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God’s Instructions to Speak Boldly

Acts 18:9One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.10For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”11So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

Don’t Keep Quiet

Here we find Paul on his 2nd, I think, missionary journey and he’s in Cornith. God had given Paul instruction to NOT keep his mouth shut, on the contrary, he was told to speak boldly. Paul did just that, and now, 1 1/2 years later he’s being taken by a large group of Jews to Gallilo. These Jews were hoping he’d throw the law at Paul for teaching about Christ.

Acts 8:13. “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”

The risk of obeying God

Knowing there would be fallout because of those who surrounding him, he still did what was right in sight of the Lord. Oh, how I love what the Lord did here and how He acquitted Paul-just as He told Him He would!

Acts 8:9-10 9One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.10For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”11So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

Don’t Forget, God is with you!

Here, as Paul is surrounded by Jews waiting for judgement to uphold all they knew (the Jewish religion was the only religion licensed under Roman law), look at what Scripture says!

Acts 8:12While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. 13“This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”14Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. 15But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law—settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.” 16So he drove them off. 

Shhhh, don’t speak!

Did you catch it? JUST AS PAUL was about to speak… God spoke for him. And look at what He did! Among such a crowd of men, of Jews, God intervened and the counsel of the land “drove them off.”

Sometimes God urges us to speak-as He commanded Paul to in vs 9.

When in Doubt, Shut up and Pray

Sometimes God wants us to be quiet and let Him speak for us. I don’t know about you, and my own mother was the poster child of this amazing truth of God’s Word, but more often than not, we *I* need to let God handle my confrontations and I need to keep my words to myself. When in doubt, shut up and pray.

The danger of Arrogant & Wicked

Psalm 73 Describes the arrogant and wicked person. vs 8-9 They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others. They boast against God in heaven and their words strut throughout the earth.

Psalm 31:26. When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. (You know who she is, right? A Virtious Woman: A Wife of Noble Character.). What a tangled mess of lies to think our character changes when we’re met with ungodly people or evil circumstances in our lives. Circumstances reveal, not decide, our character.

Circumstances reveal, not decide, our character.

~Tamara| A Girl in the Middle

But You’re Fed UP, right?

I know what you’re feeling. It wears on us, the constant little things that beat us down. (I just spoke about this last week, go look that up.) I get it. I’ve been there…like, yesterday? I should have just shut up and prayed, but I didn’t. Why not? I wasn’t being unreasonable or wrong.

Double-check

Let’s double-check that thought. Truly, I wasn’t wrong and I wasn’t trying to be unkind. I just went with the flow from an innocent question looking for clarity about something we had done here at the house. Because of the timing of my question (as in, the topic showed up from our neighborhood social media and clashed with my husband just trying to get his weekend morning coffee) was ill-advised. I knew it right away and should have waited. But that little thing that’s so common here, it’s never a good time. Nevertheless, I didn’t do myself any favors.

James 3:6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It (defiles) corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

The problem of talking about hard Marriages at Church

Times when I have been so angry at my husband and we continue on with life-with whatever we were headed to do: ballgame, errands, groceries etc (Oh but not church! Right? No, we all behave in church as if Christian women don’t have problems and frustrations with their husband. Save that for those in counseling (because, men are soooo willing to get biblical counsel when their wives ask of them-that’s sarcasm, Friends, forgive me). Christian Women are to never speak negatively about their husbands, right? Because, that’s wrong! No, we should not defame our husband’s reputation, nor should we ever speak to someone who isn’t a godly, wise, loving Woman whose only response would be advice bathed in prayer, god-fearing wisdom, love and scripture. That’s why we’re silenced in the church, gossip runs amuck, women slander their unsuspecting husbands, and marriages flounder. This has to change. Ahh, we’ll get back to this another times. Now, back to defiling the whole body.

Defiles the Whole Body

James 3:6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It (defiles) corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Defileth: to stain, spot, soil. To spiritually stain

Our tongue is one capable part of our body isn’t it? But as good as it can be used for, when we’re using it in a battle of wills, it’s not bringing peace, healing or honor to our marriage or to the Lord. Instead, we are using our own words against us; spiritually staining our own selves. Is it any wonder we feel so low about ourselves when we’re in the battle for our marriages? We’re not fighting this the way God wants us to (and HE does want us to win the battles against evil in our marriages)!

What do we do with a stain?

My husband is FAMOUS, I kid you not, for this. He’ll drop something on his t-shirt while we’re out to eat-no one can even see it’s there, go to the bathroom and come back with a basketball size area of water on his shirt. He went to get the stain out. When we get home, he’ll saturate it with stain remover and throw it in the washer. He’s opposed to stains on his shirts, can you tell?

What does GOD do with our spiritual stains?

Psalm 51:9-10 9Hide Your face from my sinsAnd blot out all my iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

God is opposed to stains, too. Sisters in Christ, I could give you lists (and my husband has repented since and apologized) of years where I was fighting in my marriage completely innocent of the sin which so easily beset us. BUT, I was far from innocent considering my use of my words and my attitude. My words weren’t vulgar, but they were hateful. My words weren’t lies, but they were not said out of love and I wasn’t being kind. I was using my words, my tongue, in ways that were corrupting my whole being. Therefore, guess what? I was feeling cruddy in life…but I was internally and externally placing full blame on my husband. I was wrong.

Christian Women are not without hope in their marriages!

Are we without godly *actionable* hope when we’re continually faced with our husband’s sinful, hurtful choices? NO!

 I Corinthians 13:6.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. When we  meet our reality head on and we know who is intentionally harming us by their words or lifestyle, we don’t love by delighting in their sin against us.   Sisters, we don’t have to teeter totter between rejoicing in who our Savior is while  trusting what He is doing in and through  our struggle with feeling the deep pain  it causes us. Praise and pain can coexist. Be encouraged,   it’s not only ok to find it hard to rejoice into the face of sinful assault, it’s a loving response! We rejoice not in evil but in truth!  Amen?

So, we know, there is another way and we will talk about that next week!

Lord, Renew a right spirit within me!

God does not require of us to be sin’s doormat-not even our husband’s sin. BUT, this way of handling things doesn’t lead him to repentance or change, it doesn’t help to save our marriage, and it ruins us spiritually, emotionally and physically in the process. Renew a right spirit within me; may this be your prayer today.