Found a Wife? That's a Good Thang!

Proverbs 18:22--A man who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. (HCSB)
Proverbs 19:14--A house and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a sensible wife is from the Lord. (HCSB)


To you husbands out there: (OK, if you want, you ladies can read too!)


Earlier this month, my wife, Lisa, and I celebrated our anniversary. I praise God for my wife and I want to encourage all of you husbands out there to do the same. I know that marriage is not always smooth sailing, and most of us go through rocky stages or bumpy rides in our relationships with our wives, but as the scripture above reminds us, our wives are from the Lord and those of us who find wives obtain favor from the Lord.

Now I understand that sometimes from a man's point of view it seems that our wives might be from the devil instead of from the Lord and that they frequently appear to be anything but sensible, but for the most part we would probably all agree that they are a good thang! I know that for me, I don't know if I could make it through all the stuff this world throws at me without my wife there to love me and help me with my struggles. There's just something about having a loving spouse to come home to after a really tough day on the job, etc.

It's especially blessing when our wives love God. In fact, all too often it's the wives who take on the role of spiritual leadership in the household and in our families when God didn't design it that way. But thanks to all those Christian moms and wives out there for stepping up and leading their children and their husbands when the man of the house didn't! Where would a lot of us be today had it not been for a godly mother or a godly wife?


A capable wife is very precious and beneficial to her husband. Look at this passage from Proverbs 31:10-12---Who can find a capable wife? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will not lack anything good. She rewards him with good, not evil, all the days of her life. (HCSB)


It's so great to have a wife that you can trust in, and all of us husbands need to do a better job of showing our love and affection towards our wives. We need to try harder to do the little things that mean so much to them, like surprising them with cards or flowers or a dinner date, etc. Do something unexpected to show her you still love her and always will. We need to remember to follow Christ's example and the instructions we find in Ephesians 5:25, 28-29---Husbands, love your wives, just as also Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her---In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own flesh, but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, since we are members of His body! (HCSB)


So let's remember that our wives are truly a good thang! And the next time they seem to be acting in a manner that to us is not sensible, just remember that you have obtained favor from the Lord, give her your most sincere smile, and tell her that you love her. She'll probably give you a funny look, you guys know what I mean, but she'll show her appreciation if you do your best to love her the way Jesus does.
Joey C.

Praise God for The Word---READ IT--then DO WHAT IT SAYS!

Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. (Psalm 119:89)(NIV)

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:105)(NIV)

The Word of God, the Bible is eternal. It was there in the beginning (Jn. 1:1), and it will stand forever (1 Pet. 1:25). As a nation, we are blessed beyond measure, like never before in the history of man, to have such complete access to the Word of God. We have many different translations to make it easier to read and understand. We have countless types of study Bibles, recordings of the Bible, electronic Bibles, on-line Bibles, and endless commentaries and study materials to help us in our learning. We have stores all over town that sell the Bible, and most of us have two or more copies in our homes. But how often do we pick it up? Once a week, on the way to church? Once a month? Once a year? Does it have a thick layer of dust on it? Can you even recall where it is?

I fear that in many ways we have become like the divided nation of Israel back in the days of Josiah, King of Judah. Hilkiah the high priest discovered the Book of the Law in the Lord's temple. (2 Kings 22:8)He apparently found it, meaning it had been lost for some time! Because of their sin, and the sin of the evil kings that had preceded Josiah (King Manasseh and King Amon), they had strayed away from God for many years, and even the high priest didn't know God's Word! He had apparently never seen it before. To his credit, when King Josiah found out, he repented and made many reforms, beginning to turn the nation back to the Lord. O how I pray that our president would come to the realization that we are in the place we are in as a nation because of our neglect of God's Word! What if Obama turned whole-heartedly to the Lord, and instead of putting God's Word down and turning his back on the Christian heritage of our nation, he would lead us to exalt the Bible and put it back to the rightful place of respect and honor that it deserves? Wouldn't the USA be a better place?

We have got to start spending more time daily in God's Word. The more time we spend in it, studying it, meditating on it, the more real it becomes to us. As it becomes more real, then it begins to change our lives. As it begins to change our lives, then we begin to obey it and live it out, and it will in turn impact the world around us for the building of God's kingdom.

