Daily Devotional for Tuesday September 4, 2001

The Starting Line of a Relationship

(2 Corinthians 6:14, James 2:17, 1 Timothy 6:19)

***GOD'S TIMING IS PERFECT. MONDAY NIGHT, SYLVIA BROWNE, A WORLD RENOWN PSYCHIC WAS ON LARRY KING LIVE. I WAS SO THANKFUL GOD HAD ME SEND THE DEVOTIONAL ON THIS SUBJECT THAT VERY DAY!!! THAT WAS NO COINCIDENCE. THE THING THAT GRIEVED ME WAS HOW SHE AND OTHER PSYCHICS CLAIM GOD-GIVEN POWERS. AS I POINTED OUT MONDAY, THEY ARE FOR THE MOST PART AN ABSOLUTE FRAUD, A CARNIVAL SHOW. HOWEVER, WHATEVER "POWERS" THEY MAY HAVE COME FROM THE PITS OF HELL ITSELF. THEY WISELY WEAVE THE BIBLE INTO THEIR SHOW. THE FACT IS, THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES AGAINST ALL THEY DO. SADLY, THEY PREY UPON THOSE WHO ARE HURTING, WEAK, WANTING ANSWERS THAT CAN ONLY COME FROM GOD. THE BIBLE HAS THE BEST POLICY. GOD SAYS IF YOU ARE TRULY A PROPHET, NO PROBLEM. GOD DOES GIFT PEOPLE IN THIS AREA, WHICH IS FAR DIFFERENT FROM WHAT MODERN DAY PSYCHICS DO. HOWEVER, THE BIBLICAL STANDARD FOR A PROPHET IS THAT IF YOU ARE WRONG, JUST ONCE, YOU ARE TO BE TAKEN TO THE EDGE OF THE CITY AND STONED TO DEATH. IF YOU WANT TO CLAIM THIS GIFT, FINE. BUT YOU DON'T GET A SECOND CHANCE AT BEING WRONG. I PRAYED THE ENTIRE PROGRAM THAT PEOPLE NOT BE DECEIVED BY PEOPLE LIKE BROWNE, EDWARDS, MISS CLEO, AND ANYONE ELSE WHO TRIES TO CLAIM THESE "GIFTS".

Probably 1/3 of the emails we get at Liveprayer each day are concerning relationships. Men and women who have gotten into bad relationships that not only affect them short-term, but for many, their entire life. Because it is so important to use not only your common sense, but spiritual sense when getting into a relationship. I thought today I would share with you my BIG THREE for starting any relationship. Please understand that by meeting these BIG THREE, it does not insure you will have a successful relationship or that this is really God's plan. However, I can guarantee you that if these BIG THREE don't exist, the chances that this is part of God's plan for your life are highly unlikely. Please take a moment and pray as you read these over. This is no accident you are reading these words today. If you are already in a relationship, ask yourself these three question about the one you are involved with. Again, God gave you the free will to make your own decisions, but if the answer to any of the BIG THREE is NO, I would take some time and pray seriously to see if this is really what God wants for your life.

THE BIG THREE. Number one, is the person you want to enter into a relationship with saved? I have done an entire Devotional in the past, that I will re-air very soon, on being "unequally yoked. The warnings in God's Word are like stop signs. It is up to you to stop, or you can just ignore it and keep going. We all know that if you run stop signs, you are putting yourself at extreme risk, and the consequences could be deadly. I have to tell you that a large percentage of the emails I get from men and women with relationship problems are because they have ignored this warning and entered into a relationship with someone who was not also a believer. It simply does not work. God knows that, and that is why He put that warning so clear in His Word.

Number two, if the person is saved, do you see evidence of their relationship with Christ in their day-to-day life. The Bible clearly tells us in Ephesians chapter two that salvation is by God's grace and our faith. No amount of good works can save you. However, anyone who is truly saved should then have good works flow from their life because of that relationship. One of the best verses in the Bible is that "you will know a tree by the fruit it bears". What that is basically saying is that if you profess to have a relationship with Christ, it should be evident in your day to day life. Anyone who is truly saved should have the evidence of their salvation visible in how they live.

Number three is building a spiritual foundation to your relationship. One of the big catch phrases on our college campuses, and even high schools is "hooking up". It basically means to have anonymous sex with someone. NO feelings are supposed to be involved. Just have sex and go, kind of like a McDonald's drive through. If this isn't one of the most hideous perversions of God's plan for a man and woman, I don't know what is. The sad fact is, however, most couples build a foundation together based on their looks, sadly in many cases on sex, based on many things other than their faith. If you can't build a real spiritual foundation to your relationship, then that relationship will have little chance of standing the test of time. You build it by praying together, reading the Word together, worshiping together, and finding ways to serve the Lord together. These are ways to build that spiritual foundation to your relationship that can carry you through anything.

I love you and care about you so much. I will be praying for you. I pray today that if you are looking to start a new relationship, or are even in one now, that you will read and pray over these BIG THREE. Again, they do not insure a wonderful and happy relationship, but they are instead a starting point. They are actually what I would call pre-requisites, since if they don't exist, you are on very dangerous ground. God loves you very much. He only wants the best for your life. That is why He has given you some guidelines, a track to run on in this difficult area of life. While relationships are very emotionally packed, He has given you some clear guidelines so that you don't allow your emotions to get you into problems, some of which could follow you the rest of your life. Again, it is no accident God has allowed you to read this today, so open your heart and know that He is speaking directly to you today.