Monday, February 11, 2013

What should you look for in a spouse?

What should you look for in a spouse? Have you ever wondered that? I HAVE!!! Of course, some of us, including MYSELF, hee,hee, have a very, very, VERY long list of WHAT we want in our future spouse!!! Buuuuut if I could only pick ONE thing off of that list, WHAT WOULD that ONE thing be??? Today I would like to, talk/Write about what I think is THE most important thing we could look for in our future spouse!!!
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I was recently talking with a friend of mine and we were talking about GUYS...of course...lol...and I was asking her about a certain young man and if she would ever be interested in him? She tells me, well yeah BUT I don't think I would ever stand a chance with him anyways! So i'm like well WHY NOT?! So she says, well, I heard that he has a really precise list for what he wants in a wife and one of the TOP things on his list is marrying a girl that can sing really well. She says, I can sing, but I'm not like amazing or anything like that! I was like WHAAAAAT?! We're living in a day where young people are LOOKING for the WRONG thing in a future spouse! 
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We've got young woman that are OUT to marry a preacher...just to marry a preacher! NOT because of a burden for the lost and a love for souls, buuuut simply because in some way, they have it in their mind that being a preacher's wife is glamerous. And we've got young men, with the call of God on their life and they're looking at is finding a girl that can sing and play an instrument! Now don't get me wrong, I'm NOT saying that you shouldn't want to marry a preacher or that its wrong to marry a singer or musician, buuuuuut, I do NOT think that, that is what we should be STRIVING after with it on the top of our lists!!!
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SO WHAT SHOULD WE BE LOOKING FOR IN OUR FUTURE SPOUSE???

