A Voice

There is a show on NBC that has been on for some time now that highlights individuals with exceptional singing voices.  I suspect you’ve either seen it or heard of it at some point.  The show consists of judges who, while being judges, also try to catch the best singers and encourage them to join their team.  The benefit to the judge is that they might be the one to get the individual to sign with them and then profit in their success. 

Each of the singers who audition for the show have probably spent countless years and time preparing for their audition.  They hope to make it big and become successful.  I imagine that some people are naturally talented and don’t have to try that hard, while others have had to give all they can to be on the show.

There is another voice in the world that has been lucky enough to succeed and who hasn’t had to be on this show.  This voice has permeated the lives of millions and has had a significant influence on teens, youth, and adults.

Yeah, by now, I’m sure you know where I’m going with this.  The voice that I am referring to is not really one any of us want to listen to.  However, we do, and each of us does so very well.  The voice somehow harmonically resonates within each of us.  The voice is unique, but yet we each can identify with it.  Sorry, folks, I’m not talking about our Lord just yet.  The voice that each one of us can so easily connect with, the voice that resonates regardless of religion, faith, heritage, or lineage, is the voice of Satan.

Wow, and ISH all at the same time!  I read a book a few years ago called Taming the Gremlins.  It is really an exceptional book that I honestly believe everyone can get something from.  You don’t have to be Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, or Atheist to appreciate it.  You just have to be HUMAN!  Regardless of what you believe, the source is the same – the enemy to your soul.

In this book, we are introduced to a concept that we each have vaguely been aware of, yet have also been very distant to.  We don’t want to admit that we hear those often-demoralizing voices in our heads.  Yeah, guess what, the author of those voices has made much more of an impact on this world than any one contestant on the show, The Voice, has.

What do you hear in your head?  Is it what I hear?  Is it what your co-worker hears?  Is it what your spouse hears?  Is it what your friends hear?  We are too embarrassed to admit that we hear these God-forsaken voices, yet WE ALL DO!  If I was a Miss America contestant, I wouldn’t wish for World Peace.  I would wish for each person in the World to hear the truth of God and to be aware of the hidden voice of Satan.

Let me guess at just some of what you have heard over the years:

·      I am worthless

·      I have failed

·      I will never succeed

·      I’ve screwed up so badly that it can never be reconciled

·      I don’t have enough money

·      I don’t have enough faith

·      God couldn’t love me, I’m a failure

·      People hate me and for good reason

·      I suck

·      I’m a loser

·      I’m stupid

·      I’m ugly

·      I’m fat

·      My spouse deserves to hate me

·      I’m a bad mom or dad or friend

·      I’m a bad employee

·      I shouldn’t be hired for a job because I’m a loser

·      There is nothing good about me.

That is only the very tiniest tip of the iceberg isn’t it?  You know you hear worse stuff than that and probably on a constant basis.

That is one voice.

There is another you know.  Do you hear it? 

Your Father in Heaven is also calling out to you.  He wants you to know He LOVES YOU!  He BELIEVES IN YOU!  He thinks you were worth sacrificing His only SON for!    He thinks you are SUPER!  He thinks you are SMART!  He thinks you will SUCCEED!  He thinks you do have ENOUGH!  He does FORGIVE YOU for being stupid! He says to you, "don’t try to fix everything or everyone."  That is HIS job.  He, right now, just wants you to trust in Him and to believe in Him.

LET GO!  YOU ARE NOT IN CHARGE!

Your Father wants to show you, and tell you, that He LOVES YOU!

STOP AND LISTEN!  Let the crap that you’ve been holding onto go.  Seriously, imagine yourself holding onto a pile of poop.  Why would you do that?  Let the junk in your life go.  Let your Father in Heaven cleanse you and love you and heal you.

You are the judge in this show.  Which VOICE do you want to have on your team? 

YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DECIDE AND WHO TO LISTEN TO. 

It is your call.  What do you choose?

Jesus our Example

Today I pause to remember what our Savior, Jesus, did for me; for you.  He was innocent, but took my punishment for me.  Not just a slap on the wrist, not a spanking or a time out, not even time in jail.  He was beaten to near death, whipped, then hung to die.  Jesus is my defender.  I am the weaker.  He is the stronger. 

The Bible tells us that we, those who believe in Him, are His bride.  It tells us He is our groom (bride groom).  It is an organizational structure that God created.  In our world as people, God has instructed, through the Bible, that in marriage men be the groom and women the bride. 

Men, I wrote yesterday about being a man and taking care of and defending your wife and family because I believe that is the structure God created for us.  We are to love our wives and to care for them and to lead them, just as Jesus has done for us all.  I used strong language to incite an emotional response.  Why?  I have seen too many marriages fail and often hear the woman who was left behind talk about how upset she is that the one who committed to her, to care for her, to protect her and to love her just decided to leave.  It may not be true for every woman, but my experience has shown me that many, if not most, women do want their husband to not only be their lover and friend, but also the one they can depend on and the one to lead the family. 

