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1 Corinthians 10:13; “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

Many Christians claim this verse as a “promise” that God will never allow them to experience more difficulties than “they can handle.” Yet, the larger passage (1 Corinthians 10:1-13) deals with temptation and our ability to withstand it. God promises He will always provide a way for us to say “no” to temptation. In fact, Paul learned by experience that God will allow us to face circumstances “beyond our ability to endure” so that we will learn to rely on Him (see 2 Corinthians 1:8-11).

The book of Proverbs is wisdom literature, which offers general principles for successful living. A proverb is not a promise.

Matthew 7:1; “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”

Is all “judging” wrong? Jesus did condemn a harsh, critical “judging” motivated by a self-righteous, hypocritical attitude. But in the whole of Scripture, God clearly commands Christians to lovingly point out sin and exhort each other to holiness. It is not our place to determine their motives, but it is our responsibility to gently identify behaviour God has already judged to be “sin.” The goal is to reconcile that person with God and others and to keep the sin from spreading (Matthew 18:15-17, 1 Corinthians 5:5-7, Hebrews 12:15, James 5:19-20).

Psalm 37:4; “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

If I find joy in God, will He fill my life with all the things I value and enjoy? Wait – remember context and focus. In this psalm, David contemplated the age-old question of why evil people seem to prosper while the righteous often struggle. David wrote to encourage his readers – and us – to widen our perspective, to live in light of eternity and to set our hope in God’s everlasting purposes. When we commit ourselves (delight) to God’s capable hands, our desire for the righteous to prevail will be realized in His timing.

James 1:2-3; “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

We would think that James meant we could find joy in Christ in spite of our trials. That makes more sense! Yet, James really did say – and mean – because of our trials. While God cares very much about our physical circumstances, James knew He uses trials to refine our faith and make us more like Jesus. That is something to rejoice about!

Matthew 18:20; “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Considering just this verse, we might believe that Jesus is with us only when we are with other believers. But the context of the larger passage is church discipline. When another believer sins, if he will not listen to one, two or three fellow believers should bring the matter to the church (Matthew 18:15-20).

Romans 8:28; “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Does God control all the circumstances of our lives to make things turn out great for us? Let’s take a step back to grasp the glorious truth of Romans 8:28. First, this promise is not for all people, just Christians who love and follow Jesus. Second, in the larger context, (Romans 8:18-39), Paul reminds us that although we must temporarily endure earthly suffering, God works through it to continuously work out His greater, eternal plan for us (Romans 8:28-30). The “good” God is working towards is not temporary, earthly “success,” but the eternal purpose of us being “conformed to the likeness” of Jesus (Romans 8:29).

Habakkuk 1:5; “Look at the nations and watch – and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

If we read this verse by itself, we might believe God is going to do something wonderful and glorious before our eyes. Well, He definitely did, but probably not what you’d expect. God sent the prophet Habakkuk to pronounce judgment on Judah for turning away from God. The amazing thing God planned was to send the brutal nation of Babylon to conquer His people and carry them into captivity. This verse should stand as a strong reminder that God does discipline His children.

Jeremiah 29:11; “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

This verse is definitely a promise. But it’s a promise for a particular people in a particular time. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God promised that after Judah’s pre-determined exile in Babylon, He would bring them back to the Promised Land. We often misappropriate promises. And while God does make a lot of promises to all believers, this particular promise isn’t one of them.

Philippians 4:13; “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Philippians 4:13 is probably the most misused verse in the Bible. We pull it out of the surrounding passage and hold it out as God’s obligation to empower our plans and dreams. Yet, Paul was writing about being content no matter his earthly circumstances. He could endure any difficulty or physical need through the strengthening power of Christ. Oh yes, Philippians 4:13 is a great promise indeed! Jesus will give us the strength we need to endure desperate need. His empowering presence will be with us through every difficult circumstance.

Jer.29:11 (NIV); For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

(KJV); For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

God’s thoughts are not exactly the same as man’s thought, in time and space. This is one of the explanations for apparently unanswered prayers. Man’s good is submerged in God’s good. Man’s thoughts and thinking capacity is finite while God’s thoughts and capacity are infinite. When one considers the temporary discomfort or negativity experienced by Habakkuk and Joseph, these negativities were of varying length of time, which means time is a variable in the equation. However, in the long run or long term or long game, the negativity experienced by man turns to God and man’s good. A mathematical point in time and space where God’s good equals man’s good. The end point or end game.

Psalm 139:16-17; Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them.

Matthew 10:29-31; Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Romans 8:28-29; And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Through selection or the analogy of fishing (by God the Father and God the Son), we have 1 Peter 2:9; But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

In addition, Peter goes on further in 2 Peter 1:3-4; His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

The same principle from Peter was reiterated by Paul in Ephesians 1:4-5; For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.

