Charlyne Cares Daily Devotional - Helping Stop Divorce God's Way

Will You Hunger and Thirst For Righteousness?

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled." Matthew 5:6

Are you hungering and thirsting for righteousness as you seek to have your marriage touched and restored by your Heavenly Father? Are you seeking God's kingdom and His righteousness?

The disciples who were following their Lord Jesus Christ chose to follow and give all their allegiance to their new King. We, as believers, are to seek first the Lord's righteousness. That is characteristic of God's kingdom and then "all these things" (your material things) will be given to you. You and I must strive to be more Christ-like each day. This may seem hard to accomplish, but if you will continue to pray and seek the Lord, He will bless you for your faithfulness and remove the obstacles that are causing you to stumble.

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33

The scripture above is a summary of the Sermon On The Mount. Jesus was telling the Disciples to continually to seek holiness living in righteousness and then the material things would be given to them. As Jesus said, "Your Heavenly Father cares for even the birds!"

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life." Matthew 6:26

Let's look at the words "seek" and "righteousness." The word "seek" in the Nelson's Three-In One Bible Reference Companion means: "To look for; attempt to obtain." May you and I learn and understand the importance of pursuing and seeking righteousness in our daily lives. What is the meaning of righteousness? In the Nelson's Reference Companion it says: "To inherent or imputed guiltlessness before God; acting in accord to God's laws."

You can only demonstrate the Lord Jesus Christ's righteousness by obeying His commands. This is done by striving daily to be more like Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit and showing the Lord's love toward everyone.

Are you showing love to your spouse during your circumstances? I know it is hard. Ask the Lord to show you how you can walk, talk and react in Christlikeness even when your spouse is not being loveable.

I know that you love your spouse. Your family and friends do not understand how you can continue to love or care about your spouse due to all your circumstances. The enemy, Satan is trying to destroy another marriage and family. What can you do?

Ask yourself, "What would Jesus do? What does Jesus teach us to do?" How many times did Jesus teach us about unconditional love, forgiveness and loving your enemies? You and I will never be perfect, but we should hunger and thirst for the Lord's righteousness.

"When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots." Luke 23:33-34

Jesus was teaching His disciples, and us, to be different. You and I must walk the narrow road. As you read and study the Word of God, you will see scriptures that will leap off the page regarding the sinfulness of man or the warnings that our Lord gives to us and our loved ones. None of us will be sinless, but we have been touched by our Lord, cleansing us from our sins and all impurities. You and I have had our hearts transformed, becoming a new creature in Christ.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Matthew 5:8

I pray that you will believe in God's Word regarding restoration for your marriage. I also pray that if the Lord has spoken to you, do not take it lightly. Consider it as if you were a Moses, a Samuel, a Jeremiah or a Deborah. God does not speak and then change His mind, but wants you to believe in His Word and the power of God. If you have any doubt or fear, recognize who is giving it to you--the Enemy! So read God's Word and stand firm on God's Word!

"God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it." Numbers 23:19-20

You may be going through difficult circumstances right now. You may have received your divorce papers or you may be going to court soon. You may have discovered there is another person in your spouse's life. You may have heard that your spouse is planning a wedding or you found out the other person may be pregnant. God hates divorce. He hates the devastation that it does to every member of the family. Adultery is ugly and has disastrous results, which causes destruction in your marriage and in all your loved ones lives. What can you do?

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." Hebrews 10:35-39

I pray that you will seek and grow in the basic requirements for all godly living which is to "hunger and thirst for righteousness." The enemy goes after each of us in different ways to keep us from: praying and talking to the Lord daily, reading and studying the Word of God, walking in His righteousness, believing in God's power, strength, grace and mercy for us.

Examine yourself this weekend and choose to strive to become like Noah or Abraham, when God had a divine plan and purpose for them. They had to choose to be obedient, listen to God's voice and believe. They did not listen to others, who did not believe them. We have the Holy Spirit, so you must listen for His voice of instructions and hunger and thirst for the Lord's righteousness. You will never be the same!

"By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith." Hebrews 11:7

"Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:4-6

Have a blessed weekend,
Charlyne Steinkamp
Rejoice Marriage Ministries, Inc.
Post Office Box 10548
Pompano Beach, FL 33061 USA
http://rejoiceministries.org  (Ministry web site)
http://rejoiceministries.org/r.php?num=tizwl  (Bookstore)
http://rejoiceministries.org/r.php?num=1qrwh  (24/7 Radio)

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Cassette Sale -

Even though the CD has become the favored audio listening for many people, we also know that some standers still prefer the cassette tape. We want to reduce our tape inventory because they
can help people instead of taking up our shelf tape.

We have dropped the price of our remaining individual teaching cassette tapes to 99 cents each. Some of the 25 titles available are identical teachings to CDs costing several times that much. Others are older titles not even available on CD. While most are Charlyne teachings, we also have testimonies on tape of restored marriages, our message to pastors and Charlyne’s testimony.

A new Bookstore feature also allows you to select twelve cassette titles for ten dollars plus shipping. Those 720 minutes of teaching and encouragement could get your stand for marriage restoration on track (or back on track). Read the titles available from - http://rejoiceministries.org/r.php?num=hufsx  

Devotional Copyright© 2010 Rejoice Marriage Ministries, Inc.

Scripture quoted by permission and are from the Holy Bible; New International Version® Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

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