I just about want to scream every time someone says (or writes) “It’s hard!”–that’s so totally contrary to the Word of God and like announcing to all who hear us that we’re NOT walking in the grace, strength and power of Jesus Christ; thus revealing the sin and lack of faith in our lives as Christians. In fact, the King James Bible ACTUALLY tells us in Proverbs 13:15 that Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors (unfaithful in NIV and “treacherous” in NASB) is hard. And then in Matthew 11:30, Jesus said For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And then Proverbs 3:5-6 very clearly declares Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.. So thinking and saying that anything is “hard” obviously means (and forecasts to everyone else, no matter how much we say otherwise) that we are NOT trusting the Lord with ALL of our hearts; that we ARE most definitely leaning to our own understanding; and that we’re NOT acknowledging God in ALL of our ways! And those words LITERALLY become like a self fulfilling prophecy of doom and disappointment; because when we DO that, God would be a liar and fail to uphold and fulfill His Word if He made our paths straight when we mumble and grumble instead of giving Him praise, honor and glory as we rely completely on the power and promise of His unfailing Word and trust Him with all of our hearts and acknowledge Him in all of our ways.

So every time we talk about how “hard” things are, we’re in fact calling Jesus a liar or admitting that we’re acting in unbelief and sin, because it’s REALLY NOT hard when we walk in the spirit and NOT in the flesh (John 6:63 and Philippians 3:3)! After all, Jesus told us that apart from Him we could do NOTHING, but that when we REMAIN in Him we can bear much fruit (John 15:5 and Galatians 5:22-23). And then in John 15:7, Jesus even said If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. And Jesus’ words certainly aren’t remaining in us when our words speak something so contrary to what His Word promises! And His Word promises that we can do ALL things through Christ Jesus who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13); that HIS grace is sufficient for us, and that HIS POWER is made PERFECT in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)!

So If we expect to experience the power and promise of God’s Word in the full and complete restoration of our marriages and families, we had best start DOING as instructed in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-20, which says:
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. In fact, it’s a good idea to read all of 1 Thessalonians 5, because there’s SO much there; particularly verse 24, which says The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.!

So let’s stop striving in our flesh; our own limited ability, our own flawed and incomplete understanding and our own puny and pathetic strength and put all of our faith and confidence in the Lord and His EVERY promise. We have seen time and time again in the powerful testimonies of others that we most definitely CAN rely on his unfailing faithfulness and ability to bring every Word and promise to pass in our lives…WHEN WE ARE OBEDIENT AND BELIEVE THAT HE WILL DO EXACTLY WHAT HE HAS SAID HE WILL DO! And one of the best ways to accomplish that is to start giving thanks and praising Him for all that we DO have; instead of crying and grieving for the one thing we DON’T have…YET!!!

I really appreciated the way Glenn Jackson expressed the same concern in THE MINISTRY LETTER 2008 ISSUE 8, which he “just happened” (not hardly!) to publish just as I was pondering the very same topic. You can read his newsletter in its entirety at the above link, but here’s what he wrote about the danger of thinking that things are hard:
“IF ONE DOES NOT LIVE ABOVE THIS PRESENT WORLD SYSTEM THROUGH FAITH IN - AND OBEDIENCE TO - THE WORD (WILL) OF GOD THEN THEY WILL BE CONSUMED BY IT!
It is very important for EVERY child of God to break any ties of heart-fellowship with the “world” in this hour. We must be a people who live far above [spiritually
speaking] the deep darkness of this present world system - for it is certain that if one does not live above it through faith in - and obedience to - the Word of God then they will SURELY be consumed by it! There is no other position. It is an amazing thing that we, as Christians, can sometimes enter into a place wherein we act as though faith and love and obedience are the “hard” way. This, of course, is a lie and deception of the Devil because the actual truth according to the Word is that the way of the “transgressor” is hard - not the way of faith, and the way of life in the Kingdom. In reality, the life of faith and love and obedience is a life of learning to experience the unlimited capacity of God.”

So it is my deepest heart’s desire and prayer that every man and woman standing for the restoration of their marriage and family will indeed come to recognize and experience that the life of faith and love and obedience as one that PROCLAIMS (AND THUS EXPERIENCES) the unlimited capacity of God! When we truly understand that NOTHING is hard or impossible with God (Jeremiah 32:27 and Luke 1:37); when we rest in, trust, acknowledge and obey His Word, we will indeed be blessed and encouraged beyond belief!!!

