Have you ever been in a situation and thought, “I have got to run away!”? Maybe it was some kind of danger you encountered or an aggressor was approaching and running is all that you could think of at that moment. Some view running away as cowardly and think that one must always put up a fight. When we think of fight or flight, regarding spiritual matters, there are times for both. Christians are in a spiritual warfare, and thus must be hard, fighting soldiers (Ephesians 6:10-17; 2 Timothy 2:3-4), but at the same time, there are situations in which those in combat just need to run!

The New Testament is full of warnings and admonitions for Christians to guard against going back to the old life of sin (Romans 6:5-14; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Galatians 5:16-21; Colossians 3:1-11; Hebrews 10:19-31; James 1:21-27; 1 Peter 4:1-3). In so doing, the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul used strong terminology at times. He directly told the church at Corinth, “flee fornication” (1 Corinthians 6:18). This command came after rebuking Christians there for not disciplining a brother for this very sin (1 Corinthians 5). We see that there were sexual addiction problems in the 1st century similar to what we see today in society. (It is seemingly worse today due to the fact that TV and the Internet have allowed people immediate and private access in their homes.) Fornicators in the church! May it not be! Sadly, we know all too well that even God’s people do not run from this sin. Those who give into fornication have made themselves members of harlots. They forget that God, in adding them to His church, has made them members of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:15). They forget that they belong to the One Who purchased them (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). They forget God will bring judgment on fornicators (Hebrews 13:4)!

What is the answer to avoid fornication? Continue reading in 1 Corinthians 7 about marriage! Of course, it must be marriage God’s way to keep one from fornication. Faithful, loving husbands and wives give the affection, love and respect due one another, and they do not deprive one another of sex (1 Corinthians 7:2-5; Ephesians 5:33). Marriage, God’s way, is for life (1 Corinthians 7:10-11).

Likewise, to Timothy, Paul instructed to “flee also youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 2:22 NKJV). As Christians in this spiritual battle for souls, we cannot give into the idea that it is all right to get really close to sin without partaking of it. In our self-gratifying and entertainment-seeking culture, we are tempted to think, “I can watch this movie, show, etc. and fast-forward through the sex scene” or “I know she always dresses immodestly, but I enjoy being around her and talking with her.” Sadly, many have let themselves be overtaken with lust and do not attempt to guard against sexual sins. This has resulted in the destruction of souls, many marriages ending in divorce and children being raised without two committed parents. We must remind ourselves with constant and diligent Bible study that God wants us to run away from “every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Let us be like courageous Joseph in Potiphar’s house and flee from “this great wickedness” (Genesis 39:6-12).

 In 1 Timothy 6:11, Paul said to “flee these things.” He just discussed the desire to be rich and the love of money (1 Timothy 6:6-10). Verse 10 is sometimes misquoted by stating that money is evil, but the Scripture says, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Pursuing wealth and gain from an attitude of discontentment is covetousness – not godly living as Paul described (vs. 6-8). The deceitfulness of riches has caused many to stray from the faith. The Lord gave the image of a plant being choked out by thorns (Matthew 13:22) and said that it is very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom (Luke 18:24-25). He warned “to beware of covetousness” and proceeded to tell the parable of a certain rich man whom God called a fool (Luke 12:15-21). In this very materialistic world, we all must take heed and diligently escape the temptation to lay up treasure for ourselves on earth, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34; see also v. 21). We must be wise and remember that material possessions (and our physical lives on this earth) are like the flowers of the field – pretty for a while, but soon they perish (James 1:9-11; 1 Peter 1:22-25). What remains is the Word of God and that imperishable crown He promises to those who are faithful (1 Corinthians 9:25; James 1:12).

