Spiritual Goals

Hi everyone! I'm still here but life's been hectic and finding time to write has been hard. Lord willing I plan to work on (and hopefully finish!) the next post about Biblical femininity vs. false femininity in the next few days, but just now I want to encourage you about having spiritual goals.


In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul exhorts, "Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." Sometimes it's possible, dear sisters, for us to be solely focused on the first part of that verse - fleeing "youthful lusts." We concentrate our spiritual efforts on putting off our old man - that is, our old nature - as we are instructed to in Ephesians 4:22, while forgetting that we must also "put on" the new man in its place. We get caught up in the "do's and don'ts" of the Christian life and feel we have so many things to overcome. Our energy is spent beating down our sin nature and fighting the devil so that we have nothing left with which to actually grow! 


Let me begin by saying that victory over sin, albeit challenging at times, begins in the mind. It starts with the simple determination to believe what the Scripture says about you: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." You are a new creation, beloved! Not "will be... someday;" no, you are a new creation right now! God made it so when you entered into Christ. In other words, your old nature is dead so you don't have to waste your time and energy on "crucifying" it over and over again. It's a done deal. Listen to Paul's words in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." So you see - you no longer need to "obey" your old self; you are now free to obey the Son of God and let His life shine through you.


Before we move on, though, here's yet one more verse that speaks of the present reality of who you are: "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21) Today I'm asking you therefore - begin with the starting point of confidence in who you are in Christ. Then, and only then, will you be able to focus on moving forward in your faith.


Secondly, don't try to do anything - at least not in your own strength; unless you want to fail miserably. No, instead you and I must go daily to the Lord and ask Him to fill us with the strength and wisdom that He provides:


"Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 6:11


"And he said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' " 2 Corinthians 12:9


"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." James 1:5


"Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 4:11


Now, when you've grasped this and begun to truly empty yourself of yourself so that God can fill you, you'll be ready to pursue spiritual goals. With this in mind, the Bible gives us many "lists" of things we should focus on becoming. As Christian women most of us are familiar with Proverbs 31, Titus 2 and 1 Peter 3. Then, of course, there is probably the most well-known and widely written-about passage on spiritual growth - Galatians 5, which describes for us the fruit of the Spirit. However, as great as those passages are (and they certainly are) - I think in 2 Timothy 2:22 we have a wonderful, short list of things that Paul actually encouraged Timothy to pursue. So let's look at that list again, "...Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace."


Now, this is where I'm going to encourage you to do your own study. Many wonderful resources are available online to help you discover truths about what each of the things mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:22 really are. Personally I love the website Biblos.com. On there you'll find various translations of the Bible; commentaries; a Bible atlas, concordance, dictionary, encyclopedia, and thesaurus - as well as gazillions of other great stuff! If you browse around on it I think you'll find it absolutely rich with tools to enhance your study of Scripture. 


So then, when you have a pretty good understanding of each of the virtues Paul lists, write your insights in a journal of some sort and prayerfully consider which one God wants you to work on. Ask Him to give you specific things to do. For example, you might end up noting something like this: "This week I'm going to make a point of waving and smiling to my unlovable and difficult neighbor whenever I see him outside." And here's a journal entry that I actually wrote on May 10 - about a month ago - that was a particular challenge to me that day: "This morning I felt reminded of John 12:24,'...Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies it bears much fruit.' Will I die today?"


Friend, please remember that these are goals and therefore must be pursued intentionally. Make a game plan for each day. Write it down. Then again pray for strength, wisdom, and insight. The next morning reflect on your progress and the previous day's events. This is very important! It will alternately encourage and chastise you along the way. And finally, consider confiding in a godly friend to hold you accountable to your goals. If you should fail one day (or two!), ask God to forgive you - then get back up and go forth in His strength! The bottom line that I want to encourage you with is to actually have spiritual goals that you are intentionally pursuing. Don't be lulled into thinking that spiritual growth just happens. Generally speaking, it doesn't. Usually if we're not careful - that is, if we're not taking a daily "spiritual inventory" of where we're at - it's all too easy to fall into complacency and a dead, static Christian walk. And I don't want that to happen to any of us dear sisters!


