Brethren, at a time like this, many churches have declared fasting and this week, the Lenten season begins.

We need to ask ourselves, why is it necessary to fast?   Some would simply say it is to be spiritually fortified against enemy’s attacks; others explain it as a means of moving closer to God.

To another group of Christians fasting is done to receive power. Which power? Power of the Holy Ghost.

Those whose belief are tied to the first suggestion, would say that when you are asleep or unable to fight the enemy that confronts you, your prayers during the fasting period would come up as a remembrance and the Lord would fight your battle.   Of course, when God fights your battle for you, no one can defeat you.

No wonder King David wrote in Psalm 35 vs. 1 (KJV): “ Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me”.

Christians that believe that fasting is a means of getting closer to God, have a basis for their belief in the Bible.

Our Lord Jesus fasted. He fasted for forty days and forty nights.

Matthew 4 vs. 1&2: “ Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered”.

Brethren, you are familiar with the story. Note that the Spirit of God led the Son of God into the wilderness so that the Spirit and the flesh could work together to defeat the devil and you know the devil was defeated.

Those who fast to receive the Holy Spirit into their lives are also on the right path because without the Holy Spirit of God, a Christian’s life is incomplete.

Jesus said of the Holy Spirit in John 14 vs. 16 & 17: “ And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.

Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth  with you, and shall be in you”.

Unlike Jesus, the Son of God that had the Holy Spirit call upon him, which means the Spirit of God was already available for him, you and I have to invite the Spirit of God into our lives.  This is why we need to be born again for fasting to be effective.

Now to our focus for today, which is the need to empower us and our family life against evil strangers or enemies that pretend to be friends.

Pastor J.T. Kalejaiye of  R.C.C.G. often describes them as “ unfriendly friends”.

For a woman waiting upon the Lord, an enemy that may creep into her marital life is a “ strange woman”.

 The Bible has given us adequate information about who a strange woman is and her characteristics.

Proverbs 5 vs. 3&4: “ For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil.

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword”.

The issue now is how do strange women creep into marital life? 

A strange woman could creep into a marriage through pressure from in-laws.

She could creep in through the friends that a man keeps.

There is also a possibility of the strange woman creeping into the marriage of a flippant woman.

Brethren, the most common is the one that creeps in through malevolent relations especially in-laws.

Such in-laws often pretend that they love the man more than he loves himself.   Usually, they try to convince him as to why, his wife isn’t the only woman around and that if she is barren, another woman would be fruitful.

Sometimes, they try to convince the man using fetish means if they find out that he wouldn’t be easily persuaded.

Even in marriages that have children, strange woman do creep in.

I don’t know why this edition of Joyful homes is focused on ‘ strange women’ but I believe the LORD has a word for someone or some women reading this column.

This is a major reason that no woman should be so comfortable that she creates a distance between her and God.

The strange woman is like the devil that the Holy Bible says has come to steal and to destroy.

Let prayer be your weapon.

Fast and pray.   By the grace of the God, you will not lose your peaceful marriage to a strange woman in the mighty name of Jesus.

Don’t be mistaken, some of these strange women claim to be Christians.

Let me share with you the story of a couple.

They have been waiting on the Lord for some years but unknown to the wife; her in-laws have been putting pressure on her husband to take another wife.

Finally, he bowed to their pressure. These wicked in-laws were so bold that they asked the man to take the strange woman into the one room apartment where he lives with his wife and he did.

Sisters, when we pray, we should not forget to pray for the spiritual protection of our spouses.

Many men are weak when it comes to prayers.   When you pray for your husband, you are praying for yourself.

You need a stable home for the children you are waiting on the Lord for.

The strange woman had a child and the three of them with baby lived in a one-room apartment.  Can you imagine that!

After a while, the man and the strange woman moved out to another apartment leaving his wife behind but what struck me was that the wife insisted that on no grounds would she leave her home for a strange woman.

You may say but the man left her.  

Though the man has left her, she has not left the presence of God.  She has continued to fast and pray to God.  

The drama is still unfolding.  May the Lord fight her battle and ours    in Jesus name.

In a  similar situation  that  resulted in a testimony, the man had ‘a secret wife’ in a strange woman that his relations made him to ‘ marry’.

In this case, his wife was unaware but suddenly, our God, the Almighty God fought the battle of the real wife, He rose for her and she conceived and had a baby boy.

However, the woman noticed that her husband was not as excited as he should be when she had a baby.

Sister, may the God open your eyes to see beyond the physical.

She calmly asked him why and the man rose from his bed, prostrated and asked for her forgiveness and he confessed that a strange woman forced on him by his family has had a child for him.

Brethren, at the time of provocation, may God give you wisdom to handle the situation.

The woman said to him “ is that all? Don’t worry, God would take control”.

She probably took her case to God with the belief that with God on her side, she would never be a loser.

Of course, the strange woman heard that the wife has had a baby.  She became uncomfortable.  Her relationship with the man became frosty.

Suddenly, her own child became ill and died. Of course, the strange woman was saddened and she began to call the man’s wife a witch.

The man rose to the defense of his wife insisting his wife is not a witch.

Need I tell you that the incident ended the relationship of the man and the strange woman.

It is well!