Living a Godly life pleasing to the Lord can sometimes be overwhelming because of what we receive into our minds. The following three areas can affect our thinking and thus our willingness to let the Lord in to change us to His glory and for our benefit.

I. Confusing teachings, supported by Scripture.

Many people bombard us with confusing teachings. Personally, I have read, been told by well-meaning people, or seen in the news things such as:

• Don’t speak to your husband about his behavior even if he is sinning against you or your children. If you do, you’re not submissive.

• You are here to help your husband; he is not here to help you.

• You should wear a head covering and dresses only. Never cut your hair nor braid it. Don’t wear makeup or do anything to beautify your outward appearance.

• Speaking in tongues proves you’re baptized by the Spirit; if you don’t, then you’re not.

• To become a Daniel, your children must be placed in situations with peers so they can learn to take a stand for God.

• You can arrive at the point in your Christian life where you will not sin. The reason you are not at that place is because you are not fully walking in the Spirit.

• Don’t participate in your government because you are an ambassador of Christ. Ambassadors in a foreign country never participate in that country’s government.

Christian men can and should marry multiple wives, just like in the Old Testament, and live in compounds separate from the world. All these interpretations by man (and woman) are backed up with Scripture, but the Spirit of the Lord is not in these interpretations.

You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life. ~John 5:39-40

II. Turmoil in the world around us.

In addition to receiving misleading teachings and counsel, we are faced with

• unpopular wars.

• encroaching governmental policies that bind rather than free.

• politicians who advocate false philanthropy and do not value responsible liberty.

III. Turmoil in the home and turmoil within us.

There may be strife in our homes and our hearts due to:

• financial difficulties in these hard times because of loss of income.

• lack of unity between husband and wife on domestic issues related to how to manage a home or how to raise children.

• children not responding positively to the child training parents are implementing.

Faced with all these uncertainties, we women may become discouraged. We may wonder, “Where are You, Lord, amidst all this tension in the world, in the churches, in my home, in my heart?”

Our dreams begin to die—and perhaps they should.

A Closer Look at know/knowledge Epiginōskō [Strong’s: 1921] to become thoroughly acquainted with, to know accurately and well to know to recognize by sight, hearing, of certain signs, to perceive who a person is to perceive to find out, ascertain to understand

How can we live at peace in the present times, in our particular circumstances, with joy? One way is by growing in the knowledge of Christ Jesus by becoming thoroughly acquainted with Who He is and how He works in the lives of people today and throughout history. The second edition of this ezine touched upon abiding in the grace of the Lord. I hope this fourth edition of Released to Love encourages you to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

REJOICING IN REALITY

When turmoil is around us and perhaps in us, we can begin to doubt God’s goodness and faithfulness. Instead of abiding in the life of Christ, we might abide in one of the following extremes or something in between:

• spent: responding to life’s challenges to the point of exhaustion.
  “I am giving all I can and it’s not enough” or

• paralyzed: not responding at all.
  “I don’t know how or what to change so I won’t be open to change anything at all.”

Read more:
Where do you abide?

If you are abiding somewhere in this continuum between spent and paralyzed, it is time to revive your soul.

But how? What is your part?

Look back intentionally at what He has done—in the world, in the Church, in your home, in your heart—with thanksgiving. Look forward by faith in the glorious future promised to the Christian with hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

A record of God’s faithfulness in the past combines with hope in a better future for one end: to equip us for the present. Philip Yancey Reaching for the Invisible God

As we diligently study (2 Timothy 2:15) the history of the Old and New Testaments, of the Church, and of the nations throughout time, and as we recall His goodness and faithfulness in our own personal lives,

• we discover the character of our faithful God,

• we see His overwhelming goodness triumph over evil especially at the Resurrection, and

• we grow in the knowledge of Who He is as manifested in His Son.

The reality of His goodness and faithfulness throughout history and in our own personal lives moves us to change—to put off the old self and to “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:10).

To discover more about
the work and Person of Christ,
please prayerfully consider signing up for the
Levitical Sacrifices Meditations.

REACHING CHILDREN

Reach your children with your discoveries about God’s goodness and faithfulness as you simply share your everyday life together.