Paul further told the Corinthian Christians to “flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14). This was right after he reminded them of Old Testament Israel’s sins after God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. It is interesting that 1 Corinthians 10:6-13 could be an outline of this very study. Notice the sins Israel committed in the wilderness: lusts, idolatry, fornication, complaining and discontentment with God’s provisions (covetousness). Paul penned in Colossians 3:5, “covetousness, which is idolatry.” When we are not content with God and do not fully trust Him, we seek and put our trust in such vain and dumb things like pleasure, power, lusts of the flesh and material wealth (1 Corinthians 12:2). Everyone in the world is influenced by these idols, but God’s people should be actively running away from such worthless endeavors. Sadly, many Christians today need to turn from idols to serve the One, True and Living God (1 Thessalonians 1:9). They profess Christianity, but their hearts are in fellowship with demons (1 Corinthians 10:20-21). Again, they have forgotten that, as the church, they are the temple of God in which there is no communion with idols (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). God’s people should be seeking “first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” remembering that He will take care of our needs (Matthew 6:33). Let us not be like old Israel, who did not flee idolatry, but remember 1 John 5:21, which reads, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

We have seen that there are times in a Christian’s life when one must run! As we are tempted in this evil world, we must look for that way of escape and have the conviction to flee through it (1 Corinthians 10:13). When we run from sin, we draw near to God and resist the devil – causing him to flee from us (James 4:7-8)! As we fight the good fight of faith, may we remember to “…be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love… But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints… For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:1-7).

Emily Fisher

If you lived in the early seventies, you may have seen a comedy show staring Flip Wilson. One of his memorable  expressions was, “The devil made me do it!!!”  This has long been a standard part of the blame game, going all the way back to the garden of Eden. Adam blamed his disobedience on Eve, and Eve blamed it on the serpent. She may as well have said, “The devil made me do it!”
The blame game continues to this day. Have you watched the news? No one wants to admit they have done something wrong. “It’s not my fault. I never would have done it if I hadn’t been provoked.” And they proceed to justify their deed. It is always someone else’s fault.
Scripture is filled with examples of those who either listened to the wrong person, or decided their way was better than God’s way, or went down any number of roads that took them down a dark path.
When Cain murdered his brother, I wonder if he was prepared for the consequences. God said to him, When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth. And Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear!  Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground (Genesis 4:12-13). He was personally responsible for Abel’s gruesome death and reaped the consequences.
Then there is the account of the deluge of water that covered the earth, destroying all but eight people. Noah preached for a hundred years while building the massive vessel (2 Peter 2:5). The people could have listened and turned to the Lord, but they did not and paid a tragic price for their wickedness.
One of the classic accounts of casting blame on another is the first king of Israel, Saul. At the beginning of his reign, he was little in his own eyes, as Samuel described him. We might say he was humble. God told him to attack the Amalekites and utterly destroy them, do not spare man or woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey, Saul attacked the Amalekites, but he took King Agag alive, and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good.
God came to Samuel and said, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments (1 Samuel 15:11). Samuel went to King Saul and said, Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord? Saul said, But I did obey the Lord. I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.
Samuel said, You have done a foolish thing. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command (verses 19-21). Saul then confessed to Samuel that he had sinned, that the reason he did it was because he feared the people, so he obeyed their voice. He asked for pardon for his sin, but it was too late. Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death (verse 35).
James lets us know that the devil doesn’t make us do anything. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death (James 1:14-15). We have control. We can choose to run from that which tempts us, or we can choose to give in to our own desires. We must take personal responsibility for our actions because there are consequences. Paul wrote, Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life (Galatians 6:7-8).
Our God is long suffering with His children when they violate his will and with sinners who have not yet obeyed Him. But do not be fooled, there certainly will come a day of reckoning! (2 Corinthians 5:10).

Today’s Verses: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23).

By Teresa Hampton

It was recently brought to my attention the power of possessing settled conviction. The Bible is literally filled with hundreds and thousands of statements of settled conviction from those who were devoted to Almighty God and those who were diametrically opposed to Him.

Daniel 3 gives us the account of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the three Jews – Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. The king made an image of gold, “whose height was sixty cubits [about 90 feet] and its width six cubits [about 9 feet]” (Daniel 3:1 NKJV). The king ordered every official with any standing in the province of Babylon to fall down and worship the image when the symphony of all kinds of music played. A herald cried aloud that whoever did not fall down and worship would be cast immediately into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego were reported to the king when they refused to bow down. The king in rage and fury commanded that they be brought before him. He stated the ultimatum once again, and the three Jewish men once again refused. The king even asked them who was the god who would deliver them from his hands. Their response is one of true settled conviction. Daniel 3:16-18 declares, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us… from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.’”

