God Almighty is alive . His name is LORD JESUS

Beauty & The GospelM A D E P E R F E C T T H R O U G H J E S U S C H R I S T

EXCLUSIVE !with

worship saints

"WHATSOEVER LORD, YOU ARE DOING IN THIS GENERATION, WE WANT TO BE A PART OF IT"

are you Mary or Martha in worship?

Are you committed to GOD or have you just made a decision?

ISSUE NO 5 VOL 2 JUNE 2019

ROMANS 15:20-21

VISION

20 Accordingly I set a goal to preach the gospel, not where Christ’s name was already known, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; 21 but [instead I would act on this goal] as it is written [in Scripture], “They who had no news of Him shall see, And they who have not heard [of Him] shall understand.”

1 CORINTHIANS 1:17

MISSION

17 For Christ did not send me [as an apostle] to baptize, but [commissioned and empowered me] to preach the good news [of salvation]—not with clever and eloquent speech [as an orator], so that the cross of Christ would not be [b]made ineffective [deprived of its saving power].

TABLE OF CONTENTS

W H A T A R E Y O U B U S Y W I T H ?

KENDRA DUBLIN

A B S E N T D A D

*CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE*

PROPHET GEOFFREY GEZANI

UNCLE ANGUS BUCHAN

PASTOR NTSAKO BALOYI

T H E D A Y - T O - D A Y M I R A C L E W O R K I N G P O W E R O F G O D : B Y U N C L E A N G U S

A P R A Y E R O F A F A I T H F U L W O M A N : P A S T O R T H U T O G E Z A N I

A R E Y O U T H A T N O A H ?

Y O U R E A P W H A T Y O U S O W : P R O P H E T G E Z A N I

S E T A P A R T : P A S T O R B O N G A N I G A M A

PASTOR THUTO UNCLE GEZANI ANGUS BUCHAN PASTOR BONGANI GAMA

Y O U R N O W I S N O T Y O U R F U T U R E : P A S T O RN T S A K O B A L O Y I

Devotions by the anointed Dr André and Jenny Roebert

You are known and loved

Message taken from 1 Chronicles 28:9b (NLT)

1 Chronicles 28:9b (NLT): "Worship and serve Him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought..."

Have you ever stood close to a massive wind turbine and taken in its colossal size? It can be quite overwhelming. At close inspection, many of our problems can seem just as intimidating as they loom over us, which makes it difficult to find hope to overcome them. Our trouble is looking at them from a natural point of view. When you are flying in an airplane however, and you look down over the same wind turbine, it looks small and insignificant. Changing our view of problems to see them as God does, gives us a completely different perspective. How do we do this? We set our eyes on Him in worship. We focus on His Majesty and power. We understand that everything is subject to Him alone. And in spite of His incomparable greatness, He is fully aware of our thoughts and hearts, and knows every detail of every plan concerning us. And He is for us, not against us. Take your eyes off the impossibility of your problems and lay them at His feet. Then give yourself to Him in worship, yielding to His Presence, power and will. Surrendered to Him, you are fully equipped to overcome every challenge - as you remember how you are known and loved.

FEATURED

ABSENT DAD,PRESENT FATHER?by: Calley Sivils

“You must’ve had a military dad.” I held back a wince. “No ma’am,” I replied, focusing on the cashier screen in front of me. She prodded further. “But you’re so polite.” She didn’t catch the reluctance in my voice. “I’ve actually never met my father, ma’am,” I finally said, my eyes not meeting hers. As it usually does, that ended the conversation.

The word father has always been a difficult word for me to grasp. When I hear it, I don’t recall any memories; I don’t see a face; I don’t know a voice to associate with it. I don’t connect with it at all. “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him” (Psalm 103:13). But what if he doesn’t show compassion on me? That’s the first question that comes to mind.

What Does “Father” Mean? “God is a Father who does not fail us.”

I’ve tried to understand why fathers care so much for their daughters. I’ve observed father-daughter relationships and asked other women to define the word father. I’ve read articles. After all my research, tears still roll down my face every time I watch a father-daughter dance. I still wonder what it means that God is a Father — God as Father seems like an intimidating idea. Thus, it’s very tough and often baffling when, in many church and Christian circles, people speak about God as a Father. In some cases, the assumptions made can be alienating and hurtful.

