Today we continue the series about how to live in this fallen world and distinguish ourselves as people who know and love Jesus. Hopefully, these principles (continued from last week’s list) will help you answer the question, “How, then, are we to live?”

7.      Who you are today is not the warrior you will be when the Lord gets finished with you. Trust that tomorrow you can accomplish more for the Lord and be more than you ever dreamed because you won’t be doing it through your wisdom and strength but through His. If you are feeling disappointment in the person you are today, take heart. God is sanctifying you and growing you in ways you do not see or understand. You will be stronger, better, more of a delight to your Master. That is the work He is doing in you, even if you stumble and fall along the way. Nothing can stop Him from doing His work.

Continuing the story of Saul from last week, we see this young man finding his donkeys and beginning to believe that God really is going to pluck him out of obscurity and make him a great king. Samuel ceremonially anoints him king in 1 Sam 10:6-8.

Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince[a] over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince[b] over his heritage.

After some instruction, Samuel says these life-changing words to Saul:

 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 

And indeed when the Holy Spirit began to work in Saul, the change in him was dramatically noticeable to the people of Kish. That same power is in you when you accept Jesus as your Savior and the same Holy Spirit comes to live in you.

But Samuel knew that the young man did not know practical things like, “What do I do next?” Samuel gives some practical advice all of us Christians should apply to our lives:

7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 

When you have a victory or a failure or a life change, follow that up with this advice: “Do what your hands find to do.” Do the next thing. God’s plan for your life will probably not be presented to you by a prophet or in a burning bush. His way of leading you to fulfill the purposes of your life is based on a series of small decisions and every day tasks. Look at the day ahead of you and ask yourself, what would the Lord have me do today and how should I do it? How can I love God and love His children well in everything on my calendar for the day? How can I prepare myself spiritually, physically, and practically to minister to anyone who crosses my path? How can I be so rooted and grounded that when things take me by surprise, I will still be Christlike in my reactions and the way I serve others?

I experienced something similar this week. I was stuck in what I feel is my main calling—writing books for publication. After praying quite a bit, I did not have clear direction or God’s go ahead to move forward with any of my book projects. The day I was the most frustrated and stymied, I had several conversations with friends that all sort of went like this:

“We just finished our spring Bible study. I don’t know what I will be doing this summer since my Bible study is usually the basis for my morning quiet time.”

What my hands found to do was to write a summer blog. Since these blogs are longer than most of my blogs, they can be spread over several days and used as a summer quiet time devotional. After the publication of the first one, I felt the pleasure of the Lord on me when several people came up to me at church to say that they, too, were using these blogs as their study. I felt His affirmation that my hands had found something to do that is exactly what I am supposed to be doing right now.

In my writing, I am very aware that I am like a utensil the Lord uses to get His Word posted on the Internet or in book form. I am incapable of anything apart from Him, but I have learned that His voice reaches people if I am faithful to sit at my computer and type as He leads me. He made Saul a different person. He is making me a different person. This is sanctification, and our light grows brighter in a dark world every day we put our hands to the humble tasks He puts in front of us to do for our neighbors, our church, and everyone we encounter.

8.      When you choose to live your life for Jesus Christ, you will receive more opposition from Satan. And when you are just about to make a significant difference for the Kingdom, the attacks will be stronger to prevent that.  As my neighbor says, “From the time of your salvation, the devil is always on your coattails. Here is what the Bible Hub Encyclopedia says about satanic opposition:

The Bible identifies Satan as the primary adversary of God and His people. In 1 Peter 5:8, believers are warned, “Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Satan’s opposition is characterized by deceit, temptation, and spiritual warfare, as seen in the temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11) and the spiritual armor described in Ephesians 6:10-18.

If you are facing opposition for something you feel you are doing for the Lord, you are in good company. David, Joseph, Nehemiah, Job, and countless other great men of God felt that opposition too. But their stories have a common theme: God rescued them, healed them, removed seemingly impossible obstacles from their paths, and elevated them above their enemies.

