Who you Should not Marry II

Friday  12 May
READ: Gen 24: 2 – 4
MORE LESSON: Prov. 19: 14

The issue of getting into marriage is a destiny decision. Making the right choice is possible and very easy when the principles of God are followed. This is why we started yesterday to give the description of a person not to marry based on the Scripture and the spiritual wisdom that God has graciously given to us.
You should not marry a person who doesn't submit to leadership. Do not marry a rebel in the house of God, who defies all the authority so that you will not partake of the curse upon his life. When you see a man/woman who doesn't submit to spiritual leadership, stay away from such a person. Such people claim that they are the alpha and omega of their own lives. That means if he is intent on doing wrong, there is no man anywhere that can tell him to stop and he will obey. Several marriages have collapsed because there is no authority to report to.
Do not marry a person who wants to marry you just because he/she 'likes' you. It surely takes more than 'like' to have a successful marriage. A person who likes you can also like someone else. Admiration is good but it is not the basis for marriage. A man can 'like' the way a lady looks now but after giving birth the shape changes and he doesn't 'like' her anymore. A woman can like a man because of his looks, job or money now and something happens that takes those things away and she doesn't like him anymore. Just because he/she 'likes' or even 'loves' you is never enough for marriage. There must be a spiritual conviction that both of you can hold on to.
A lot of people react against this when we say that the fact that a person loves you or you love a person is not enough ground for marriage. They say 'Why shouldn't I marry the person I love, are you not saying that I should marry the person I don't love?' There is nothing wrong with love. Love is good. In fact God Himself is love. So you should love the person you want to marry. God will never force you to marry someone you don't love. In fact when the leading is truly of God, the first evidence you notice is that evidential love starts to flow from your heart to the person. However, this love is not circumstance-driven or flesh-motivated but God-based. The truth is that many who profess love for people they want to marry are victims of mere infatuation and emotional stirrings. The love is based on looks, family pedigree, possession or other external attributes. But the love that will last long and weather the storms is that which is built on the altar of God – who is love Himself; not the many things people call love. It is only the agape love of God that can stand the test of time.

Prayer/Action
* I receive grace to follow God’s principles no matter how unpopular the path may be, in Jesus’ name.
* O God, rescue everyone that is heading into wrong relationship, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
As Joseph, Esther, Daniel, and others were selected to office in foreign land that even indigenes envied them, so let me be remembered for divine selection to great places this year, in the name of Jesus.

Who you Should not Marry I

Thursday 11 May
READ: 2 Cor. 6: 14 - 18
MORE LESSON: Gen 27: 46 – 28: 1

God is interested in the marriage of His children. This is why He has outlined certain rules that you must follow so that you will not partake of the sorrows and woes that befall the disobedient. Many times, singles ask questions on how to know God's will in marriage and how to know who to marry. One good way to know who to marry is first to know who not to marry.
The first commandment of God is that you should never marry an unbeliever. Child of God, don't marry the child of the devil so that you will not have the devil as your father-in-law. Anyone that Jesus Christ is not the Lord of his/her life is not yours to marry. Whether the person is a staunch unbeliever or an unbeliever-church-goer, just stay away from anyone whose salvation experience is not sure and evidential.
You should not marry a person who doesn't have a church that he/she belongs to. Even if he claims to be born-again and ardently follows television preachers, don't marry him. A man/woman who has no local church but only follows online and television preachers will give you untold problems. If you marry him/her, you will realise that in the day of trouble, there is no authority that he/she is answerable to. The television preacher doesn't even know both of you exist, so you cannot reach him when you need a counsellor for your affairs. A lot of so-called Christians do not believe in accountability to a local church or pastor, they only watch religious channels and claim they are born again; don't commit your future to them. Don't make that mistake of tying your life to a man/woman without an authority over his/her life. He/she will soon become a law to him/herself and all you will be able to do is cry. Crying will not be your portion, in Jesus’ name. The way out is to obey now and stay away from a person who is not answerable to a church or pastor over his life.
Don't marry someone who doesn't do anything in the church where he belongs. Here is someone who comes to church, but does nothing whatsoever as a contribution to the church, then he/she corners you unknown to the church and wants to marry you; don't marry him/her. You are to marry someone who loves and has passion for God. Nominal church members don't show passion for God. So the man/woman who comes to church for years, no one knows him/her, doesn't do anything and when the church service ends is already out before anybody is not a marriage material. The reason is that such a lifestyle doesn't denote a sense of responsibility. You need to marry a responsible husband/wife and a person who will be responsible at home will be responsible in the church.

Prayer/Action
* Lord, give grace to the unmarried to submit to God's will in marriage, in Jesus’ name.
* Ask God for a godly home, in the mighty name of Jesus.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
By the blood of Jesus, I decree that regular, repeated tragedies shall not be my portion this year, in the name of Jesus.

