I Hate Divorce, Says the Lord

By Michael Shim

God created the marriage covenant, thus, God honors marriage. God hates divorce. There is no adultery exception to divorce. Anyone who divorces his wife causes her to become an adulteress. A hardened heart can be softened by the power of the Holy Spirit. You cannot make a good decision with a hardened heart. The sin of adultery/divorce and the resulting condemnation can only be forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ who died for the sins of the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781304810779

Book preview

I Hate Divorce, Says the Lord

Acknowledgement

To my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who rescued me from the precipice of death and gave me life. All glory and honor belong to Him.

To my wife, Jin Young, who has stayed faithful and by my side despite all the difficulties.

To my son, Christian, whose tender heart gives me a hope for his generation.

To my daughter, Praise, who brings a little bit of heaven to our family.

I Hate Divorce, Says the Lord

First Edition

Copyright © 2013 by Michael J. Shim

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-304-83638-0

Introduction

During the summer of 2009, Jason Hamlin came to my church and shared his testimony. It was an inspiring story full of God's grace and love. I knew immediately that Jason was full of the Holy Spirit and that God was working through him in powerful ways. After the service, I approached Jason to introduce myself and ask him some questions regarding my own walk with God. Right after I introduced myself but before I could ask my questions, Jason asked me whether I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I told them that I was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then Jason handed me a book titled, Walk of the Spirit Walk of Power by Dave Roberson. 

Jason told me to read this book. Jason told me that he has personally read the book over 75 times. Jason also gave me other books and DVDs and told me that he was sowing into me.  Without having the chance to ask my question, I sat down with my family and friends.

After I read the book, I was inspired to really seek after God and committed to praying for an extended period of time every day. Beginning on January 1, 2010, I began to pray and really seek after God because I wanted a deeper relationship with God and I wanted to be used by God like Jason Hamlin and Dave Roberson.

During the first few months, I did not notice any changes in my life. But I continued to pray believing that God will reveal himself to me soon. Then I began to notice that God was slowly mortifying the desires of my flesh by convicting me of the various sins in my life. I knew then that God was working in my life; I sensed that God was preparing me for something. I just didn't know what it was yet.

Jason Hamlin came to my church a second time and at the end of the service he asked for anyone who wanted to be prayed over to come up to the altar. I joined in the crowd and waited for Jason to pray over me. When he finally faced me, he laid his hand on my head and began to pray for me. After a short while, he paused and laid his hand on my heart and said that God has given me a special gift.

A few months later, an amazing thing happened that would be the harbinger of the ministry that God had planned for me. A lady called me and asked me if I do divorce cases (I am a lawyer). Although I had done a handful of uncontested divorces and even represented a husband in a contested divorce case many years earlier, I never felt right handling divorce cases.  Therefore, at the time that this lady called, I did not handle any divorce cases. 

The lady began to ask me procedural questions about divorce and after I answered most of her questions, I began to tell her about God and how He does not want her and her husband to get a divorce. I told her that He wants her and her husband to reconcile and stay married. 

She told me that she had two little children and that she and her husband fight all the time. She told me that her heart is so hard that she cannot imagine living with her husband any longer. I began to tell her about the love of Jesus and that He is the answer to all of her problems. She began to weep and thanked me profusely as she hung up the phone.

I began to include her in my prayers and asked God to reconcile her broken relationship and save her marriage. I also asked God to comfort her two children and cover them with peace during this difficult time. 

I didn't expect to hear from this lady again, but a couple months later, she called. She began by telling me that after speaking with me, she went ahead and prepared and filed the divorce papers on her own with the help of the court clerk. 

She told me that even after speaking with me, her heart was so hard that she decided to move forward with the divorce even if I did not help her. Then she told me the amazing part about why she was calling me now. 

She told me that after she filed the divorce papers on our own, she was getting nervous about the upcoming court date. And because she did not have a lawyer representing her, she became even more anxious. She told me that since she knew that I would not help her with the divorce, she called another lawyer and made an appointment. 

Then she told me that she was supposed to be meeting with her lawyer right then, but that something in her heart told her to call me instead. I began to tell her again that God did not want her to get a divorce and that marriage is a sacred institution created by God. She told me more of her story and the problems with her marriage.  Then all of a sudden, she began to ask me questions about what would happen if she did not go to court. What would happen to her?  Basically, what were the consequences of not going to court and not going through with the divorce? I answered all of her questions with a hopeful heart. She again thanked me and hung up. 

As soon as I hung up, I was flooded with emotions and I began to weep uncontrollably. I knew at that moment that God had just used me to perform a miracle in this lady's life. God had just used me to stop this lady from getting a divorce. Praise the Lord!

So this is how God revealed to me the work He wants me to do for Him. In the coming months, God would give me experiences and revelations into His truth regarding the subject of marriage and divorce. 

As God continued to give me insight and revelation, He also gave me a vision to write this book. A couple of months after God stopped this lady from getting a divorce, God gave me a vision during my prayer time.

During prayer, God told me to stop praying and just listen and be still. When I stopped praying, everything became silent and still and He showed me a vision of me walking into a huge room with impossibly high ceilings. Jesus walked out and sat on chair on the right side, then God came out and sat in the middle chair. The Holy Spirit was already in the left chair. The Holy Spirit was a flame. I called out, Here I am. God said to me, I want you to be my steward for a ministry: God’s truth regarding marriage and divorce. God wanted me to write a book about the truth of marriage and divorce based on the Bible. In writing this book, I simply obey my Lord.

Chapter 1

Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’, for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

Genesis