Look at some scriptures that speak of and confirm the greatness of God's Word:

• Jn.1:1--In the beginning was the Word
• Jn.1:14--The Word became flesh and dwelt among us
• Heb. 4:12--The Word is living, active and sharper than any two-edged sword
• Matt. 4:4--Man doesn't live on bread alone, but on every Word of God
• Deut. 8:3--Man doesn't live on bread alone, but on every Word of God
• Isa. 55:11--When it goes forth, it doesn't return void
• 2 Sam. 22:31--The Word of God is flawless
• Prov. 30:5--The Word of God is flawless
• Prov. 18:30--The Word is pure
• 1 Pet. 1:25--It stands forever
• Luke 21:33--Jesus said His words will never pass away
• Matt. 24:35--Jesus' words will never pass away
• Eph. 6:17--The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit
• Philip. 2:16--They are words of life
• Col. 3 :16--We are to let the word of Christ dwell in us
• Isa. 40:8--The Word of God remains forever
• Jn. 6:68--Words of eternal life
• Jn. 17:17--God's Word is truth
• 2 Tim. 2:15--word of truth
• Ps. 119:9--Live according to the word
• Ps. 119:11--Treasure His Word in your heart
• Ps. 119:89--Your Word is eternal
• Ps. 119:105--The word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path
• Ps. 119:129--Your decrees are wonderful, therefore I obey them
• Ps. 119;130--The revelation of Your words brings light and gives understanding to the inexperienced
• Ps. 119:140--Your Word is completely pure
• Ps. 119:160--The entirety of Your Word is truth
• Rev. 19:13--His name is called the Word of God
  

We need to praise God for the Word. We need to start living our lives as if we really believe that the Bible is the Word of God and like we believe what it says. One of the best ways for us to praise God is to follow the instructions in His Word. To be DOERS---not merely HEARERS. (James 1:22) I mean we can read the Bible, and say that we believe it all day long, but until we start living out what the Bible teaches us, putting it into practice, it's not gonna do us or anybody else a whole lot of good!

We read in 1 Sam. 15:22 that "obedience is better than sacrifice". King Saul decided He would rather worship God his own way than to obey God's commands. Because of that disobedience, God took away Saul's kingship and gave the kingdom to a man after His own heart--- a shepherd boy named David.

So to sum it up: PRAISE--READ--DO. Praise God for His Word--Read His Word--Do His Word. God's Word, the Bible, is real, flawless and forever. We need to understand how precious it is to have such great access to the Word, and try our best not to waste the opportunity we have to study it. We need to understand that it is truth and life and that we should read it every chance we get. But it doesn't need to stop there. We need to be a people, a church, a nation that does what God's Word says!

Joey C.

Never Stop Praising God

Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. (Psalm 86:11-12)(NIV)
It is not the dead who praise the Lord, nor any of those descending into the silence of death. But we will praise the Lord, both now and forever. Hallelujah! (Psalm 115:17-18)(HCSB)

We like to sing Tommy Walker's praise song "Never Gonna Stop" here at RABC because it reminds us that praise, for the believer, is eternal. It's not just for the here and now, but the worship, the praising we do now is like practice, a warm-up if you will, for when we get to heaven. Take a look at some of the lyrics of Walker's song:

So I'm never gonna stop, never gonna stop
lifting up my hands to You, lifting up my heart.
When the last day comes and goes and time will be no more,
I'll be praising You.
So I'll never let it end, just begin it all again,
thoughts of thankfulness and love I'm always gonna give.
A thousand years from now before Your throne of grace and pow'r
I'll be praising You, praising You.

It's amazing to think that in a thousand years from now we'll still be praising our Father in heaven! And it's not just wishful thinking or a song that we sing; it's a fact that we can bank on if we have truly accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. Take a look at a few scriptures which assure us of our eternal life:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (Jn. 3:16) (NIV)

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 Jn. 5:13) (NIV)
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thess. 4:17)(NIV)

The term "eternal" is referring to not only a length of life, but also to a quality of life. Jesus came to earth not only to give us an unending life spiritually, but to give us what the Bible calls "abundant life." (Jn. 10:10)

As we follow after Jesus, worshiping and serving Him, we begin to experience the kind of life that God meant for us to have. We find the peace and purpose of life that only He can give us. As we praise Him on a daily basis, we're getting a little practice in for eternity where we'll be in His presence forever in praise and adoration of Him!

So as we worship the Lord, let's remember that He is the One we'll be worshiping through all eternity. Let's start to act like it by truly entering in to worship when we have the opportunity at church services realizing that our eternal praises belong to Him and to Him alone. (Psalm 111:10)
Joey C.