Think about it this way:  If God created us to be the bride and Jesus the groom, then isn’t this how we should approach marriage just as He says in Ephesians 5:23-32, “23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[b] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

If that verse makes you mad, read it again and look and see that the husband's role is not to dominate his wife, but rather to care for her and lead her.  It doesn't say she is less valuable or less worthy.  This verse has been used too many times by men thinking they can justify pushing their wives around and that was NEVER what God intended. 

We have order and structure all around us; at work, in government, in organizations.  With no structure and no one in charge, then who makes the final call?  I know, I hear what you might be thinking.  We don’t need one person to be in charge when we can have committees to decide.  Sure committees can work and I am not going to say now that I think they are a bad option, however, they don’t work for a marriage because in a committee of two you either agree or disagree, but when a decision has to be made when the two don’t agree who makes it?  Do you take turns?  Who decides whose turn it is?

We are not in a committee with Jesus and He did not have any example of one in His ministry.  Organizational structure set by our Lord and shown through Jesus is that we have one leader.  In this way, a marriage has one leader too.  The groom.  That is how it was designed to be regardless of the strength or worth of either the husband or the wife.  There are plenty of husbands out there that are weak and not willing to be the leader they are supposed to be.  There are many women out there that are stronger than their husbands and who take care of the family and thankfully they do, but ideally, the husband will take his role and the wife will encourage him to.  Now, this in mind, re-read yesterday's post (Man Mentality) and men, please step up and be who God created you to be.

Disclaimer:

This post will undoubtedly stir some of you up and may make you angry.  If so, then I am sorry because that means that God’s word makes you angry.  If that’s the case, then please talk with Him because He is in charge.  

Man Mentality

John 8:1-11

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.  Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.  But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.  At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Dear friends, do we blame only the woman in this scenario?  What about the men?  This woman was about to die because of her sin, but what about the man, or men, who joined with her in this sin?

Is any one sin worse than another?  The only sin the Bible tells us that is unforgiveable is the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  So, listen, please, all of us who have committed sin and all of those who condemn those who have also sinned.  Is it our place?  Is it your place, to condemn others to death because of their sins?  Did Jesus not forgive this woman of adultery?  Can you not also find it in your heart to forgive?

Now, men, listen to me, says the Holy Spirit!  Are you not the defenders of your family?  Were you not raised by the Holy Spirit to defend the weaker among us?  Does it not  resonate within your sole to deny yourself the pleasures of a woman who is not your own?  Were you not groomed to be the defender of your family?  Why, then, do you give into the temptation of another woman?  Do you not know that all she can offer you is but a simple distraction from the mission that your Father has called you to?  We all need to feel love, but perverted love is not gratifying.  Like a cancer, it will eat you alive.  Why then do you accept the tender touches of another woman?  Does it not deter you from your call to defend that which God, your commander in chief, has assigned you to?   Have you not accepted this mission from your commander?  From your Father?  You have the utmost of responsibility thrust upon you.  Why?  Because you were called to defend. 

Men, our brides are the weaker sex.  Not inferior, but weaker.  Our position in life is to guard them, defend them, and build them up.  Will you give in to temptation and forego the mission you were assigned to?  Have you not understood your position?  Have your own needs and wants masqueraded as your leader?  Turn them down!  You were called to defend your bride and your family at all costs.  If you are fortunate, you will be happy in this mission, but if not, and you suffer, this mission has not changed.  Your calling has not changed.   You are to defend those that can not defend themselves.  You are to deny yourselves the pleasures of life you feel you are entitled to.  Pull up your pants, put on your boots and do what you know you are supposed to do.  It is not your place in life, men, to give into temptation.  You are called by God, your Father, to be honorable, strong, and to defend those that require your strength.  To give in to temptation is failure.  Men, we can not fail!  People are depending on us.  Our families are depending on us!  Our wives.  Our children.  You are required to give up your comfort, your pleasure, your own life, to secure the safety of your family.  That is your calling.  That is your assignment.  This life is not about you!!!

Be a man!  Be strong!  There is no temptation that you will face that you can not overcome.  Do not be distracted.  Fight the good fight.  I’m sorry to say this, men, but you do not live for your own pleasures or gratifications.  We were designed to defend those that require it.  Push the distractions aside and don’t give up.  It is time to be a man!  Defend your family and make your Father proud.  Defend your wife.  Defend your children. 

When you feel weak, call upon your Father, your commander in chief, and ask that reinforcements be sent in.  But!  Never give up and never give in!

If you have failed, ask for strength and buck up and be the man you are supposed to be.   Say to yourself and to your God, “No more excuses!  I will do what I was called to do!”

Lord, please give each man who reads this the strength to be the man you have called them to be: to defend their wives and their families.  To accept the calling you have put on our lives, as men.  Thank you, Father.

Men, never give up!  Never give in!  Be what you were called to be!