In Matthew 16:13, Jesus asked His disciples, “…Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” There were four different responses. In verse 15, Jesus said to them, “…But who do you say that I am?” Matthew 16:16 records Peter’s declaration of settled conviction. “…You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus followed this declaration by saying how Peter gained this divine knowledge. “…Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (v. 17).

John 20:24-29 records the account of the apostle Thomas having his first encounter with Jesus the Christ after His glorious resurrection. Thomas was not with the other apostles when Jesus came. They told him they had seen the Lord. In verse 25, Thomas said, “…Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” After eight days, the apostles were together again, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, saying, “…Peace to you!”  (v. 16). Verses 27 and 28 are indeed dramatic! “Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving but believing.’ And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” Indeed, this was a declaration of settled conviction.

Acts 21 gives the details of the opposition Paul faced on his journey to Jerusalem. Verses 10-14 record the specific danger Paul would encounter if he persisted in going to that city. A certain prophet came and told Paul and his companions what was ahead. He took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet and said, “…Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles’” (v. 11).

When Paul’s companions heard this, they pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. Note Paul’s declaration of settled conviction. Acts 21:13 records for time and eternity, “Then Paul answered, ‘What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’” Verse 14 records, “So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, ‘The will of the Lord be done.’” This is the expected submission of all dedicated followers of the Lord Jesus.

Shortly before Jesus was to face the reason for Him being sent to this sin-cursed, fallen, dark world – which was the redemption of mankind – He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Matthew’s account in Chapter 26 is most riveting! He took Peter, James and John with Him, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed (v. 37). “Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me’” (v. 38). Verse 39 reveals what only God and His Son could feel and know. “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’” Verses 40 and 41 reveal just how alone Jesus felt. He came to His disciples and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Verse 42 records our Savior’s ultimate declaration of settled conviction. “Again, a second time, He went away and prayed saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.’” Verse 43 reveals Jesus “…came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.” Verse 44 tells us, “So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.”

God put forth King Solomon to show us that wealth, honor, long life, power, possessions, pleasure, gratification of all human appetites and anything else this world has to offer only results in vanity and vexation of the spirit. Life is empty apart from God. Solomon concluded Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 with this most sobering, settled conviction. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.”

King Nebuchadnezzar stands as one diametrically opposed to God. For his high-handed arrogance, he incurred God’s wrath in a way perhaps no other human ever had experienced for not believing that God was God! When God’s day of reckoning was poured out on this pagan, he was brought to his knees. Daniel Chapters 3-4 contain the dramatic account. When God returned Nebuchadnezzar to his senses, he stated forthrightly in Daniel 4:35, “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” Verse 37 concludes with him saying, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.”

Unwavering settled conviction for God’s revealed Word – do we have it?

Marilyn LaStrape

My grandson is getting married! We are all excited, of course. Most conversations in the family right now are about the wedding preparations, and that is as it should be. One thing I have noticed; most engaged couples talk about the event, not the marriage.

My daughter recently told her son, there is so much being said about something that will take about twenty minutes. Be sure you take time to talk about marriage and what it means. Now, that is sound advice. I hope they heed her words and do just that—talk about marriage, plan for marriage, and invite God to the wedding and into their lives.

Matthew compares the marriage feast to the coming of Christ in Matthew 25. Revelation speaks of the marriage of the Lamb (Christ) with the church. Since there is the relationship of Christ with the church, His body, then how sacred must be the marriage of a man and a woman.

When God created man, He soon saw that there was no one designed especially for him. That is when he made woman and made a declaration of a formal union between them. Adam said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:23-24). No other being fits this description of “a helper fit for him.”

In today’s world, we see many that are living together that are not married. This isn’t new. John tells us about a woman of Samaria that had five husbands, and she was living with a man who was not her husband (John 4).

Many young people think it is ok to “try out” a relationship with the idea of “making sure it will work.” That is why a couple needs to plan for the marriage, not just the wedding. Living together without marriage is a sin.

The bond of marriage is designed to be for life. Matthew says that fornication/adultery is the only reason for divorce. One partner being unfaithful to another is the only reason God allows for divorce. We see from His joining of Adam and Eve that He intended for it to last forever.

Fornication is “sexual relations between people not married to each other.” Adultery is defined as “voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not his or her spouse. Either is a sin in God’s eyes.