The purpose of these chosen people is stated in Ephesians 2:10; For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The totality of God’s good is infinitely greater than one person’s good, a person’s good is submerged in God’s greater good, this is the point made by Paul in 1 Timothy 2:3-4; This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Several times, God repeatedly gives His chosen people assurance, such as in Psalm 94:14; For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance. And in Exodus 19:5-6; Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

Furthermore, God guaranteed us that He will never desert us, in Joshua 1:9; Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. This guarantee given by God through Joshua was earlier given by God through Moses, which Moses then passed on to Joshua in Deuteronomy 31:8; The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” This guarantee was transformed and elevated into the stratosphere and given the Seal of Infinity by the Holy Spirit in Paul’s epistle to the Romans 8:38-39; For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The kingdom of God is here now and amongst us, and eternity with God starts now before the “state” (physical to spiritual)transition or death or shedding of the physical body to assume the spiritual body, the Holy Spirit informs us of this in Revelation 21:3-4; God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

The expected end prophesied by Jeremiah in 29:11, is eternity with God, eternity can be defined as infinite or unending time or a state to which time has no application; timelessness, the end game or final state, endless life after death, declared to us in the gospel of John 3:16; For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Furthermore, Jesus Christ explained in John 4:14; but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” That the eternal life is with God is clarified by Jesus Christ in John 14:2-3; My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. This is confirmed by apostle Paul in Romans 6:22; But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

Synchronization can be defined as the operation or activity of two or more things at the same time or rate. It can also be defined as the action of causing a set of data or files to remain identical in more than one location.

People’s live are made of different facets which are more often than not, ‘unsynchronized’ or out of sync. An average person’s life consists of family life, work life and social life. These lives are characterized by or made up of relationships. The most important relationship of all is that of an individual with God. This relationship can be simple and complex, and it is reflected in all other relationships that an individual has in all facets of life.

Relationship with a Being that you cannot physically see, hear, taste, touch or smell is complex. Though the Bible documents exceptional circumstances where this Being has been seen, heard, tasted, touched and smelled. However, the Bible also tell us that, in relating to our fellow human being is a manifestation of our relationship with this Being. Reflection of God towards one’s family members, work colleagues, strangers, foreigners, enemies, subordinates and superiors is a manifestation of one’s relationship with God.

The issue with most of us is that the different facets of our lives are compartmentalized and separate from one another. For some of us, relationship with God is practiced and practicalized in our places of worship, which as a matter of fact is religion, which in the grand scheme of things does not matter to God. God is more about relationships. Most of the time, religion results in a concept of God that is abstract, separate, far removed from our daily lives. Most of the miracles of Jesus Christ took place on the streets, outside the places of worship, during and in the middle of the hustle and buzzle of people’s daily lives. Of course, He did also perform some miracles around places of worship. God, His communication, Power and Love is synchronized everywhere, across all facets or devices, He is the same. God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are all one and work the same way and they mean Love. The Data is identical, same and operate the same way. Despite being different facets or manifestation of the Being. However, the way we relate to members of our family is different from the way we relate with strangers, or foreigners, or work colleagues, or customers, or subordinates, or superiors, be they at work or social niveaus or levels. This is in contradiction to the word of God, which require us to treat everybody the same, with love, be they strangers or enemies or family members, since we are all members of one family, we are all children of God.

When a person’s family life is out of sync with their work life, or with their social life, then such persons is out of focus or disjointed in their relationship with God. Communication with the Being is distorted, this is known as Noise in Communication technical language, “ICT” lingo. Such people exhibit or have a mask on when they are at work or at a social function, which differs from their mask or persona at home. When Jesus Christ said, “come to me as you are” (synchronized), He didn’t say, come to me, wearing your masks. In order to limit, reduce or remove Noise in our communication with God, then we have to have synchronization. When our various life’s are seen as different types of communication devices, for example, phones, tablets and pc’s. for most people in modern day world with multiple gadgets, we are used to the message or information that asks us whether we want to synchronize our information or data across our multiple gadgets. Surely, we do not want to be communicating with God with an outdated (not updated) information or incomplete data or disjointed or out of focus information. Apostle Paul’s turn of phrase or eloquence in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 sums it up best, especially in the first verse; If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. Communication noise. Synchronization is necessary in our communion with God.

A myth or fable or real event was narrated by a member of a religious cult or sect, and it goes thus; the founder of the sect wanted to travel from one city to another with his delegates of the ruling council of his cult. Apparently, a small very young female member of his cult had a vision warning against the trip. The founder of the cult ignored the warning on the basis that since he has regular tete a tete with God, why would God send a warning through such a very young immature member of his cult. Suffice it to say that the founder died directly and or indirectly as a result of ignoring the warning.