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In the Verbal Bean book of prayer, pg 27, Bean, an Apostolic Pentecostal preacher says, "If you desire anything, let it be said of you, "thats a praying man." Not for the honor involved as the Phariseees desired, but I'd rather it be said I was a praying man than a preacher. Even a great preacher, because a praying man can produce, where a preacher can't." 
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I believe that the MOST important thing we should look for in our future spouse is someone that knows HOW to pray!!!"... a praying man can produce, where a preacher can't..."  Think about it!!! It doesn't matter WHO you are or what position you are at in life, People that PRAY get results from God!!! The ULTIMATE thing that we could ever strive to marry IS A PRAYER WARRIOR!!! The best asset to your ministry is man or woman that knows HOW TO PRAY!!! And HOW are you going to get a prayer warrior??? By BEING ONE!!! The one thing that we should be striving to develop more than any sort of talent or ability that God has bestowed upon you, the thing that we should strive to have more than anything else, is a PRAYER LIFE!!!
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Pentecostal, Apostolics do NOT lack talent and ability!!! We've got the best of EVERYTHING!!! We've got the best musicians, singers, teachers, preachers and we SHOULD because we have THE TRUTH, buuuuut even with us having the truth, there is a lack of real true PRAYER WARRIORS!!! It shouldn't be that way!!! God calls us to PRAY!!! "I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." (1 Timothy 2:8) The Bible doesn't say, I want girls EVERYWHERE, to learn how to play the piano and sing! The Bible doesn't say, I want men to be preachers, the Word Of God says, "...therefore that men PRAY every where..." God wants us TO PRAY!!! 
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Growing up, I ALWAYS wanted to be able to play a musical instrument!!! Now, I have really big hands and long fingers, people used to tell me, those are piano playing fingers, I was like Oh OK!!! I thought it would be so AWESOME to be able to play the piano! I could just imagine my fingers dancing all over the piano keys creating beautiful music! One day in my teens, I sat down with my pastor's daughter and she tried to teach me to play a simple song, and after five minutes of trying to sit still, my fingers felt claustorphobic and I was going to SCREAM!!! (Turns out my fingers are NOT piano playing keys buuuut ACTUALLY, computer keyboarding keys) I've been kicked out of band twice in elementary school. The band teacher said I wasn't practicing and I tried to explain to him that I couldn't practice, WHEN I didn't even know WHAT or HOW to practice!!! I can't read notes! I don't understand how music works...I TRIED!!! Its NOT that I don't LIKE music...I LOVE music!!! I love hearing beautiful jazzy music and some good singing...I just don't have the ability to produce it from out of myself!!! However, I refuse to feel INADEQUATE about something that God has NOT given me!!! There IS something that God HAS given me, and  also, each and EVERYONE of us and that IS the ability to PRAY!!! "...therefore that men PRAY every where..." 
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I remember one time, Elder Sis. Ikerd, missionaries wife to African, told us girls that she used to think, HOW can I be a preacher's wife, I can't sing, I think her exact words were that she couldn't sing a tune in a bucket and she said she couldn't I  play the piano, HOW can I in any way help my husband and be a ministers wife??? And God told her, BUT YOU CAN PRAY!!! Annnnnd what a prayer warrior that woman is! I don't think at the end of that great man of God's life, that he thought to himself, ya know, IF ONLY she had been able to sing a little bit...I just KNOW it would have helped to further my ministry!
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I used to think being a PRAYER warrior was for the people that didn't have ANY other talents...LOL...I really did!!! I figured, there was SOME people that lacketh talent in ANY area...soooo therefore their job in the kingdom of God was to PRAY...HOWEVER, that wasn't MY thing because, God gave me the talent to WRITE...I was a WRITER...soooo I would leave hard core, heavy duty praying for all those UNtalented individuals!!! AHAHAHAHA!!! God TAUGHT ME!!! :)
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One of the most most talented pianist and organists that I know is Sis. Bishop Abbott! She has been playing the piano for church services since she was 11 years old.   She is soooo talented and her ability is just beyond comprehension, she literally just plays by ear, in my personal oppinion, she is simply THE BEST there is!!! Yet, Sis. Abbott has NEVER once pulled me aside and said, You know Mary, if you want to be something in the kingdom of God, if you want to be used of God, you REALLY need to learn how to play the piano...NO SHE HAS NOT!!!
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However, she has in fact talked to me about prayer!! I'll never forget the day in my late teens, she called me out, pulled me aside and admonished me for NOT praying during pre-service prayer at church!!! "You NEED to pray Mary! You NEED to learn how to pray!" I'll never forget her crystal blue eyes looking straight into my own eyes, so full of concern, piercing daggers of conviction into my soul!!! There was such a desperation in her voice as she talked to me, she couldn't just let the moment pass by another service, she couldn't let me slip through, she HAD to let me know, she HAD to somehow get it in me, she had to INGRATE the urgency of the matter it my heart so that I would make it a part of my life!!! I can't remember WHAT ALL my pastor's wife said to me that day, buuuuut I DO know, that she BURNED the matter way down deep inside of me! PRAYER IS A MUST in our lives!!!
GOD WANTS US TO PRAY!!!! "...therefore that men PRAY every where..." 
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Just recently, one of friends, that is learning to play the piano, texted me and told me that things are really started to just click with her learning how to play, buuuut MORE exciting than anything else, is NOT just the fact that she can play, buuuuut that when she is playing she is feeling the annointing of God. Young people, God ANNOINTS singers that PRAY!!! God annoints writers that PRAY!!! God annoints Piano players that PRAY!!! God annoints Preachers that PRAY!!! God annoints Sunday School teachers that PRAY!!! God annoints bus ministries with drivers/workers that PRAY!!! God annoints Bible study teachers that PRAY!!! God annoints language interpreters that PRAY!!! God annoints outreach of people that PRAY!!! I'm NOT saying to go and bury your talent, I'm saying God enhances and uses our talents and abilities WHEN we PRAY!!! The blessings and annointing of God comes THROUGH PRAYER!!! "...therefore that men PRAY every where..." 

Its NOT is he a PREACHER??? 
It's is he a REACHER??? 
(I mean, does he know how to REACH Jesus???)
Its NOT can she play???
It's CAN SHE PRAY!?!

If I HAD to take EVERYTHING else off my list of what I want in a Godly spouse, PRAYER WARRIOR would HAVE to STAY!!! God, I want a man that prays, I mean REALLY knows how to pray, that KNOWS how to touch the throne of God! I want to marry a friend of JESUS!!! "...therefore that men PRAY every where..." 
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Are you convinced yet HOW important it is to marry someone that KNOWS HOW TO PRAY??? God will help marriages when people pray! If you marry someone that PRAYS you will NAG each other LESS...BECAUSE you both can talk to God about your issues AND THEN God can deal with your spouse through their prayer! Prayer will make your spouse a better person! Prayer will make your spouse a better parent! Prayer will make your spouse a stronger person! Prayer will bind you closer to each other! Prayer will make your spouse love YOU MORE!!! 
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How does prayer make your spouse love you MORE??? Weeeeellll...Marriage between a man and a woman is a representation of God's own love for us, we are HIS bride. THEREFORE, the closer your spouse is to God, the CLOSER they will be to you!!! How do we get close to God? Through PRAYER!!! The closer someone is to God, the MORE they will LOVE Him, it can't be helped, the very ESSENCE of God IS LOVE and the MORE they love HIM, the MORE they will love you!!! 
 "Beloved, let us love one another: 
for love is of God;
and every one that loveth is born of God, 
and knoweth God."
(John 4:7) 
♥Mary Frances :)