Completing the Bond-Circle

I have learned over the years that God will honor faithfulness to His word; even when you have been outside of His will for a certain amount of time and decide to come back under His will.  God is so amazing that He looks for opportunities to show His grace and mercy towards us.  He does the opposite of what man does.  Man, many times, looks for opportunities to hurt you.  If you have never trusted God enough to try Him, you don't know what you have missed.  He's not even looking for a lot of faith, just that the size of a mustard seed. 

Matthew 17:20  And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Move from here to there and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you.

My wife and I were living in Atlanta, GA. Our home state was Texas. I was from Dallas and my wife was from Houston. We had already taken our marriage vows at the local courthouse in Atlanta. We had planned to have our church wedding in Dallas.  As weeks grew closer to our church ceremony date, we started to think we should probably call it off because we did not have the financial resources to make the trip to Dallas and back home to Atlanta. We tried to find a way to make it work, but we just did not see it happening. Just about a week before we were to leave to go to Dallas, we received a promissory note in the mail in my wife’s name. The note was just enough to cover our trip there and back. We could not believe our eyes. It seemed unreal. My wife signed the note and took it to the bank to deposit. It was real. We made the trip to Dallas and back to Atlanta. On top of all that, we were able to pay off the promissory note with cash we received as wedding gifts.

What did I see in all this? This was the first time that I truly saw God talk to me and my wife directly. My wife and I were both believers, but far from being in His will. We had lived together before we were married. God told us, through this miracle in our financial lives, that if we do the things that place us in His will, He would honor our efforts and show his approval in miraculous ways. He will honor us even after we have messed up. We just have to realign ourselves with Him. Up until this point in my life, I would have easily chalked this event up to coincidence. If I had done that, I would have completely missed God’s message. I would have lost a piece of God that He gave to me as a keepsake for remembrance purposes.

We all have keepsakes given to us by God. Keepsakes are blessings from God that we store in our hearts and minds so that we have something to look back on when we are struggling. They help us to remember that God brought us through tough times before and can do it again. He showed me and my wife that we were not alone. He told us that it was very important for us to complete the Bond-Circle between Him and us. A Christian marriage is three-fold. It includes husband, wife and God. God told us at that moment that our bond was not complete without His presence. He not only gave us His vision, but He supplied His provision in order that we might see our Bond-Circle to fruition.

Ezekiel 20:37  And I shall make you pass under the rod, and I shall bring you into the bond of the covenant;
God never said life would be easy. He never said we would not be tested in the fire. He did say that He would enter the fire with us, as He did with the three Hebrew boys. The fire did not have the effect on them that it was meant to have. God looks for ways to bless and protect us when we are obedient to His Will and His Ways. He keeps us, even when are not doing the best job at keeping ourselves. Why does He do this? We have a bond with Him. Unlike us, God always honors His commitments.

Like the three Hebrew boys we must stand strong in the presence of our enemies so that we can witness the amazing protection of the bond-circle we have with God.  The three Hebrew boys told king Nebuchadnezzar that they would not bow to his image. 

They responded to the king in Daniel 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."

Find His will and live there.  Amazing things happen there very often.

God Bless You