God My Husband – Part 1
by Margaret D. Mitchell
"For your Maker is your husband—The Lord Almighty is His name—The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth." -Isaiah 54:5
It’s Not Incest
Making God your first husband may sound incestuous at first because He is Our Heavenly Father. But it’s not, and here’s why…
· You’re not having sex with your Maker.
· You are experiencing true intimacy of soul, spirit and body with Him.
By faith, God is your source for love and the protective shield that enables you to be entirely safe with Him so that you can open up to Him without fear of harm. He is your rock that you can always count on. He is your confidant to whom you can always entrust your secrets. He is your refuge to whom you can always run. He will never leave or forsake you. He is love, and He is faithful to His Word—written, spoken, revealed—every promise, always truthful, never disappointing. This is the real intimacy for which your Maker designed you.
Regarding your body, the truth of 1 Corinthians 6:19 awakens us: "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of The Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself."
Since, as a Christian, your body belongs to God—because it was bought with the blood of Jesus—when you honor God by truly dedicating it to Him, He will fill your holy vessel with His living water to overflowing. So He, as your sole divine source, is from where your finest intimate fulfillment comes.
John 7:38 assures us: "Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."
When you allow God, as your life-giving provider, to rise up in you and fill you with His life, you will see Him begin to produce holy, purposed fruit through you.
Have you dedicated your whole being to God alone? He is sovereign, and His ways are righteous.
Your Maker Offers Prosperity
3 John 1:2 assures us: "Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers." This scripture doesn’t mean only in one area of our lives. It means wholly. And the holy starts before the wholly is produced. And sanctification is the process by which fruit is produced by The Holy Spirit, first inwardly then outwardly.
Decades ago, my mother said to me: “When you learn to put God first in your life, you will become very, very successful.”
Well, I thought I had put God first when I accepted Him as The Savior of my life several years earlier. But deep down, I knew there was truth in her words, even though I didn’t know exactly what she meant; and I had no clue how to do what she said. I did not understand God’s kind of success.
In time, as I sought God, I came to understand more of His truth: being whole meant living holy unto The Lord with Him as my provider, lover, friend. Therefore, I was not capable of living a holy life doing it my way. Only The Holy Spirit could help get me where He desired I be—living for Him in every aspect of my life. Until I got this revelation, I did not understand that God had more for me on earth than a promise of eternal life. He had a blessed life on earth for me too.
But victory on earth comes from obedience to God.
So God began to do deep works in me over time; and with each level of sanctification, He lifted me. And He will do the same for you if you are willing to submit to His will and His ways consistently, even when it feels uncomfortable, even when it doesn’t make sense to your mind.
God takes us from glory to glory. He always has more holiness for us to receive. Always. It’s up to us to seek Him. And as we do, we will come to know His nearness to us. He gives us the option to choose.
James 4:8 reminds us: "Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."
You cannot have it your way and God’s way unless your ways are synced with God’s righteous ways.
Professionally Speaking
When people ask me about prosperity in their professions, I try to point them to God and remind them that purity of heart to God’s righteousness will determine their fruitfulness on earth in all facets of our lives. Anyone who has viewed a TV episode of The Profit can see that, skill sets asides, issues of the heart take businesses and their people down, requiring renewed clarity and order to get them back on track. It is crucial to understand that our personal intimacy with God is not separate from our professional lives. Rather, it is the beginning of real life at work and determines the level of fruit God produces through us. Our pure dedication and God's transformation of human hearts will change companies and nations for the better. And it always begins with God touching our heart first to follow His lead. Until we say, "Yes Lord," we will not experience revival in this way. He always gives us a choice for greater prosperity.
Margaret D. Mitchell is the Founder of God's Love at Work, a marketplace outreach purposed to share God's greatest power source - the love of Christ. This devotional was adapted from Margaret's forthcoming book, Enduring Grace. All rights reserved.
Originally published Sunday, 01 December 2019.
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