Changing Our Conversation Our communities need to be mindful of how we talk about the fatherhood of God. The church needs to become a place of refuge and relearning for the growing number of fatherless sons and daughters. It’s true that God is a Father, but when others do not have a positive association with that word (or any association at all), it can often just serve to remind them of how less than ideal their background is. We shouldn’t shy away from the truth that God is a loving Father, but we should also remember to be sensitive to those with difficult and painful backgrounds.

Don’t let fatherlessness keep you from searching out God as a Father, your Father. Though it has been hard, coming to know God as my Father has washed the raw wounds of my own fatherlessness. Those wounds never seem to fully dissolve. I still yearn for memories of running to greet my daddy after he comes home for work. Those memories never happened. And the memory of my fatherdaughter dance will also never happen. But we are no longer fatherless. In Christ, we have been elevated to the status of fellow heirs and are now true sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:16– 17). And your Father’s love for you exceeds all of the abandonment and disappointments in your past. Growing to know God as a Father means dropping our guard and letting the goodness of God heal our wounds. My father has not been present, but my heavenly Father is omnipresent. For some, their father might have put his desires for money, power, or sex over the needs of his family. God, however, is a Father who will never fail us.

Loving the Fatherless “Your Father’s love for you exceeds all of the abandonment and disappointments in your past.”

contributor

We are honored to feature a TRUE PROPHET OF OUR TIME.

Sharing with us the true and undiluted Word of God.

WE WELCOME PROPHET GEOFFREY GEZANI

WE REAP ONLY WHAT HAS BEEN SOWN READ :-Galatians 6:7-8

We Reap Only What Has Been Sown We Reap in a Different Season than We Sow. In fact we Reap More Than We Sow We Reap In Proportion to What We Sow We Reap the Full Harvest Of the Good Only if We Persevere We can’t do anything about Last Year's Harvest, But We Can about This Year's

Note: Galatians 6:7-8 A. We Reap Only What Has Been Sown. 1. Life is filled with choices, choices that affect us on an everyday basis in everything we do. 2. That means, our everyday choices are not without significance. 3. Our choices affect us and others in dramatic ways whether we see it immediately or not. 4. While earth remains, no man will mock God by changing for even one time these laws of the harvest.

"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;" (Eph 5:15-18) "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (Psa 90:12)

B. Why do we need wisdom? 1. So we can make wise choices!

E X C L U S I V E

withWORSHIP SAINTS

WHAT ARE YOU BUSY WITH?

(PART 1)

WRITTEN BY: M.K

WHAT ARE YOU BUSY WITH? #whose feet are you sitting on? (Whose word or voice are you listening to? Taken from Luke 10:38-42

When King Jesus visited Lazarus’s house, his sisters welcomed Him. They were very happy to see Him and wanted to really spend time with Him. They endeavoured to make His stay as comfortable as possible. Jesus always brings good news and you want to make Him happy. If we were to get an opportunity to host Him for one day, each of us would have a different view on how they will spend the day with Him.

Also Mary and Martha had different ways of spending time, with Him. Martha was busy preparing delicious food in the kitchen. I think she knew what His favourite food was and she wanted to serve Him exactly that since we all know how delicious and appetising a home cooked meal is.

She wanted Him to feel at home and eat what He has eaten some time ago. She was busy spicing, frying, roasting, baking, steaming, turning here and there. I can imagine the aroma that filled the house. On the other hand her sister Mary was sitting with Jesus and wanted to hear each every word that came out of His mouth. She couldn’t care what He was going to eat; she just never wanted to spend a single moment apart or away from Him. She wanted to learn and hear each and every word He was saying. She didn’t want any second hand information. She wanted His own version of what He was saying. She never cared for physical food but she wanted to feed her spirit. As Jesus told satan when He was tempting Him that man cannot live on bread alone but by every Word that comes out from the mouth of God.

Martha chose bread for flesh and Mary chose the Word of God. If Jesus were to visit you for one day, which would you choose? Bread to feed the flesh or His Word, (the bread of life)? When Martha looked and saw Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet, feeding on His Words of life and wisdom, she got furious.

TO ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOUR SAY THIS FOLLOWING PRAYER

TO BE CONTINUED...

THE DAY-TO-DAY MIRACLE

CONTRIBUTOR

WORKING POWER OF GOD!

We are so honored to share this beautiful article written by Uncle Angus Buchan . A Born Again spirit filled servant of the Gospel. Thanking you once again Angus for sharing this article with us

. He is an Author, Farmer, Husband, Father and Grandfather.

