HOME WITHOUT PEACE

Everyone is looking for peace—peace in their soul, in their home and in their nation. Peace is perhaps the greatest possession we can have. The wonderful thing is that we can own peace regardless of circumstances. We could own a mansion and all the material blessings we crave and yet not have peace. We can own nothing and yet blesses with peace.

God is peace—the originator of peace. Jesus came to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:79). He said, “Come, and I will give you rest…”, “My peace I give unto you…” But His peace and rest are not automatic. Although they are His gifts to us, He tells how to have them. Nothing happens by itself. As Henry Drummond says, “The Christian life is not casual but causal. We cannot get away from the eternal law that we reap what we sow. There is no other way.”

Zechariah 8:12 God says, "I am planting seeds of peace and prosperity among you…” God spoke these words to encourage the people when rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem. God is a seed-planter. He is not only a God of peace, but He sows the seeds of peace. We, who were created in the image of God, should also be peace seed-planters. How can we sow seeds of peace in our home and family?

Psalm 119:165 says, “GREAT PEACE have those who LOVE YOUR LAW and nothing causes them to stumble.”

Isaiah 48:18 says, “Oh, that you had heeded my commandments! Then your PEACE would have been like a river, and your RIGHTEOUSNESS like the waves of the sea.”

The secret to HAVING PEACE in the home is LOVING GOD'S WORD. We sow peace into our home when we love God's Word and impart its truth to our children. When last did you have a family devotion together? When last did you pray and worship God together? No wonder you easily get offended at the slightest act of your partner and stumble. But you said, "Pastor Jabari, I go to Church always, read my Bible and pray yet I don't have peace in this marriage."

My dear reader, it’s only when you LOVE the Word of God and PRACTICE it, then you shall have GREAT PEACE flowing like a RIVER and nothing shall cause you to STUMBLE. 

The secret to SUSTAINING PEACE in your home is LIVING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. Psalm 85:10 says, “Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” You can’t have peace without righteousness. They are inseparable. But righteousness is more than turning away from evil. It is doing righteous deeds. Righteousness is not stagnant. It is alive. It is revealed in your facial features as you smile at your family and speak positive things; it comes out your fingertips as you work and toil for the blessing of your family or hug and embrace your children; it shows itself as you walk to do good deeds for your family and others. We see this in Isaiah 32:17, “The WORK of righteousness shall be PEACE; and the EFFECT of righteousness QUIETNESS and ASSURANCE FOREVER.” Do you notice that righteousness is a work? And do you notice the cause and effect? The effect is quietness and assurance of peace forever! Peace that flows like a river and righteousness that flood like the waves of the sea. 

This following verse says, “And my people shall dwell in a PEACEABLE HABITATIONS, and in SURE DWELLINGS, and in QUIET RESTING PLACES.” If we want peace in our home, we must sow the seeds of righteousness. It means taking a stand against the spirit of the world entering your home. True peace rests on a foundation of righteousness (Hosea 10: 12).

Pray for peace over your family. Confess it over your husband/wife and kids. Speak it into their lives. Be a peace-bearer rather than a tension-bearer. Peace is a noun, but the Bible verbs it. It tells us to extend peace, pursue peace, love peace, make peace, establish peace, preach peace, proclaim peace, seek peace and speak peace. This is how it happens—by sowing the seeds. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:9)

Peace doesn’t just happen; we have to make it happen. Ask God to help you be a peacemaker today. I know it’s not an easy task. You have to bite your tongue. You have to practice speaking words that are affirming, encouraging, cheerful, comforting, forgiving, healing, helpful, kind, loving, positive, reconciling, respectful, strengthening, supportive, sweet, uplifting, and wholesome. You have to smile instead of a scowl. You have to think of ways to reconcile.

HEALING FOR BITTER COUPLES

Madam Rhonda had often made despairing remarks about her husband in public, even in his presence. He often was a joke to her, and she didn't mind getting a laugh at his expense. It was much more fun for her to tell something that he did or says, to get a laugh from her friends in front of him. He would give a half smile and say nothing. He had continued to resent being the subject of her jokes in front of others, but he never discussed it with her.

As his resentment built, he became bitter toward her. The marriage was emotionally and romantically dead. The bottom line was that she had no respect for him, and he was bitter toward her. They had long since been in a SILENT DIVORCE.