I remember moving into my new condo community and wanting so badly to be a light in this place. I got COVID shortly before my move and had it two more times in the following eighteen months. Not only did that keep me from being as active in my community as I had hoped, my doctors insisted I have a shoulder and a knee replacement that made me more of a recluse than I wanted to be. With those things behind me, I thought I was ready to be the neighbor I wanted to be, but another strange thing began to happen. It seemed that every time I opened my door, I was facing a setback. I opened my door into my hallway one day, and I was ankle deep in water due to a neighbor’s frozen pipe. Another day I opened my door, and another neighbor had decorated the alcove to my condo with heavy furniture. It wasn’t just that this decorating was not to my taste, but it gave the appearance I was in violation of decorating a common space – a real no-no in our covenants. When I opened my door the third time to a minor disaster, I realized that my efforts to bring the light of Jesus into my new community was being opposed. I did what any Christian would do: I prayed for the Lord to fight the opposition for me. I calmed down when I realized what the source of the problem was and felt more peace and tranquility. After all, Satan is a defeated foe. He can throw some nasty surprises our way, but our God is sovereign over all and we are overcomers through Him.

When you feel opposition, read these verses out loud like you mean them because they are TRUE!

·         I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. ( John 16:33)

·         For nothing will be impossible with God. (Luke 1:37)

·         No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37)

·         But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. (Psalm 3:3)

·         Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

9.      Guard your words. Hold your peace like it’s precious.  That old adage that you will rarely regret the words you didn’t say, but you will often regret the words you wish you had not said is true. In my life, when I have damaged my witness or set a bad example for younger Christians, it is always about letting words out I should have kept to myself. And I must not be the only one because the Bible probably has 100 verses on guarding your words.  Proverbs 21:23 says “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.” So true!

And James says these dramatic words:

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! (James 3:5)

Other verses in James make me think he had to learn the hard way to control his tongue because he has a lot to say about it, including the following:

 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; (James 1:19)

 “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.” (James 1:26)

There are some strong consequences for releasing unkind or deceitful words and some rewards for restraint:

Proverbs 18:21 tells us we have the choice of speaking life or death and we will reap the consequences of that choice:

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

And think about this one:

 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, (Matthew 12:36)

On a positive note, 1 Peter 3:10 holds a promise of loving life and good days if we use our tongue honestly:

For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;

As you read what the Bible has to say about this topic, it seems there are three major ways you can sin with you words:

1.      Deceit

2.      Impure talk

3.      Talk that does not build up our brothers and sisters

The first one, deceit, is obvious. We can be deceitful by misrepresenting situations or even withholding words to create a false impression.

The second one, impure talk, is rampant in our society, even among Christians. We have been like lobsters in a pot who have gotten so used to the intemperate and impure words around us that we don’t even acknowledge we are boiling in sin. Ask yourself if a word would have been considered risqué or bad in your grandmother’s time. If so, it is still not as pure as the Lord wants you to be. I will address impurity further below.

The same thing goes for gossip. If there was ever anything that does not build up our brothers and sisters it is gossip. Someone told me once that it was kinder to steal someone’s money than to steal from their reputation by gossiping about them. We all have to fight this one.

I know the Lord is changing me and sanctifying me every day. But I, like you, fall into sin sometime anyway. Gossip seems to be one of those insidious sins that captures us women too often. You know how it is. Your friend and you are discussing something that genuinely concerns you about another friend, but at some point the conversation goes from loving concern to gossip.  We will fight the battle of sin until the day we are sinless in Heaven. One verse that spurs me on to fight temptations, including gossip, is Revelation 2:17 that says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’”

I want the Lord working in me to help me conquer this sin. I want a new name, one that has never been associated with sin. I want the white stone that was historically given to victors in Israel.

Our conversations should always be gracious and the content should build each other up in Jesus as described in I Corinthians 14:26: What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

Perhaps if we intentionally brought the things mentioned in this Scripture into our conversations, then we would crowd out the opportunities to gossip. I have a friend who begins our lunches with asking each person to read a Scripture. She brings Scripture cards for each person to read. It is amazing how little gossip goes on in those conversations as compared to the days when we forget to do this.