John the Baptizer lost his life because he preached against adultery. He told Herod and Herodias that they had no right to be married. Herodias had divorced Philip to marry Herod. John told them it was unlawful, but they paid no attention to him. In return for his teaching, Herod had him beheaded.

Sexual sin has always been a dishonor to God. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba, God punished him with the death of the child that was conceived in that relationship, and his kingdom saw no peace. The writer of Hebrews says that marriage should be held in honor among everyone. The marriage bed should not be defiled. Why? Because it is sacred, just as the relationship between Christ and the church is sacred. God’s promise is clear. “God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 11:4).

It’s fine to make plans for the event. Just don’t forget to plan for the marriage. It is for life—one man, one woman, for life.

Sandra Oliver

1. The most difficult thing to overcome in my spiritual journey is my own sin; not the culture in which I was raised.

2. In spiritual matters, your truth and my truth are the same truth. That’s just the nature of truth.

3. The answer to a spiritual problem in “my fellowship” is not in “my fellowship”or any other fellowship. It’s in the Word.

4. No one controls grace except God. Everybody stands in need of it every day.

5. Arrogance is not in thinking I can know His will, His truth. It’s in thinking I can’t know truth when He traveled through a birth canal to live Truth in flesh, and then offered blood to buy the pillar of truth, the church, and then sent His Spirit  to write all truth down for me…and I’m still saying “Knowing truth is a journey with no end.” That is arrogance.

6. Humility is not in rejecting the notion that I can do something to affect my salvation, in favor of “grace alone”.  Humility is saying “I’ll do it HIS way, even if that demands human effort.”

7. Human effort is just utilizing gifts of the Creator of humanity.  My obedient effort is, in that sense, just accessing grace.

8. It’s not haughty to say “I did something  (obeyed) to be saved.”  That’s just declaring a decision to submit.

9. Religious truth is not in a nebulous cloud of intellectual conversations between men of great minds. It’s in the inspired writings between Genesis and Revelation.

10. In the mire of spiritual subjectivism, it takes some grit, to ascertain truth (some hours of uncluttered study). But it doesn’t take a genius mind. Just use whatever intelligence God gave you. Your mind to understand Him is part of His grace to you. Connect that gift of grace with the gift in the pages of His Word. Grasp the grace.

11. Since He made you, He fully knows your capacity to understand His Will (truth). And, since He wants you to be saved, He did not put the truth for your salvation somewhere “over your head.” He that believes and is baptized shall be saved,” for one, is a pretty understandable concept.

12. Knowing His truth is not a journey without an end. Don’t let the realization that you cannot, in this lifetime, know everything, keep you from knowing that you know, that you know, that you know you are headed for a sure destination.  Just because I can’t know everything, does not mean I can’t know something. And in the “something” is the truth about salvation and His glorious pillar and ground of truth, the church. If I’m missing out on that truth, it’s not the culture’s fault. It’s not the fault of my “narrow fellowship” or my “blinded parents” or a “sheltered upbringing.” It’s not the fault of the talking heads of the day or of postmodernism or its atheism or pseudo-science. It will not be because people who spoke truth did it with a bad attitude. If I miss heaven, it will be my own fault.

You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

Cindy Colley

audio lecture.

Colossians 2:13 “You were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self.  But God gave you new life together with Christ.  He forgave all our sins.”  ERV

My doorbell rang and there, on my porch, stood a gentleman unfamiliar to me. Our introductions revealed he taught at the middle school down the road. Curiously, his purpose in stopping by our house lay discarded in our ditch. You see, several weeks prior, a large walnut tree had fallen in our front yard and out by the road now lay a mountain of decaying tree parts awaiting metro rubbish pick-up.

The man’s request was simple: He desired some of our discarded wood. I found myself amused by his courtesy, because, let’s face it, when was the last time I refused to let someone haul off my trash? He thanked me for the “gift” and left me standing at the door puzzled over his gratitude for what I had thrown out. But I closed the door on this thought, assuming never to see him again.

A few weeks later, my doorbell rang and there on the porch stood this same man, clutching an exquisite wooden bowl. He thanked me again for the privilege of receiving my tree-trash, and as I stared at the bowl in his hand, his purpose in hauling off the dead tree parts became evident: Somehow, this man had transformed my trash into a beautiful treasure.