One of the most exciting and rewarding things about working in marriage restoration ministry is the opportunity to witness the transformation and changes God makes in the hearts and lives of the men and women He brings to FAMM. Seeing the awesome transforming power of Jesus Christ at work really is an amazing and incredible experience, especially since most are pretty lost and in a great deal of pain and distress when they first come to the ministry. But they’re just like the rest of us; foolish builders who built our homes and families, even our lives on sinking sand. Instead of building them on a foundation of solid rock by putting the words from Jesus into practice, we heard His words and didn’t take them to heart, much less put them into practice. So our lives became a living testimony of the truth and reliability of God’s Word, as found in Matthew 7:24-27
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Since Luke 6:46 introduces the parable of “The Wise and Foolish Builders” with “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?, our goal is to focus on putting the Word of God into practice so we can reap the bounty of it’s harvest in our lives; particularly in the restoration of our marriages and families by rebuilding them on The Solid Rock; Jesus Christ! Unfortunately, when we hear the Word and don’t PRACTICE the Word, we are deceived, which James 1:21-25 makes pretty clear by warning Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

So the good news is that we can change our situations and circumstances by putting our faith in Jesus Christ and the transforming power of His Word as we stand for the restoration of our marriages, families and lives. God is certainly true to His Word and He is more than able to bring it all to pass and HE WILL bring the restoration of our marriages to completion too if we just put our faith and confidence in Him and the power and truth of His Word as we PUT it into practice! So the following verses confirm that the completion of everything we want and stand for is possible through faith in Jesus Christ and in obedience to His Word:

Acts 3:16 - By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

James 2:22 - You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

1 John 2:5-6 - But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

What a wonderful blessing it is to know exactly what Paul meant in Philippians 1:4-6, when he wrote In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because it reminds me in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. The Lord has blessed us with so many wonderful men and women in this ministry, so I can’t help feeling like a proud mother many times when I see the personal growth of our members, especially as they so sincerely minister to each other and reap the benefits and blessings of the transforming power of practicing God’s Word. Be blessed and encouraged! GOD NEVER FAILS!!!

Note from Linda: This is a VERY powerful and important message for every man and woman standing for marriage restoration! In fact, it is one of the single most powerful kingdom principles we can implement as we stand on the power and promise of God’s Word for the full and complete restoration of our marriages and families! And it’s a perfect message to precede the Seeds Of Faith post I’m working on about why we all need to stop saying “It’s hard!” But more on that later! Just read this and PUT IT INTO PRACTICE and you won’t be able to avoid being blessed and encouraged!

Just imagine how many more marriages we would see restored if we all started getting up each morning and praising and thanking God for the work of restoration He’s doing in our marriages and families today instead of dreading the day! I bet we’d quickly lose count, so that’s my challenge to everyone who reads this; praise and thank God for the full and complete restoration of your marriage and family right now, every time you get out of bed and EVERY time the devil hits you with one of his fiery darts! And you can rest assured that will send him packing; because he WILL ALWAYS FLEE from HIS presence and when we proclaim the power and promise of the Word of God!

*****
“Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.” Psalm 114:2

“Judah was his sanctuary.” Let me give you a “literal” interpretation of this based on the meaning of these words. “Praise was God’s Holy place of habitation.” Psalm 22:3 says, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”

Do you desire more of the presence of God in your life? Then make your life a place of praise. God doesn’t dwell in murmuring and complaining. He doesn’t dwell in criticism. He doesn’t dwell in backbiting and gossip. He doesn’t dwell where arguing is, nor does He dwell in cursing and profanity. He doesn’t dwell in words of doubt, fear and unbelief. He dwells in praise.

How much time do you spend giving God praise and honor each day? Is your mouth continually filled with His praises? Do you go around your home lifting up His blessed name in praise? Praise is not just something we do in church during the song service. Praise is a lifestyle– a lifestyle of gratitude for the One who died for us, gave His life freely to redeem us from our sins, who gives us all good things, who daily loads us with benefits, who meets and supplies every need. His praise should continually be in our mouths (Psalm 34:1), and the starting place each day is in the morning. When you get out of bed the first thing you should do is open your mouth and begin to praise Him for keeping you safe through the night, for waking you up to the dawn of a new day, for giving you life, health, peace, salvation, for loving you, for making His sun shine upon you, for allowing you the privilege of coming to Him in prayer, for hearing your request, for giving you access into His very presence, (should I continue?). Make your life a sanctuary of praise and watch how His presence will dwell in your life in a greater way.

Have a great day. God dwells in praise, not in complaining.

*****
Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell, and available online and sent by email free of charge for the asking from About the Master’s Business Ministry, Inc.
So please feel free to call Lorraine at (601) 833-5278 or E-mail her at mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net
And you can visit her on the web at MastersBusiness.org.