Psalm 5:12(NLT)
“For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.”
If we’re not committed to God, He knows that we’re not going to give a full commitment in our hearts and minds to a spouse. God is looking at what we do every moment of every day. He knows that some of those that are pleading to Him for a husband have never truly worshiped Him. They’ve been living a double life, giving two hours of focus to Him one day a week, but listening to profane music and speaking profanely to anyone that crosses them as soon as that two hours is over. We tell Him, “I want to live holy one day, Lord, but I’m just not ready yet.” Some of us have been saying that the last ten years. We thought it was okay, but the time is definitely over for trying to give God crumbs and expecting Him to reward that.
We’ve heard the message of His grace, and indeed His grace is amazing, but God’s grace is not an excuse to sin. Luke 4 gives us the record of Jesus Christ being tested by the devil in the wilderness. During one of those temptations, the devil teleported Jesus Christ to the highest point of the temple. Luke 4:9-10(NLT) tells us that the devil said to Jesus, “9 If you are the Son of God, jump off! 10 For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you.” Many of us ‘jump off’ into sin repeatedly without truly repenting. We think that God will ignore it. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t deserve to be treated that way. Jesus Christ teaches us how to respond to God righteously. Luke 4:12 tell us, “Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’” We shouldn’t think that we can test God’s grace and mercy and continue to indulge the flesh. We need to tell our flesh to stand down and choose to honor God.
Repentance is a change of heart and a change of mind. It means that we stop doing the sinful things we’ve done, because the Holy Spirit has convicted us, and we do not want to grieve him ever again. We need to love our Heavenly Father the way He deserves. He has empowered us to live for Jesus Christ, and we must repent for not walking in the strength of His power.
1John 5:14(NLT) says, “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.” God hears our prayers, and many of us have been sending up quite a few for our future marriage. We can have tremendous confidence that God hears us, because just knowing that He’s listening is an extraordinary gift in and of itself. It’s beyond mind blowing, but this does not mean that He must respond to our prayers on our timetable. I’ve heard the stories, and I know you have too, about many women that have allowed themselves to become weary and are no longer willing to wait on God. This will lead to disappointment and sadness.
If a woman’s purpose for dating is to find her spouse, the mission has already failed. She has possibly prolonged the meeting of her destiny partner. God will tell us who to date, and so many of us have missed this entirely. God will not sanction us dating men just to pass the time away, or for the sake of filling up the space that loneliness has left empty. We can head down a sinful path that way. We must be very careful to maintain God’s favor so that we remain on the blessed path He has chosen for us.
Obtaining favor from the Lord means that we have a pattern of consistency when it comes to having faith in His Word. We’re not concerned with timetables. We’re faithful because we want to please Him above pleasing ourselves and others. This is how we obtain and maintain God’s favor. He’s faithful to us and He wants us to be faithful to Him. The Word of God teaches us that His eyes search throughout the earth to find those whose hearts are tender toward Him. When He finds our hearts surrendered to Him, we will find His favor.
King David, the psalmist wrote in Psalm 30:7(ESV), “By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong.” In this verse, the psalmist represents himself as a mountain. The mountain depicts his capacity and ability as a man. He realized that he couldn’t do anything without God. He also realized that it was God who had made him strong and allowed the many victories and successes he achieved.
As single women, we must recognize that it is useless to pursue the blessing of marriage outside of God’s purpose. We should know by now that meeting the wrong man and partnering with him can be devastating to our lives. Don’t take this into your own hands and try to steer the ship. You are God’s daughter, and as your Father, it is His business to see to it that you marry well. Use your time wisely and focus on your relationship with God. Praying and allowing our Heavenly Father to transform you should be your top priority in life. When it is, you’ll be standing strong and spiritually prepared to partner.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
“God Made My Mountain to Stand Strong”, written by Kim Times, edited by Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!