I started with consequences, so let me end this section on a victorious note. Below is some  very good advice on how to live well and use your words in a way that pleases your Lord and builds other people up:

Ephesians 4:29: Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Proverbs 15:1: A soft answer turns away wrath,
    but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Colossians 4:6: Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Finally, we know we are as powerless to keep from sinning with our words as we are with any other sin. Pray today that the Lord will do this for you as the psalmist prayed in Psalm 141:3:

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
    keep watch over the door of my lips!

10.  Be proactive in avoiding one of Satan’s favorite traps for women, sexual provocativeness and impurity.  You may be thinking, “Well, sexual sin is not on my list of temptations that I need to be concerned about. I am not involved in activities or relationships that are outside marriage and God’s will.” You do not have to be involved in a sexual relationship to be impure.  The Bible addresses “purity” over 200 times and if you count the word “impurity” it is almost 300! These admonitions frequently are not about adultery or fornication. You can be impure when you dress in a sexy outfit or engage in a titillating conversation or act in a coy or flirtatious manner.

 I see a disturbing trend among Christian women to be fascinated by the sexual impurity in our culture. They seem to talk about the sensational things they read about or hear about way too much. Yes, they talk about it because they are appalled by it and want to fight against bad actors, but the indulgence in impure conversation is far more than needed.   You are a blessing to many when you fight child pornography, pedophilia, transgenderism, sex trafficking, or other cultural horrors we must deal with in our society today. However, you have no reason to describe these horrors to another woman explicitly or have in-depth or repeated conversations about them. This stirring of sexual curiosity is not Godly. It is not pure. Most Christians today know the horrific and damaging things that are going on in our society. If you have had this discussion with a friend once, you may have had good reason. Having descriptive conversations of the aberrations taking place beyond that is not edifying and may even be voyeuristic. The Lord wants your speech to be pure and edifying; this conversation is not.

Ephesians 5:3 says, “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

And I am not even addressing here the Christian women I have overheard discussing books, television programs, and movies that celebrate unholy alliances such as Sex and the City or White Lotus. Some book clubs that included several Christian members avidly followed the Fifty Shades of Grey books and other brazenly immoral works. No details needed here because my readers generally don’t participate in things like that, but I want to give you a heads up to urge you to be on guard for the next trendy thing your friends and book clubs want to put before your eyes. Be like the psalmist who said:

I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it. (101:3 NIV )

Many Christian women today seem very similar to the world in the way they talk about sex.  Whether it is their sex lives, sex scenes on tv, or just speculating on something they have read or heard about related to sex, Christian women talk about sex more than in previous times.  I have had several single women come to me because they, as healthy normal women, are fighting sexual yearnings, and they don’t know why they are so sorely tempted. Over the months or years, I find that some of these women return to this topic every time we are together, which seems to exacerbate the problem. It is good to confess your temptations to each other; however, if you are returning to this topic repeatedly in your conversation or thoughts, you are opening a door to your enemy to tempt you further. Talking about the temptation at length brings up images and feelings that add to the strength of the temptation. Change the channel in your mind. If you need to bring this up to a friend in confession, say it briefly once and with little description. The same goes for other subjects that bring up sexual images. You can ask your friend to pray for your impure thoughts or an ongoing temptation. You do not need to give the details.

When you pray, ask God to “lead you not into temptation and to deliver you from evil” and temptation.  When conversations become sexual in nature, be the leader in changing the topic to something edifying.

11.  Sometimes God sweetens your bitter waters, and sometimes He brings you out into an oasis, a refreshing new place.  A beautiful example of how God works differently in different circumstances is told in Exodus 15:22-27.

Bitter Water Made Sweet

Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.[b] 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log,[c] and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord[d] made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

In Marah, the Lord did not provide fresh water. He sweetened and purified the water that was there for the Israelites to use. In verse 27, He works in an entirely different way. He brings the people to an oasis where there are 12 springs and 70 palm trees! I can feel the cool refreshment as I read this.

Sometimes your life is dry. Sometimes it is filled with hardship. At times the Lord will leave you in it, but He will give you Christian friends, Bible verses, a sermon, or something else to sweeten the time so you can endure and get through it.