If you have any comments I'd love to hear them! Go in peace this week my friends!

Scripture Prayer for Marriages in Trouble or Recovery

"He sent His word and healed them,

 And delivered them from their destructions." Psalm 107:20

God's Word is so powerful! And praying it is a wonderful way to grow in your prayer life and deepen your walk with Jesus. What's more, your faith will increase as you experience the blessing of answered prayers. So no matter what your battle is right now - troubled marriage, an adulterous spouse, or perhaps a spouse who has left the home - God's Word has an answer for each of these problems. It is absolutely loaded with timely wisdom and the precious words of those saints of old who have gone before us; many who faced the same giants we face today. Have confidence that the Word of God is powerful, and that by it you can STAND IN THE GAP on behalf of your marriage!

As promised, in this post I'll share my (ever-growing) list of Scriptures that I have prayed, or continue to pray, for my marriage, my husband, and/or myself as wife and mother. I say continue to pray because, until the day the Lord calls me home, I have determined that I will never "relax" or stop praying earnestly because the Bible tells us that we are to "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8) I can think of no better way to "be on the alert" than in prayer. (Mark 13:33; Luke 21:36; Col. 4:2) Because the list is extensive, I'm not going to group each one  for you, but rather will tell you that each Scripture verse or passage falls into one or more of the following categories:

• Marriage/ Husband and Wife Relationship
• Adulterer's/ Abandoning Spouse's Repentance, Spiritual Growth, Deliverance, Identity in Christ, Knowing & Understanding the Truth, and Protection
• Yourself (as Wife)
• Children

As you look them up you can decide:
1) If the reference is relevant to your situation
2) If it is, for whom or for what particular situation you will pray it

Many of the verses or passages were ones that were particular to the time of my husband's affair, or during the early days of our marriage reconciliation. These I no longer pray for my own marriage, but I pray them as I become aware of other marriages facing the heartache of infidelity. The Bible tells us that as Christians we have a duty to bear the burdens of others and lift their struggles before the Throne of Grace. (Gal. 6:2) 

Another thing I will tell you. Many of the verses have a similar theme and often I will pray them together. Sort of like cross-reference praying! Let me share an example with you, while at the same time demonstrate how to use Scripture to form a prayer. My husband, throughout his Christian walk, has often struggled with really believing that God  loves him and is pleased with him. So when I pray that he might better understand God's love, I say: "Lord, I ask that You would pour out Your love within Aaron's heart. I pray that he would come to know and believe the love which You have for him and that, by this, love would be perfected in him. Please let perfect love cast out all fear." (Romans 5:5; 1 John 4:16-18;) "Deliver him now from a spirit of fear - and instead fill him with power, love, and a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7) "And Father, finally I ask You to direct his heart into the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ." (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

Perhaps, if you've been here awhile, you'll also recall that along with the struggle to understand God's love, Aaron also grew up in a church that did not fully teach about God's grace. In the past he seemed to feel as if he somehow needed to do something to "maintain" his salvation. He was never able to simply rest in the Lord, and His finished work. (I wrote about this in a post entitled Understanding Grace and Our Identity in Christ.) To counter this, the Lord specifically gave me two verses which I still pray daily since understanding God's grace is something we must learn over a lifetime! The prayer goes something like this: "Lord, I pray that you would (continue to) cause Aaron to understand the grace of God in truth." (Col. 1:6) "Additionally, please allow his heart to be established with grace." (Hebrews 13:9)

The Full Armor of God

Lastly, before the list, I feel that I should mention one passage of Scripture specifically because of its absolute importance. I implore you to daily pray the full armor of God, as described in Ephesians 6, on both you and your spouse. I do not get up from my knees each morning until this is done. Charlyne Steinkamp, whom I've mentioned before as a wonderful inspiration to those who are "standing," says, "As faithful as Bob might be today to me and to our marriage, as well as to the Lord, I will continue to pray the armor of God on us and a hedge of protection around him in this area (adultery) until the Lord calls one of us home."