THE DAY-TO-DAY MIRACLE WORKING POWEROF GOD!

If we look at the gospel of John 2:1-2(NKJV), we see that Jesus was invited with His mother and His disciples to a wedding in Cana. They ran out of wine and so, the mother of Jesus said to Him: “they have no wine” and Jesus said to His mother: “it is not My time”. Then Jesus's mother said to the servants, “do whatever He tells you to do”. Now we know how the story goes: There were 6 water pots of stone and Jesus said to the servants to fill the pots with water and then of course He prayed, and the miracle took place. The finest wine in the entire meeting was made available to the guests of the wedding.

God has shown me that He is not only the God of the miraculous, the huge miraculous deeds, but He is also the God of the day-to-day miracles. So often we are looking for the miracles like the parting of the Red Sea or the raising of Lazarus from the dead after he had been dead for four days and yet there are miracles that are taking place every moment of our lives.

We need to be aware of them and we need to thank God for each and every one of them. Every day is a gift from God, we need to appreciate every moment we have on earth. We need to love our families, we need to love our fellow man, we need to do good where we can, we need to avoid confrontation and needless arguing and we need to sow love and that in itself is a wonderful miracle. When everybody else is running around like chickens with their heads chopped off, we need to be focused and we need to give the Lord Jesus Christ all the honour, praise and glory. We need to pray at all times.

journey down the Duzi river with no problems. Let us use every opportunity that we have to be obedient to the Lord and when He speaks to us, to act just like Jesus did with changing the water into wine, praying for the sick in the workplace, taking care of the poor and the needy, having patience and compassion on those who are struggling, and God will do the rest.

Like never before in South Africa, we are needing God's people to perform miracles daily; not just the big ones, but the day-to-day ones like turning water into wine. (By the way the canoe paddler told us after the race it was one of the smoothest, most pleasant races He has ever done and he’s done twenty Duzi marathon’s).

God bless Angus Buchan

Devotions by the anointed Pastor Andre and Pastor Jenny.

Over and Above

Message taken from 1 Corinthians 15:58 (AMPC)

1 Corinthians 15:58 (AMPC): “...be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord [always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord], knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is not futile [it is never wasted or to no purpose].”

Don’t you love the passion Paul carries across in this scripture as he speaks about our attitude in serving the Lord? There are no half-measures here! The word labour comes from a Greek word that implies someone giving all of themselves into a particular task. Paul says our attitude must be superior - doing more than enough. That means in all we do, throughout our day as we live for the Lord - moment by moment in even the smallest of tasks - we do it all to the very best of our ability. When we consistently work with excellence in all things - as unto the Lord - we are promised our efforts are never futile or without purpose! It always pays off and sets in us a superior standard of work ethic that brings glory to the Lord. It’s time to shake off any slothful, mediocre attitude towards what you do in life. Adopt an attitude of excellence that goes over and above what’s expected, you’ll find the results far surpass your own expectations.enter the full verse in bold and the devotion text here...

CONTRIBUTOR

We are honored to feature a woman of God by the name : Pastor Thuto Gezani. Truly a remnant of our generation! Prepare a journal and pen!

A prayer of a Faithful woman 1 Samuel 1

This is a story of a certain woman who was mocked by her sister wife because of her barrenness. It is vitally important as a child of God to understand that you will be mocked, called names, rejected not because God has forgotten you or God does not love you, it is merely because God is building a character in you.

The other thing you need to remember is that the book of Psalm 23 says YOU PREPARE A TABLE BEFORE MY ENEMIES. So God will allow ENEMIES to be created in your life so that He can be able to prepare a table.

When you look at the life of this prayerful woman, she probably didn’t understand why this was happening to her, she probably did not understand that her womb was blessed hence the delay of the manifestation of her blessing.

The woman I am talking about is the well KNOWN HANNA.

For the Bible records that she would go to the temple to plead for her situation to change, so whatever situation you are in, it needs to:

1. Bring you closer to God 2. Make you stay in the presence of God 3. Be drunk by the Holy Spirit 4. Make a vow to Go, because you understand that He is a God that never fails

What I like about the whole situation of HANNA is that, when she was in the presence of the Lord she cried out to the Lord. Hanna did not cry out to her family, she did not cry out to her friends, she did not even cry out to her Priest but she cried out to the Lord.