In the Scriptures, 1 Kings 19, the interaction between God and Elijah was noteworthy, bearing in mind that Elijah is described in scripture as the prophet that knows the mind of God. When you highlight verses 13 to 18; Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

It becomes apparent that NOBODY knows the mind of God.

Romans 11:33-36;

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[i] knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments,

and his paths beyond tracing out!

34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counselor?”[j]

35 “Who has ever given to God,

that God should repay them?”[k]

36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen.

To be charming is to be filled with the desire to please or delight your spouse. A charming man has attractiveness that interests, pleases as well as stimulates every good-natured woman into giving her best and even the ill-natured ones. Am I right? Of course, yes! The chain of wedlock can either be heavy or light depending particularly on the man. nevertheless, I need not say it takes two to solidify the bond of wedlock, as it involves giving and taking; loving and being loved so that both parties become an indivisible whole. This is buttressed in Genesis 2:22-24, for ‘…the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.’ The book of Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 equally corroborates the oneness of a couple, and the sweetness of being a real couple indeed. This piece tells us that ‘Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labour: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?’

A charming man is benevolent. He is openhearted, and understanding that a woman is a weaker vessel, and thus he is a spouse that takes cognisance of the aforementioned truth as stipulated by the word of God and live and walk by them. Such a man is a benevolent husband; he is kind, generous and really cares about the emotional needs of his spouse. In fact, benevolence is a virtue of the highest order. Total benevolence, not a partial one, brings immeasurable peace, prosperity, joy and contentment into a home.

A charming husband is a courteous man. Mrs Robert asked her husband, ‘Sweetheart, how do I look? He snapped, ‘Have you not wasted enough time already? We should have left five minutes ago, after all I know how much your look cost me.’ What a response! I am sure Mrs Robert will only endure that outing, not enjoy it after her husband saucy remark. Rudeness is a cancer that devours love. Every word spoken by Mr. Robert and the way he responded can only be described as discourteous. His speech evidenced that he has not learnt the art of courtesy. A zealous writer says, ‘Courtesy is the quality of heart that overlooks the broken gate and calls attention to the flowers in the yard beyond it.’ A charming man should know that next to benevolent caring in marriage, is courtesy.

Courtesy is a portrayal of respect, honour or considerate act. A courteous act towards your spouse is an indication of affection, an affectionate love. The notion that it is only a woman that has a shrewish tongue should be set aside because even these days, a marriage counsellor has observed that men have emulated the ill-natured trait. It is very important that every man should know that courtesy is just as important to a peaceful and loving marriage as food is to the body. Every marriage should be nourished with it so as to remain spiritually, emotionally and physically healthy, and bouncing with life, love and unity.

A charming man is attentive in every facet. Aside being benevolent and courteous, a charming man should not underestimate the value of everyday attention, no matter how little. Attention shows your woman that you are thinking of her, you want to please her, and her happiness and welfare are dear to your heart, inasmuch as you are not contradicting God’s precepts.

A charming husband orates his love. Husbands should not hesitate to tell their wives they love them. Even God, expects a man to ring out his love for his wife; why else would the man represented in the Song of Songs say: You have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! (4:9-10). Also, the fact that the Bible says: ‘husband love your wife’ is a token that a charming man should voice his love for his spouse, and not only keep it in mind. A pleasing man articulates his appreciation, tells his wife how important she is to his happiness. He does not take his wife’s love for granted, and then lord it over her. A renowned novelist in spite of his laudable achievements said: ‘I would give up all my genius, and all my books, if there were only some woman somewhere who cared whether I came home late for dinner.’ What a true confession!

That most mothers now do the equivalent of two full-time jobs – one at workplace and the other at home is not subject to debate any longer. But a man who has imbibed a sense of appreciation in his everyday living can jolly his wife into doing anything joyfully by showering her with sincere compliments, not cheap ones though. We believe that every man, not only the fair sex should endeavour to put forth the same efforts to make his home a success as he does his business or career.

Even the wisest man on earth, after a thorough discernment coupled with an in-depth research said it all: ‘Whoso finds a wife, finds a good thing and obtains the favour of the Lord’. Can you contest that a wife in most cases is essential to great longevity?

A rousing ovation to every charming man!

 

On the whole, How good and pleasant it is when a man and his wife live together in unity. It is like precious oil poured on the head of the man, running down on the beard, running down on the charming man’s beard, down on the collar of his robe, even his wife. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on their HOME. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore (Psalms 133).

We pray that you will always enjoy the peace and unity of God in your home in the precious name of our Lord Jesus.

Remain blessed in Jesus’ name.

Author: Tflame