One of the neatest things you can do with this is when you go through each piece of the armor - for example, loins girded with truth - is to incorporate other verses that speak of truth, like John 8:32 or John 17:17, into your prayer. Doing this will help you to cover each area mentioned in Ephesians 6, while truly helping you to develop your own "cross-reference system." I believe your hunger for the Word will increase as you're challenged to find more and more verses related to each piece of armor.

Prayer Scriptures

All that said, here's my list of Scripture verses and passages. Although some of them will be in the form of a prayer, such as some of Paul's prayers recorded for us in the epistles, please remember that most will not, and therefore you may need to "reword" them a bit. May I emphasize that praying through the Scriptures is a means by which we may come to be in union with the heart of God; it should not, however, become an empty religious exercise of merely reciting the Bible.

2 Chronicles 20:12,15-17
Nehemiah 1:5-9
Job 33:14-18
Psalm1; Psalm 15; Psalm 19:7-14; Psalm 25; Psalm 34:8-14,19; Psalm 35; Psalm 37:7-15; Psalm 40:1-3,8; Psalm 43:3; Psalm 46:1-3,10; Psalm 51; Psalm 57; Psalm 63; Psalm 71; Psalm 86:11-13; Psalm 92:12-15; Psalm 107:20; Psalm 119:11,105,133; Psalm 126; Psalm 127a; Psalm 143 (really there's many more from the Psalms so I would suggest that you peruse them and write down ones that express your own heart towards God)
Proverbs 2:10-17; 3:1-13; 31:10-31
Isaiah 40:31; 46:10b; 52:1; 57:15-19; 59:19; 61:3
Jeremiah 24:6-7; 32:17
Ezekiel 22:30; 36:25-27; 37:23
Hosea 14:4-6
Micah 6:8
Malachi 4:6
Matthew 6:33
Luke 2:79
John 1:12; 8:32; 12:24; 15:1-17; 17:17
Acts 26:18 (an excellent prayer if you're not sure about your husband's salvation)
Romans 5:5; 6:11-14; 8:15; 12:1-2,9-21; 15:5-7,13 (Verse 13 is a perfect prayer for someone who struggles with assurance of their salvation)
1 Corinthians 2:16; 13:4-7
2 Corinthians  3:14-18; 4:6; 5:7,17; 7:1,10
Galatians 4:5-7
Ephesians 1:2-3; 1:17-19; 3:16-20; 4:22-27,32; 5:33; **6:10-17
Philippians 1:6; 2:2-5,12-13; 4:6-8
Colossians 1:5-6,9-14,23; 2:2-15
1 Thessalonians 1:5; 3:12; 5:23
2 Thessalonians 1:3,11-12; 3:4-5
1 Timothy 2:4; 6:11-12
2 Timothy 1:7; 2:22,25-26
Hebrews 4:15-16; 10:19-25; 13:9,20-21
James 4:7; 5:16,19-20
1 Peter 3:1-6; 4:8,11
2 Peter 1:3-9
1 John 1:9; 4:16-17

Now, while this list is quite long, please know that I don't pray every single one of these passages each day. Some I no longer pray because they're no longer relevant. Some passages are similar, so I pray one or the other. Others express a need that is not urgent today and so I skip that. I really do pray what's on my heart each morning - and throughout the day - and so I don't get hung up on praying through a list. These Scriptures just happen to be the "backbone" of my prayers and enable me to better convey my requests as I seek the face of God.

As much as I'd like to continue, I have to tell you that right now I feel like I should publish this post today, and save my answered prayers for the next one! It just seems like that should be its own post. 

Friend, please know that I pray for all the readers here. I pray that this week the Lord will fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you are visiting today because your spouse is having or has had an affair, please click on this link to take you to the first article I wrote on 8/27/10 about my own experiences entitled, What I've Learned Through My Husband's Affair. From there to the present are many more helpful posts for those going through the trial of adultery that include such topics as: forgiveness (6 posts); regaining trust; prayer; and others. You may wish to use the Blog Archive in the sidebar to navigate forward from the above post through the articles that seem relevant to you.


I also am available to talk privately with anyone who needs that as well. I have counseled a number of women and would love to visit with you! You may reach me by email at titus2homemaker@gmail.com. I'm glad you stopped by!