IS YOUR LIFE A BROKEN CISTERN?

Jeremiah 2:13

New International Version (NIV)

13 “My people have committed two sins:

They have forsaken me,

    the spring of living water,

and have dug their own cisterns,

    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

  Often times in our lives, we put all our faith, hope, and love in things that don't hold water. We would like to have our relationships, material things, and time, more than a relationship with God. We have become the broken cisterns, our lives hold no weight at all. I have been guilty of filling up a cistern... full of priorities, commitments, and useless "time filers". This would always quickly collapse, because I had forsaken God and filled my cistern. I was left broken after these situations fell apart, but God has always been there to pick up the pieces and put them back together. 

  God will use your useless situation, to refine you, teach you, and increase your faith in Him. Does your circumstance control you? Is your situation getting the victory over you? If this is you, just like it was me, then there is hope. I'm going to ask you to do something that, at this point in your life, you will be more than willing to do. GIVE UP! That's right, give up trying to do it all on your own. Life has probably seemed like a heavy coat, that you can't get off. One that is so heavy, you can't stand. God is willing to come take that burden off of you....it's your choice to let Him, or continued to be smothered by life.

There is even better news than that which I have given you so far. Not only is God willing to take your cares, and your worries on Himself, but He will actually make you stronger. Read this verse....

2 Corinthians 12:8-10

New International Version (NIV)

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

  God will be your strength. WOW! When life is to hard, when it all is falling apart, when you can't make it on your own.....God is willing to be your strength. God allowed there to be a "thorn" in Paul's life to keep him fully reliant on God. Give it all to God and He will carry you through to the other side.

The Antidote to Anxiety

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

—Philippians 4:4–7

We all have experienced anxiety, our Father. How helpful it is to be reminded, nevertheless, that we are to celebrate Your name, Your work, Your power, Your character, all day every day, so that we might come to the place where we revel in You. What a grand reminder it is that Your Son could come at any moment. Find us ready for that, Lord.

Yet we cannot be ready as long as anxiety lives enthroned within us, so I pray that You will begin to do a work right now in the lives of those who love to worry. What a waste that we have spent so long in our lives fretting and worrying. Remind us today and in the days to come that prayer can truly displace our worries. Time with You can become such a magnificent turning point, not only in the moment but in the day—in fact, in our lives—so that we might begin to realize the power of Your peace as it settles us down. Give us the ability, the discipline of mind, to meditate on and focus our attention toward that which is true and noble, reputable and authentic, compelling and gracious.

In the marvelous name of Christ, our Savior. Amen. ~ Dr. Chuck Swindoll

Let’s face it–anxiety or worry have no advantages!  They ruin our health, rob us of joy, and change nothing!  Our day stands no chance against the terrorists of the Land of Anxiety.

But Christ offers a worry-bazooka.  Remember how He taught us to pray?  “Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11”  This simple sentence unveils God’s provision plan:  live one day at a time.
Worry gives small problems big shadows.  Corrie ten Boom said, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows; it empties today of its strength.”   And Romans 8:28 affirms: “Every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”
Most anxiety stems, not from what we need, but from what we want.  Philippians 4:4 says, “delight yourselves in the Lord, yes, find your joy in Him at all times!”
If God is enough, you’ll always have enough! ~Max Lucado


These men of God realize that stress and anxiety run rapid through our culture today. Too many of us, put all our faith and trust, in this fading world we live in. You can set yourself free from a lot of worry,if you would put the focus back on God.

Matthew 6:25-34

New International Version (NIV)

Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ 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? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?
²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I hope these scriptures will help someone today. I know that they spoke to me, and helped me to quit focusing on my circumstances. I have conversations with people on the greatness of God. Everyone I have talked to has acknowledged the divine greatness of God. Even people that say they don't believe in God, I have seen acknowledge His greatness. This being said, why do we try to minimize what God can do in our lives? Why do we try to intervene? Why do we have a problem letting God be God? I will tell you the problem is easy......we won't let God be God, because we don't trust Him. As sad as it sounds, it's really true. The reason for the lack of trust, is because we lack a personal relationship with our Creator. How many people have you given all your trust to, without even knowing them? God stands at the door of your heart and knocks. Will you let Him in? Will you start a new relationship with Him today? Can you give all your stress and anxiety over to Him, or are you better off on your own? I will tell you, that for much of my life, I tried to do things on my own. I would pray for God to help me in a situation, and then I would give up on waiting, and take over myself. I'm here today only by the grace of God. I look back at every live changing situation, and see that God had a way of escape for me, but I didn't see it at the time. The reason for this was- I wasn't in right relationship with God. Life doesn't have to be as hard as we make it. Give it over to God today.

Marriage is God's House

 

Genesis 2:19-24 (New American Standard)

 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept ; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh ; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife ; and they shall become one flesh. 

 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept ; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh ; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife ; and they shall become one flesh. 

  If you were to come over to my house, I would welcome you inside but there would be a set of rules by which to abide. Just like I would need to abide by the rules for your house. For example, in my home, I don't allow smoking. So if you smoke, you would need to put out your cigarette before you came in my home.

I am able to make these rules and enforce them because it is my house. Marriage is God's house. He came up with the idea. And it can only run right when it is run by His rules.

What married couples often want to do, though, is to have God's institution of marriage, yet run it by their own rules. They want to get married in the church so that God will bless their marriage, but then they want to leave God standing at the altar. They want to make up their own rules for how a marriage should be run.

But let me tell you a secret. It is a very powerful secret. Pay attention: You don't get God's results without operating by God's rules. You don't get God's blessings in your marriage, and in your home, without following God's instructions. You don't enjoy God's provision, protection, and peace in your relationships without abiding by God's policies concerning the conventional union of marriage.

Ephesians 5:21-33

Instructions for Christian Households

²¹ Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ 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. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[a] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^{[b] 32} This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

God designed marriage to be successful. He intended couples in covenant with Him and one another to have beautiful, fulfilling relationships, not disastrous, emotionally-draining ones.  While marriage is at the heart of our culture, only when couples begin to properly live out covenant relationships in marriage will the fabric of our society be altered.

Adam and Eve, before they fell into sin, experienced the only perfect marriage in history. God commanded them to be fruitful and multiply. God instituted marriage for procreation, and both parents were to rear the children in fear and admonition of the Lord. Marriage and parenting are vital for the continued godly dominion over the earth.

Marriage also completes us as individuals. In marriage, God has deeper levels of maturity and much higher heights of potential planned for couples.  Marriage is also an illustration of the divine.  When Christian couples live their lives according to God's principles, the world sees what Jesus and His bride look like.