Many of us forget that we have a God that never sleeps nor slumbers. We have a God that is always ready for us. A God that listens when we cry and a God that has a permanent solution for our lives.

We at Beauty & The Gospel got the opportunity to have an exclusive interview with this young Minister of our time:Minister Monica P Theophilus

1. Who is Monica personally and professionally and where are you from?

● My name is Monica Theophilus and I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale Florida. I am a lover of books, so I am always reading. I also love to write, so I am always seen with a journal writing a poem, song or my next blog post. I am the creator and writer for the blog amomentwithmonica.com which is used to encourage others through the Word of God.

@amomentwithmonica

2. Who does Monica say, THE SON OF MAN IS?

● THE SON OF MAN is Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins. He is my Lord and saviour. The Way, the Truth, and the Oife. The only One who can save.

3. When I say the name Jesus what comes to mind?

● Saviour

4. How and when did you become born again?

● I became born again on May 20th, 2016. I was bound by the spirits of lust, fornication, and perversion. I was ashamed and tired of being a lukewarm Christian. I wanted to truly live for Christ and have a personal relationship with Him, not a religious one. On May 20th, 2016 I asked God to help me break things off with my now ex-boyfriend who I had an ungodly soul tie with and my journey of deliverance, healing and being born again began.

5. You were ordained as a Minister of intercession and Minister of helps on the 3rd of Feb 2019. Tell us more about and the process of serving?

● As a minister of Intercession, I pray on behalf of the needs of my home church Going Places with Jesus Ministries, and the needs of the people. Every Thursday at 6am-7am my pastors and the intercessors meet at church and we intercede on each prayer request we receive whether online at https://www.goingplaceswithjesusministries.com/or through Instagram Facebook and other social media sites. As minister of help, I serve wherever needed in our ministry @goingplaceswithjesus.

6. What did your family say or are still saying about the BORN AGAIN Monica and especially the ordination?

● My family is proud of the work God is doing in my life and my transformation process, they continue to support me and encourage me.

ARE YOU MARY OR MARTHA IN WORSHIP?

B Y : K E N D R A H A M I L T O N

I ' v e l e a r n e d t h a t I m u s t d e a l w i t h t h e d i s t r a c t i o n o f t e c h n o l o g y , b u t w h y d o I h a v e t o f i g h t i t i n w o r s h i p ? W h y d o n ' t w e u n d e r s t a n d t h e s a n c t i t y o f b e i n g i n t h e p r e s e n c e o f G o d ? W h i l e I u n d e r s t a n d t h e p r a c t i c a l u s e o f p h o n e s i n a l l s e t t i n g s , i f C h r i s t i a n s t r u l y t h o u g h t t h e y w e r e i n t h e

F a c e b o o k i s t h e a l p h a a n d o m e g a . I n s t a g r a m i s j e h o v a h n i s s i . I w i l l a l w a y s b l e s s G m a i l . O u r f o c u s i s o u r G o d . S o , m a y b e s o c i a l m e d i a i s y o u r G o d . M a y b e t h a t ’ s w h y y o u c a n ’ t l e t i t g o i n w o r s h i p , b e c a u s e y o u a r e a l r e a d y w o r s h i p p i n g y o u r s a v i o r .

p r e s e n c e o f G o d t h e y ' d d o b e t t e r .

I h i g h l y d o u b t i f J e s u s w a s i n t h e f l e s h i n

W o r s h i p m e a n s r e v e r e n t h o n o r a n d h o m a g e p a i d t o G o d . W h e n w e g o i n t o t h e l o c a t i o n o f w h i c h w e p r a i s e G o d , w h y a r e w e c e l e b r a t i n g s o c i a l m e d i a ? H o l y , h o l y , h o l y i s t h e p h o n e a l l m i g h t y .

2 0 1 9 , i n o u r c o n g r e g a t i o n s , w e w o u l d n ’ t b e c o n s t a n t l y o n o u r p h o n e s . T h e n a g a i n , I c a n s e e s o m e o n e p o s t i n g , “ I s a w J e s u s ” v e r s u s t a k i n g i n t h e m o m e n t . “ I t o u c h e d t h e h e m o f h i s g a r m e n t ! ”

contributor

We are honored to feature a young Pastor of our time .

Sharing with us the true and undiluted Word of God about: Your now is not your future.

Scriptures reading: Romans 8:18 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us”. Job 8:7 “Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should be greatly increased”.

