My church chose to cancel the services to allow people to stay home during the horrible weather.
After 3 different tries of shoveling for 30-45 minutes each, I decided to call for help. A family in my church helped a few weeks ago and offered future help if I needed it. After a few text messages and phone calls, I knew someone would be at my house in 45 minutes. I wasn’t sure who would show up, but I enjoyed seeing the red van and 3 guys getting out. A father and his 20 something son as well as a teen from another family were armed with shovels and a little snow thrower. Before you mock the little snow thrower – it did the job! We broke up the chunks at the end of the driveway while the dad got his snow thrower ready (it is the kind that needs to be plugged in). About 30 minutes later (maybe even less, I had the rest of the driveway and sidewalks clear and one of the “mountains” at the side of my driveway leveled. Alone that job was a 1-2 hour job. With 4 of us – well, we know the saying, “many hands make light work”.
This group from my church are my brothers in Christ. They are also desirous of serving the Lord in various ways. Not many of us want to keep clearing the snow, but these 3 chose to serve the Lord by helping me. Thank you, friends! You made my week.
Below are before and after pictures. They aren’t the best (one is taken from inside my house), but I think they give the idea.
How does this fit with my theme of prayer? I prayed about taking on the task alone. I prayed about getting help. Then I praised the Lord for the help He sent.
The final sentence of Jesus’ example prayer is a plea for help specifically with temptation. The first phrase in the English sounds like there is a risk of God leading us into temptation. However, that is not true. The NET translation says that this “is a rhetorical way to ask for His protection from sin.” We lead ourselves into sin (James 1:13-15). Sin is our poor choice (Romans 3:23). We need God’s help to choose not to sin.
God is ready and willing to provide help. We can talk to Him anytime. Jesus example prayer teaches us how.
I have spent the last several weeks going through the Lord’s Prayer. I have used that term, because many know Matthew 6:9-13 by that name. However, this isn’t what Jesus prayed for Himself. This was Jesus’ example to us. This next phrase doesn’t apply to Jesus. He never needed forgiveness.
Jesus knew us so well. He teaches us to ask for forgiveness first and then reminds us that we need to forgive others. As flawed human beings we mix those up. We are more likely to get stuck on having someone ask us for forgiveness rather than admitting to our own wrongs. The truth is that Jesus was the only man who did not need forgiveness.
After taking time to praise God, Jesus comes to requests. He tells us to ask for our needs to be met. This is a simple enough statement, but as flawed human beings we like to complicate matters. We too often ask for wants as though they were needs. We also ask for more than our daily needs. I believe in planning ahead, but I think we can fall into the trap of asking for more than is reasonable.
So when we pray for our needs, we should allow God to guide our prayers. He will show us what our needs truly are and then He will provide.
The Lord’s Prayer continues with “may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is also easy to say, but much harder to live consistently.
Those of us who have placed our trust in Jesus Christ have the help of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-16). He will lead in our lives to give us the desire to allow God’s will. However, the flesh is still at work and so we switch from being willing to live God’s way back to seeking our own (Romans 7:18).
This is one of the beautiful helps of prayer. In order to keep my heart and mind willing to follow God’s way, I need to humble myself in prayer (James 4:1-3). In order to let go of my own way to consistently accept God’s will, I need to seek God in prayer daily – even multiple times a day. Prayer is a beautiful time spent with God – my Heavenly Father.
I had a little bit of trouble finding information about this phrase. The basic Bible study tools that I own didn’t have much information. However, the Kindle version of the New English Translation (with full notes) had a well worded explanation.
“Your kingdom come represents the hope for the full manifestation of God’s promised eschatological rule reflected in the OT prophetic literature, the ongoing hope of the Jewish people, a hope which is subsumed by Christianity.”
Those of us who serve Jesus look forward to positive future times as described in the book of Revelation. The hope that we have is not just wishful thinking. Hope in God’s Word is a guarantee. He will always do what He says. God never fails.
This phrase of the Lord’s prayer shows a willingness to allow God to work towards something He has promised will happen. We need to cooperate with His will. And friends – when we allow ourselves to be open to God’s way, we are more likely to be satisfied. God’s gifts are always the best.
The next phrase in the Lord’s prayer is easy to say, but it is much harder to live. God is worthy of honor. His name alone is worthy of honor! Yet as flawed human beings we want to honor ourselves. It is in our nature.
The concept of humility has been heavy on my mind lately. I think we get confused about what that word really means. According to dictionary.com to be humble is “not proud or arrogant; modest”. Definition 2 is “having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc.”
I think we get hung up on definition 2. We think if we put ourselves down then we are humble. However, “low self-esteem” is just as proud as thinking we are wonderful. Both concepts are centered around “me, myself and I” and therefore based in pride.
So how do we learn humility? Jesus is the perfect example. Philippians 2:5-8 tells us about how Jesus although worthy of worship, humbled Himself and obeyed His Father’s command to die on the cross. When I follow Jesus’ example prayer in Matthew 6, I honor the Father’s name. This is a good reminder that I am not worthy of honor.
Biblical humility needs to be a life-long pursuit. It is only obtainable by pleading in prayer.
Pleading in Prayer 