Teach them world history. If you don’t know history yourself, learn right along with them. This journey of acquiring knowledge together tightly binds hearts in love. Use your library frequently. Read together daily. Listen to and validate your children’s thoughts. Tell them stories of your personal history. The family dinner table can become a fun place of intimate sharing about your past and about God’s faithfulness during the times even when you were far from Him. While sipping tea or sharing a dessert after dinner, my children often ask my husband and me to repeat stories of our growing-up years, how we met, the places we lived, the trips we took, the adventures we experienced. Share your life with your children naturally. Practice Biblical addition. (See the sidebar to your right). Live the genuine Christian life before them as you put on the new man because of your increasing faith and hope in Christ. Invite our good and faithful God into your heart; and by His Spirit, He will add these virtues to your life so that you will practice them before your children. Teach them by your example as well as your words.

Biblical Addition He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ~2 Peter 1:4-8

• Give them hope for their future.

  As your children mature, build upon the foundation of God’s goodness and faithfulness as demonstrated throughout the history you have been learning together and as demonstrated in your own life. Let your children know that just as He has been faithful to direct your life and the lives of so many others throughout time that He will be intimately involved in opening and closing doors in your children’s lives as well.

Read personal testimonies:
God’s faithful guidance in my daughter’s life
Validating my young son

RESTORING MARRIAGE

Being firmly grounded in the knowledge of Who Christ is, of how God works throughout history, and of how He works in your own life will keep you from embracing teachings that stifle your marriage.

For example, sound doctrine related to submission will bring liberty, sight, and healing to all marriages. Sound doctrine releases people from what binds to genuine love that frees.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing [fn] her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church for we are members of his body. ~Ephesians 5:21-30

Biblical submission is a call to all Christians, men and women alike. Couples within healthy Christian marriages will reflect genuine love as both husband and wife submit to one another. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. ~Ephesians 5:21 Ephesians 5:21 is the topic sentence for the passage highlighted to your left. Many people have written volumes about how wives are to practice doormat submission to their husbands; but a woman who is growing in the knowledge of Christ her Lord will receive a prompting by the Spirit-in-her that this teaching is not sound. At this point, she must decide Whom she will obey: man (or woman) or God. A woman abiding in Christ through worship and practicing the genuine Christian life through obedience to God will learn to set healthy, Godly boundaries within her marriage, submitting to God (not man) while submitting to her husband in the domestic realm. Sound teaching points us to the mutual submission within marriage, as outlined in Ephesians. Not only are wives to submit to their husbands but husbands are to give themselves up for their wives, as Christ did for the Church.

Husbands and wives who are being grounded in the knowledge of Who Christ is and how He works in the lives of His people will willingly

grow up into Christ their Head, and embrace and practice mutual submission in their marriages and encourage others to do the same.

Submission: Willingly coming under others to release them to love! My working definition of submission

Since my husband and I have been released from the binding teachings on patriarchy marriage, our once struggling marriage is now a healthy one.

We both have areas where we need to grow, yet we can validate and appreciate each other right where we are while always encouraging personal growth.

Not only do I help my husband in his personal pursuits, but he helps me in mine as well. By God’s grace and mercy in our lives, He has taught us to mutually submit to each other, as outlined in the Ephesians passage.

Read a personal testimony:
A changed husband’s perspective on submission

HEART TO HEART

How can you determine the truth that will set you free when there are so many misleading Christians teachings available?

What kinds of stands should you take on troubling world issues?

How can you resolve personal issues in your home and in your heart?

As you grow in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, you will learn to discern His Voice for your particular circumstances. Let Him lead you and obey Him alone. He will answer your questions. Be ready to stand firm with conviction on issues, yet willing to change as you grow in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. He—not your convictions—is your firm Foundation.

I encourage you to continue to abide in the reality of God’s goodness and faithfulness through the trying times you are facing right now.

Grow in the knowledge of Christ. Become thoroughly acquainted with the character of Christ and with the way God works in the lives of His beloved—in your life.

• Pray for personal revelation as you study world history, which includes Biblical history, to see the big picture of God’s faithfulness.

• Look back at what He has done through seemingly impossible circumstances in your own personal life and thank Him.

• Look forward to the promises He gives you in His Word about your future. He will strengthen your walk by faith because of the hope He offers you in Christ.

May you walk in faith by His divine power as you grow in the knowledge of Christ Jesus.

~Acts 17:28a

SHARE YOUR TESTIMONIES

As this ezine grows, I hope to share your testimonies of how the Lord is releasing you to His love and how the outpouring of His love is overflowing in your relationships with your husband and children.

Please contact me if you would like to share a thought, idea, or testimony that you think would encourage and uplift other subscribers to this ezine.

I would love to hear from you.

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Thank you for your interest in this ezine. I pray the insights shared release you to love.