In the book of Judges, the Bible records that the angel of God appeared to Gideon and called him mighty warrior (Judges 6:12). He was so amazed and began to question the angel, he couldn’t believe that he was called mighty warrior. When the angel appeared to him, he was just threshing wheat in the winepress (far from being a warrior, not to mention mighty). He was in fact coming from the weakest clan and the least in his family.

The angel description was totally different from Gideon’s situation, but the favour of God located him and used him to save the nation. The book of Romans says that the suffering of this moment cannot be compare to the glory of the future. No matter the suffering, there is glory awaiting us. His grace is sufficient to change situation, every situation is an opportunity for us to see the power of God at work. Depend on the power of God even though it does not look promising, His ways are higher than our ways. He is able and will take you out of that situation, that situation is just a stepping stone to the glory of God in the future.

WE WELCOME PASTOR NTSAKO BALOYI.

Your beginning might be small and despised, but greater is He that is seated on His throne. He never changes, all His promises are YES and Amen. He said: He will never leave nor forsake you, you have God by your side and you shall make it in Jesus name. You serve a great God; He will make that small beginning great. David was not born a king; no one ever thought he can be one. David was the least in his family; they did not even consider him when Samuel went to the house of Jesse to anoint someone to be a king. They considered him a shepherd, but little did they know that he was a king in making.

young , married &

BORN AGAIN

b y ; e m p r e s s t e e k a y

A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Created by God for us.

We can never learn enough and this couple does exactly that. They teach , encourage and live. Enjoy and make sure you have a note book with you, you will definitely be taking notes. Here's the love story of PASTORS ROGER & CINDY JORDAN

1. Who are you individually (personally & professionally) Pastor Chaplain Roger Jordan: is a true testament of being saved, sanctified, and filled with the blessed Holy Ghost. The Lord called him into ministry at the young age of 14 in 1988 as a Choir Director and Youth Leader, in Connecticut. These early years lead to spiritual shifts that orchestrated the course of servant hood within the Kingdom of God for over 25 years.

Sighs, both trivial and tragic, are expected and anticipated; however, they are heard in stereo by a compassionate and caring Savior, who longs to bear the brunt of the weights that fall upon us in this long march to our forever home. J.C. Ryle says, “Fear not because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor. Jesus can understand you.” The unseen and unheard sighs of a tired mother in her laundry room are caught and translated by the Spirit of God. The sighs of refugees forced out of their cultures and nations by violence resound loudly in the ears of our heavenly Father. The sighs of breadwinners weighed down by the burden of providing for their families, the exhausted sighs of single parents, and the labored sighs of the sick and dying are noticed by our God.

From the Wilderness to the Sea Even before the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the children of God, he was accustomed to hearing the sighs of his people as cries. In Genesis 21, God heard Hagar and her cast-off son whimpering in the wilderness. God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.” (Genesis 21:17) Later, Moses found himself at the helm of an entire nation of escaping people. Just hours after their break from Egypt, Israel stood on the edge of an impassable sea with the strongest army in the known world gaining on them. With his petrified people looking to him in fear, outwardly Moses does what any great leader would do: he composes himself and calms his people, saying, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today” (Exodus 14:13). Yet inwardly, the heart of Moses must have been sighing in silence to God. Immediately after Moses’s charge to Israel, God tells Moses,

“Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward” (Exodus 14:15). Regarding this scene, Martin Luther wrote, Moses has not cried unto the Lord. He trembled so he could hardly talk. His faith was at a low ebb. He saw the people of Israel wedged between the sea and the approaching armies of Pharaoh. How were they to escape? Moses did not know what to say. How then could God say that Moses was crying to him? God hears the groaning heart of Moses and the groans to him sounded like shouts for help. God is quick to catch the sigh of the heart. (Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, 61)

Ten Little Words Those ten little words have comforted my soul of late: God is quick to catch the sigh of the heart. He hears our silent sighs under the heavy mantle of leadership or parenting. He hears our short sighs of loneliness or exhaustion or choking grief that go unnoticed by others, and he seeks to comfort us. The Spirit is translating those sighs into prayers according to the perfect will of God. May we be comforted to know that our Father hears our slightest sighs as loud cries. He will continue to do so until our sighs of worry or pain or exile are swallowed up by our sighs of relief when we see our Christ face to face in his new heavens and new earth. .