A husband needs the respect of his wife. Respect is an important issue with all persons, but especially with men. The male gender need for respect is a major issue in marriage. If he thinks that he has her respect, then he is motivated in the marriage. If he feels disrespect from his wife, he will eventually give up on the marriage. "Let the wife see that she respects her husband" (Ephesians 5:33).

A husband should discuss any issue of disrespect. It's easy for a man to bottle his emotions and pretend that she can't hurt him. If he doesn't discuss his resentment with his wife, he will eventually become bitter. When he becomes bitter, he will emotionally withdraw from the marriage. "Husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them" (Colossians 3:19).

As a young boy I inquisitively remember walking through our FAMILY GARDEN. I noticed a strange looking tree that had little orange fruit hanging all over it. I had never seen a tree that looked like this. My curiosity got the best of me, and I went over, plucked off a small piece of orange fruit and plopped it into my mouth. Upon tasting it, I immediately spit it out! It was the bitterest thing I had ever tasted! I ran back to the house, washed my mouth out with water and asked my mother what it was. Laughingly, she replied that I had tasted an orange persimmon. She told me that they were good to eat only after they had turned dark and were ready to fall off the tree. The bitter taste of this orange persimmon left such a lasting impression in my mind that whenever someone mentions something being bitter, I immediately think back to this experience.

Unfortunately, there are many men who are “orange persimmon” husbands, bitter fruit to their wife. The word “bitter” means to be harsh, to exasperate, to irritate and to be sour. God commands every husband to not embitter his wife by unloving, non-affectionate treatment. “Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.” Colossians 3:19

One way a husband embitters his wife is by asserting absolute authority over her. He does not lovingly lead her as Christ the church but rather exercises DICTATORIAL LEADERSHIP. Also, some men embitter their wives by giving affection only when they have a SEXUAL AGENDA in mind.

My experience has taught me that there are many reasons why husbands become bitter against their wives. As a Bible preacher, I teach women to try to live in such a manner that their husband won't have reasons to get angry, become abusing or bitter. Why make life harder than it already is?

Some women are quick to demonize their husband and bad-mouth his faults, but why is he angry? You wives need to ask yourself this question... Why my husband is upsets with me? Not only is it true that God’s Word tells wives to submit to their husbands, but a very important instruction to husbands is that they, on their part, love their wives, "and be not bitter against them" (Col. 3:19). 

In fact, Christ, Who is the Head of the husband (1 Cor. 11:3), expects the husband, as the head of the wife (Eph. 5:23), to really love his wife and never permit himself to take advantage of the fact that he has been placed in the position of headship.

It is so easy to blame the wife if things go wrong; it is so easy to forget that the wife gave up all to become your life companion – gave up even her very name, her home, and all. It is so easy to forget that the "little" courtesies, the "little" kindnesses, the "little" acts of thoughtfulness – really make up the deciding issues in a Christian wife’s life – as to whether she is to be a happy, cooperative companion or otherwise. "Be not bitter." Oh, the heartbreak, the sorrow, the despair – And the resultant disasters that so often follow when bitterness and unkindness creep in! Oh, if only the husbands had remembered and obeyed the Word of God which tells them to "Be not bitter" against that precious soul who has taken on your name – which has left all to be with you and to share life’s joys and sorrows with you!

WHEN YOUR PRAYERS ARE NOT ANSWERED

Sister Brenda came to my office for counseling and asked me, “Pastor Jabari, If God loves people and answers prayer, then why is my marriage falling apart despite all my prayers and fasting?” 

I believe there are so many spouses asking similar questions today. I do not claim to have all the answers, but I do claim to have an answer that warrants serious consideration. The Bible says, “One who turns away his ear from HEARING THE LAW, even his prayer is an abomination”, Proverbs 28:9. God cannot answer prayer when we are MURMURING and COMPLAINING about the very thing we are asking God to help us in.

This is the part that only goes in circles that many find themselves in. They pray to God asking Him to restore, heal and bless their marriage, but while they are not praying, they are complaining and murmuring to others how bad things are. Then they wonder and question why God does not help them more. God cannot bless your marriage or your spouse and answer your prayers if you are complaining and murmuring to others or in your heart.