Handing me the bowl, he explained he found it more blessed to give than to receive and wanted me to have it. We chatted on the porch as he spoke of the joy it brought him turning a block of discarded wood into the new creation I now held.

Today, the bowl is proudly displayed in my home, leaving me to reflect on how much my life resembles that walnut tree. Away from the nourishment of its roots, the tree died. Once dead, it was of no use and discarded as trash. Likewise, apart from God, our life-source, we become spiritually dead and useless to His kingdom, deserving to be cast away from His presence. But gratefully, that is not how God’s redeeming love works. Like a master artist who creates a beautiful new bowl from dead wood, God’s loving redemption takes us fallen and broken beings, recreates us for His glorious purpose, and breathes into us new life.

So, Sisters, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, may the newness God offers top our gratefulness list, for no one is better at redeeming the old, the worn out, and the broken than our loving Father.

Father God, thank you for loving us enough to sacrifice your Son and redeem us, bringing us back to you.

Many Blessings for this season of Thanksgiving,

Rita Cochrane

What is God’s heart like? I have been reading in First Samuel about Saul, the first king of Israel and the events that followed after Saul sinned. The story of David before he took the throne has caused me to ask this question, what are the characteristics of God’s heart.

This question came to me because of how and why David became king. Remember that Saul had failed to destroy the Amalekites, took King Agag and kept the choice animals after the battle. When Samuel came to see him, he blamed the people for doing what God had told them not to do. His punishment was the end of his kingdom. Samuel told him that his kingdom would not continue and that God had found a man “after his own heart” (First Samuel 13:14). This same thought is expressed in Acts 13 when Paul preached at Antioch. He relates the story of the Israelites and how God raised up David to be king of Israel.

So, what describes God’s heart? What does it mean to be a man after God’s own heart? We can find part of the answer in Acts 13 in the description of David.  God raised up David because, “He will do all my will.” Doing God’s will pleases Him, and His heart feels glad when we do.

God chose Saul as the first king of Israel, and he must have possessed some attributes of goodness for God to have made him king; however, Scripture says only that he stood taller than any man. We see fairly soon into Saul’s reign that he is not going to completely obey God’s instructions. Saul was obviously not a man after God’s own heart.

In this story of Saul, we can see one of the attributes of God’s heart. When God speaks to Samuel about anointing a king, Samuel is displeased; but God says, “…for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them” (First Samuel 8:7). He obviously feels rejection.

We see another attribute of God’s heart in Genesis 6 when He decides to destroy the earth. Scripture says that He was grieved over the sins of man. The wickedness of man grieves God’s heart; and in the case of these people, it caused Him to show His wrath. Romans 12:19 tells us that there is no need for us to avenge ourselves for being treated unjustly. Vengeance belongs to Him.

God has a forgiving heart. When David was faced with his sin with Bathsheba, he confessed his sin without making excuses. We know God forgave him even though David lost the child Bathsheba was carrying. Paul speaks of God’s forgiveness in Colossians 3. He says we are to have compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, and we must forgive one another. We are to forgive because God forgives us.

God’s heart of forgiveness shows His mercy and His love for us. You only need to read Ephesians 1 to see the glorious spiritual blessings He provides for us.

One of the greatest attributes of God’s heart is found in Romans 8. God works all things out for good. No matter what happens to us, when we pray, the Spirit intercedes for us; and God works toward what is good for all those who obey Him. His heart is about good things, not evil things.

The heart of God is shown clearest in John 3:16. It is sacrifice. He gave His only Son to come to the earth to die for us. Jesus came so that everyone has the opportunity to be saved. That salvation comes through obedience to God’s will. Salvation must come through Jesus and is the only way we can know the true heart of God.

We see a lot of the attributes of God in the life of David. David was patient in dealing with King Saul. He was merciful, sacrificial, a faithful friend, compassionate, loving, and forgiving. He lived up to God’s description that he had a heart like God’s. Sure, he made mistakes; but he owned his mistakes and took his punishment.

Being a woman after God’s own heart means that we are willing to obey all of His will, being forgiving, and being willing to admit our mistakes and repent. May we all work to be women after God’s own heart.

Sandra Oliver