Deuteronomy 14:22-29

I. Introduction

A. Hebrews 10:1 “for the Law, since it has only a shadow of good things to come and not the very form of things…..

1. There is an important lesson we can learn from this verse a) Israel as the chosen people of God were a replica of the true nation of God which is the spiritual Israel b) The law was just in standby mode until the Christian age is realized

B. Background

Set Apart

by: Pastor Bongani Gama

1. Deuteronomy is the last book of the Law (Pentateuch or the Torah)

2. The Torah is just Law in Hebrew

3. Deuteronomy –is Greek name which was adapted from the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint LXX)

4. THE NAME MEANS –SECOND LAW

5. The name does not mean that there was a second law but the law was read for the second time in public to the whole assembly of the Israelites (the first time was when they were in the wilderness when we read the book of Exodus when Moses returned from mt Sinai)

6. so the second reading was necessary because they were going to occupy the land of promise so they needed reminder of the commands and requirements of God Deuteronomy 4:2 “Hear now O Israel, the decrees and Laws I am about teach

you, follow them so that you may live and may go I and take possession of the land that the Lord the God of your fathers is giving you”. Deuteronomy 11:8

7. the theme of the book is centered around the great theology of Judaism that is why we see the mention of a covenant between God and his people Deuteronomy 4:1-2 ,Deuteronomy 4:13 “so He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform that is the ten commandments ….

8. Listen to Moses when he comes and receive the law again to the people Deuteronomy 5:2-3 “The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb ,the Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers but with all those of us alive here

today”

9. What we consistently see from the covenant has to do with what GOD COMMANDS AND THIS PEOPLE ARE HIS PEOPLE ON THE BASIS OF KEEPING ALL THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE LAW Deuteronomy 6:1-3 “now this is the

commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you ,that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess ,so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God ,to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you all he days of your life and that your days may be prolonged o Israel you should listen and be careful to do it ….(NASB)

10. Keeping the commandments will distinguish his people from the rest of the world (set them apart from the rest) with keeping the commands comes with blessings Deuteronomy 11:27.

II. They were Set Apart from the Rest so they also had to set something Apart

A. GOD CHOSE THEM AND THAT IS WHY THEY ARE SET APART Deuteronomy 7:7-8

My Dream Singleness An Anthem for Unmarried Women!

As an unmarried woman in my midtwenties,I know that a season of singlenesscan often be fraught with disappointmentand heartache. I hold hopes for a husbandand a family close to my heart, but I alsohope to hold Jesus even closer. At the endof my life, whether I am married for fortyyears or single for seventy, I long for it tobe said of me, “She was devoted to Jesus.”Single or married, we belong to another.My marital status may read “single” on mytax return, but I am not unclaimed. I dobelong to someone. And this is not someelusive future spouse. I’m speaking ofChrist. I am His.

Because Christ has bought us with hisblood, we are not our own (1 Corinthians6:19–20). We were not made or saved forthis realm, but for another realm, aspiritual one. And in this spiritual realm,Jesus was clear that people are neithermarrying, nor married. So despite the factthat marriage is beautiful and sacred, wewere not made for earthly wedded bliss.That should free us to live out big dreamsfor singleness now, while we wait to bemarried.

BY: Leanna Branner

We were created for Christ, to be one with him. He and I — we were meant for each other (Ephesians 1:5–6). This is a match made in heaven, and for heaven. He is ours, and we are his. And this union can satisfy all other longings. Even if a spouse dies, deserts, disappoints, or never emerges in the first place, we already have a perfect union of glory and joy awaiting us that far surpasses the dim copy we might enjoy for a little while here.

Singleness Is Good Paul, apparently, was single, at least for much of his life, and spoke of his marital status in glowing terms. Singleness is good, and is a gift from God (1 Corinthians 7:7–8). I can wake up tomorrow confident that not being married is good for me, and that it is my calling for the day. God does not give second-rate gifts. It’s not that I have asked for bread only for God to give me a stone instead (Matthew 7:9). No, singleness and marriage are different gifts, each with challenges and blessings, but they are equally good. Elisabeth Elliot writes: But having now spent more than 41 years single, I have learned that it is indeed a gift. Not one I would choose. Not one many women would choose. But we do not choose our gifts, remember? We are given them by a divine Giver who knows the end from the beginning and wants above all else to give us the gift of himself. Whatever the years ahead may hold, I know he has called me to the gift of singleness today, however heavy that gift may feel some days.

W s s s

m

Y t c s

O

W

n .