I started dating my wife right after a seven month long mission’s trip in Liberia, West Africa. I had no intentions of this being my relationship timeline, but looking back, I can see how God used this mission’s trip to prepare me for marriage. I feel like God had to teach me to serve before he would allow me to lead a wife.
When you are a Christian single who desires to please God, one of the most pressing questions is often, “How will I know when I meet the person God wants me to marry?”
What’s your calling? Who are you? How would you define yourself? These are the questions we seek to answer about ourselves from a young age.
According to the Bible, God’s grace saves Christians from the punishment we deserve, but it does not always save us from the consequences of our actions and it never saves us from God’s discipline.
When it comes to leading, parenting, responding to offenses, or just having authority over people in all the varies roles that exist on earth, it is crucial to know the biblical differences between punishment, discipline, and consequences.
If you were forced to explain the difference between Christianity and every other religion that has ever existed, you could do so in many ways, but also with just one word, “grace.” Grace is God’s gift. Grace is undeserved. Everything good God gives us, including our very salvation, is through Jesus Christ and then given to us in grace. Grace, however, can be abused so easily.
What should you do if there are theological differences in your marriage? Is interdenominational marriage acceptable? Does the Bible forbid interfaith marriage? Can a Calvinist marry an Arminian? Can a complementarian marry an egalitarian? Can a Baptist marry a Pentecostal? If you are dating to figure out if you should marry someone, but theological differences arise, is this a sign you should not get married?
As a Christian, there is nothing more despairing and hopeless that repetitive sin. How easy it is for doubts and confusion regarding our own salvation to begin to creep into our minds when we continue to sin over and over again. Overwhelming feelings of God’s anger and disappointment with our repeated rebellious behavior can crush us so completely we eventually do not want to come to him at all.
Martin Loyd Jones said, “Sanctification proceeds as we are led by the Holy Spirit to draw deductions from the doctrine of justification. Do you long to be holy? Do you long to have victory over sin in your mortal body? How can you do so? First, understand the doctrine. You cannot ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2:12-13) if we are unclear about the doctrine of salvation.”
Is it ever possible to pray too much? This question is both easy and hard to answer. The short answer is “No, you cannot pray too much.”
However, when we start talking about praying for specific people, places, and things over defined periods of time, we will need to apply wisdom and walk with the Spirit to answer this question in each personal situation people will encounter.
In other words, while you cannot pray too much, I believe it is possible to pray too much about certain things or certain desires, especially when the Holy Spirit is trying to move you forward but for some reason you won’t let a certain prayer request go.
So what does the Bible say about praying too much?
It’s my belief that the amount of real spiritual power someone has is equal to how much credit they are willing to give God in their hearts and actions. God greatly uses those who are finally ready to give him all the glory. If you still desire the praise, then God isn’t going to curse you with the power.
This trait of possessing power and yet knowing it comes from God is always present in those God uses the most. Joseph is a perfect example of this.