God's Will for the Home

Wednesday 10 May
READ: Mal. 2: 14 - 16
MORE LESSON: Isa. 62: 4

God has never done any great thing on earth outside of the home. The family is God's only access point to the world. God is very interested in the family and loves the home. Satan equally hates the home. Why do you think there is so much propaganda advocating divorce, abortion, same sex marriage, homosexuality, adultery, multiple partners, premarital sex and all kinds of immorality? It is the devil's hatred for the home.
Each time God needs a tool, He will first look for a home. When God created the first man, He created a home for him. It is a man and a woman in a godly union that makes a home. When the whole earth was corrupt and God needed to destroy the corrupted seed from the earth, He looked for a home and saved the family of Noah so as to preserve the human race (Gen 7: 1 – 24). God is always looking for a home to use. When Israel was in slavery and God needed a deliverer, He looked for a family that would not be afraid to defy the laws of Egypt and believe God. God found Amram and Jochebed and used them to bring Moses to the earth. When God wanted to raise a great judge and prophet for Israel, he went to the home of Elkanah and Hannah. Even though this home was not perfect, God used them to bring forth Samuel. Your home may not be presently perfect but if you start to allow God, He will use your home. To raise the mighty man called Samson, God went to visit Manoah and his wife. Samson came through that home to deliver Israel. When God needed to save the world, He looked for the home of Joseph and Mary. Your home will be the next in God's agenda.
The home is of God and it is a good thing to desire to have a family. If you are single and you desire to be married, you have desired a good thing. Pray to God to settle you maritally and He will. Psa. 68: 6 (TLB) says, He gives families to the lonely.... As a single person, do not allow anyone to discourage you from getting married. Some people are in the ministry of discouraging people who want to marry by telling them how their own home failed and marriage was hell for them. The fact that the person failed in marriage doesn't mean that God has deserted marriage. Godly youths should keep dreaming and trusting God for a godly home.
Jesus loves the home; He came from a home and His first miracle was at a wedding ceremony (John 2: 1 – 11). The Bible also encourages young widows and widowers to marry (1 Tim 5: 14). They don't need to worry about what their family or the family of the deceased partner will say. It is the will of God for them to remarry.

Prayer/Action
* I submit my home to God, Lord fulfil Your purpose for us, in Jesus’ name.
* Pray that your home will be a positive example, in the name of Jesus.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I violently uproot any tree of backwardness and stagnancy planted in my destiny by the enemy, in Jesus' mighty name.

Secrets to a Successful Home II

Tuesday 9 May
READ: Gen 2: 18 - 25
MORE LESSON: Eph. 5: 21 – 6: 4

Statistically 50% of the marriages in the United States end up in divorce. While the figures are much lower in Nigeria, it is growing and even creeping more and more into the Church. We have to fortify our marriages against the forces of hell. A lot of people go to psychology books, human ideologies and techniques for help. Some try to run their marriage by how their father and mother ran their home. Others follow cultural practices as the yardstick for their homes. However, only a home founded on the Rock will stand; all other ground is sinking sand. The home must be sealed together in the spiritual before it stays together in the physical. Praying together, studying the Word of God together, staying together under God's cover in the same assembly and being united in the spirit are key.
When God created the first home, it was entirely His idea. It wasn't the man that went to God to beg for a wife. God saw the man, decided that he needed a wife, created the woman for him and brought her to him. Everything about the home was initiated and executed by God. Removing God from the home that He authored is the root of all the problems that men face at the home front.
The first man and woman were not brought together by human ability. It wasn't by feelings, dating, match-making, Facebook or cultural similarity that was the basis of their marriage. It was the Spirit of God. The mode of the first marriage was by spiritual capability. Adam woke up from sleep and said what happened when he was asleep. He said, This shall be called a woman for God took her from me when I was unconscious; her bone was made from my bone and her flesh from my flesh. It takes a spiritual man to tell you what happened in his absence. Adam named all the animals and it was what God wanted them to bear that he called them. This shows that Adam's mind was connected to God's. For marriage to be successful, the man and the woman must be connected to God's mind.
When the father, mother and children in a home are in good contact with God, all things fall into their proper place eventually. The greatest key to a happy home is connection to the Almighty. When the father, mother and children are all connected to God individually, God becomes the pivot around which the home is built. Such a home will never crumble because it is held centrally by the One that cannot fall apart. No principle in this world can redeem a home whose parties are far from God. The secret to a successful home is for each party to be firmly connected to God.

Prayer/Action
* I rebuke the spirit of divorce over my home and my loved ones’, in Jesus’ name.
* O God, give me a Christian home, in the mighty name of Jesus.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
On the authority of God's goodness, I refuse to be enrolled in any register of misfortune this year, in the name of Jesus.