God works with your words, don’t despite your words. Why is this true? Because complaining and murmuring about a troubled marriage is evidence that one doesn't believe that God is presently working it all out. We must remember that without faith, we cannot please and receive from God. If you really believed that God was working to change and restore your marriage, then you would talk as if He was actively doing just that.

Our words about our spouse and marriage spoken to others reveal what we believe. Murmuring and complaining reveal no faith that God is indeed actively healing, changing and restoring your marriage. God is eager to make marriage heaven on earth for everyone. Marriage is His creation. God Himself established marriage in the earth among men and women. The Marriage Institution is not broken. However, there is a war on marriage today.

The strength of our churches, society and nation is founded upon the strength of its marriages. The enemy to marriage knows well that he only has to create murmuring and complaining, which give birth to bitterness and cut off God’s power to create heaven on earth in our marriages.

Murmuring and complaining is the direct opposite of faith. It is simply impossible to have faith in God for your marriage and yet still complain and murmur in your thoughts and heart about your marriage or spouse. Learning to bless what you want to be a blessing is a key to release the power of answered prayer. Learning to forgive those who you desire to love you more tenderly is the only way for God to work in that person’s life. Learning to cast all your care upon the Lord as you bless and curse not is the open door to the power of prayer. God cannot bless what you are not blessing! Listen to what Isaiah says: “Whoever PRONOUNCES A BLESSING in the earth will do so in the name of the FAITHFUL GOD; whoever makes an oath in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God. For PAST PROBLEMS WILL BE FORGOTTEN; I will no longer think about them”. Isaiah 65: 16

Also in Psalms 109: 17, the Bible says “As he LOVED CURSING, so let it come to him: as he DELIGHTED NOT IN BLESSING, so let it be far from him.” If you believe God is faithful to fulfill all His promises, then practice the culture of blessing your marriage partner because past problems will be forgotten.

When you bless your partner, Heaven responds to your need. The warning God gave us is to “Let all BITTERNESS, and wrath, and ANGER, and clamour, and EVIL SPEAKING, be put away from you, with all malice” Ephesians 4:31 (KJV)

I would like us to pray that God would heal and remove the bitterness in our hearts and turn our BITTER MARRIAGE into a BETTER MARRIAGE. Stop reading right now and start to bless your spouse. I hope these thoughts will help you to let bitterness go and enable you to embrace the sweetness that your marriage offers.

THE ENMITY BETWEEN SATAN AND WOMEN: By Pastor Salome Jabari

I was having a chat with my Husband Prophet Jabari R. McDimar two days ago and suddenly, I came to a full realization of God’s plan for me as a wife to hate the devil with perfect and irrevocable hatred. I discovered that God has set an ENMITY between me and Satan. Please Ladies, make sure you read this message to the end and comment.

 
The first occurrence of ENMITY was between the serpent and the woman recorded in the book of Genesis: “And I will put ENMITY between you and the woman”, Gen 3:15.

The word “enmity” signifies mutual opposition or hatred. Since the time of Eve, God has placed an enmity between Satan and all the daughters of Eve. And this is why Satan has a special hatred for women. All over the world, there is the dehumanization of women; they are used as sex toys, in soap’s opera, in sex trafficking and the highest percent of occult members are women.

The devil hates women particularly, because the salvation of man would be born of a woman. God revealed that the SEED of the woman will “bruise the head” of the Serpent and all his seeds. Since it was the woman whom the devil deceived, it will take the same woman to deliver every generation from the deception of the devil and all his cohorts. 

 
Women, where are you? Arise, and let’s save this generation.

Without enmity, the woman and the serpent will be friends, and she will continue to believe his lies. Without enmity, she will rely on the promises of the creature, rather than trusting God. She will continue to trust in, and communicate with, the serpent, and she will continue to have doubts about God’s love and wisdom. The serpent will also continue to arouse desires, and incite to disobedience. This then, will indicate some victory for Satan.

It’s unfortunate that most women today are not exercising their mandate of enmity against Satan. Instead, they become friends of Satan and enmity with God. Those that refused to be subjected to the Law of God are the SEEDS OF THE SERPENT. James 4:4 says, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God”. As a woman, you are to be in enmity with the Serpent and his seeds and not with God. “Because the carnal mind is ENMITY AGAINST GOD: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be”. Romans 8:7

Ladies, rise up and demonstrate your full ministry of ENMITY WITH SATAN