At other times, you cry out to Him, and He lifts you out of the circumstance and places you in a delightful place.

Often we pray for God to take us out of our circumstances. Out of His love for us and for the fulfillment of His perfect plan, He knows it is best to just sweeten the time for you and help you get through it. He sees the end from the beginning. Trust Him to know which way is best to answer your cries for help.

12.  We sometimes look for wisdom and power in the wrong places. Our mighty God has an abundance of both and He is infallible. Why do we look elsewhere? (Psalms 8 & 12)

God had been so faithful to the Israelites, delivering them through a series of miracles from Pharaoh, supplying all their needs in their forty year journey through the desert, and defeating many foes whose armies were exponentially larger. God Himself was their leader and He appointed prophets to convey and help carry out His will. But when the Israelites saw other nations with kings, they wanted one too. They attributed military defeat to the fact that they had a king to protect them. With this loud outcry, God gives these wrong-thinking people what they want—as He will sometimes. He will allow us to suffer consequences when we diverge from the path He knows is best. The Lord tells Samuel to anoint a king over Israel. Before you judge the inexplicable decision to choose a mere mortal when God Himself was their leader, ask yourself of we don’t do similar things today.

Americans in particular seem to be on the hunt for wisdom and power. They explore philosophies, experts, influencers, celebrities who seem to have it all figured out, various denominations, health gurus, relationship professionals, and anything else they think can elevate their experience here on earth. We read and we watch and we seek earnestly for things we think would improve our lives, when all along, we have the supreme power and the fount of all wisdom right there, available to us 24/7 through prayer. Consider these truths:

Psalm 147:5- Great is our Lord and abundant in strength;

His understanding is infinite.

Isaiah 46:9-10

“Remember the former things long past,

For I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is no one like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things which have not been done,

Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,

And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;

Isaiah 40:28- Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth

Does not become weary or tired.

His understanding is inscrutable.

1 John 3:20- in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things

Hebrews 4:13- And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

And yet, we keep looking for hope in a man, whether it is a president, a king, a guru, or some other person whose authority or wisdom we think will cure our ills. No matter how wise these people are, they are mortals and therefore fallible. They do not know the end of each story and each decision we make; God does! He holds the future.

Or maybe it is not a person you have thought would give you peace and resolution to a problem. Maybe you have thought that getting married, having a baby, making more friends, getting the right job, or having financial security would take away your loneliness, uneasiness, or lack of joy. There are so many things that we might think will give our lives more meaning, but they can’t. They just can’t.

I find it very sad that Sundays are the busiest day of the week for dating apps. If the same people were investing their time worshiping God, they could find true contentment. They might even find the right person to marry instead of matching profiles and making a marriage that has a 50/50 chance of leading to divorce.

Only the Lord can give a woman true contentment in her personal life, her thought life, and in every area of her life. Only the Lord can give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11.)

Is there anything you think, “If that would just happen, I would be happier?” Ask the Lord if it is His will. You may have been hearing from the Lord and that desire may have been planted in your heart by Him. On the other hand, emotions, hormones, and our own unreliable thought life can convince us that something is right for us that actually is not God’s best.

After you ask God to lead you, spend extra time in His Word. Is anything confirming that this is His best plan for you? Does anything you read make you pause and consider that this choice is not in line with His will for you to bring glory to Him and to lead your best life.

And the astounding things is that when you follow the wisdom of the Lord, He has the power to make possible everything we need. The very same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us if we give our lives to Him. This is what Paul says is a promise to every believer:

 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:19-20)

Jeremiah 32:17 says:

17 ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

But most importantly, Jesus has told us that He can make the impossible possible, just as He did as me made us totally innocent of all our sins when we accepted the free gift of salvation:

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ( Matthew 19:26)

The Israelites got their king, a king who took their best livestock, taxed them, and often involved them in wars where they lost their sons. I urge you to ask God for His will for your life above anything that you desire. So I leave you with this prayer I am praying for you  that you will seek both His wisdom and His power above all else:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family[c] in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ( Ephesians 3:16)

ADDITIONAL READINGS

Ephesians 1-3