God desires to work through each of us.
When we allow God to work in us and through us, He uses us to lift and encourage others. Fellowship and sharing are very important to God and should be to us as well. It’s when we share a word we’re given with others that we encourage and build one another up.
In the wee hours of the night I was thinking about marriage and images of roads kept popping in my head. Marriage, done God’s way, is wonderful. God wants us to put our spouse before ourselves, even before our children.
This is a tough one for moms. Especially today’s moms!
In my lifetime, I’ve seen a shift in who controls the family unit. When I was young, parents did not live their lives for their children. But now I see the complete opposite. Children rule the house. Children dictate what the parents are going to do and when they are going to do it.
Children are involved in so many activities, they need a personal assistant (MOM!) to manage their schedule. You know what happens to Dad… he takes a backseat to the children in Mom’s life. This happened in my own life. I can attest to the hurt and damage that spouses can inflict on each other because of neglect – whether it is intentional or unintentional. Thankfully this was many years ago in our marriage and we’ve done a lot of healing and growing since those years. But we are called to share our experience and our past heartache to help others avoid the same. We are all called to share our testimony and it is Biblical:
Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.
Romans 1:5
I’m sharing this word that God gave me to encourage you.
If your life is a little crazy and hectic because of your children’s activities, maybe you need to cut back so that you have more family time. More time with your spouse. More time around the dinner table without having to eat in the car on your way to the next activity. More time to just sit on the porch and listen to the rain with your spouse.
Your marriage is worth a thorough evaluation of your priorities. Marriages are being attacked by Satan more now than ever. Satan knows if he can attack a marriage, he can keep a powerful duo from charging after the lost and sharing Christ. When we’re caught in his snare, we are useless in avancing God’s kingdom.
What is the answer? Bring Jesus into your marriage and keep Him there.
Easier said than done, right? To have a marriage the way that God intended, we need to be intentional. We can’t take our eyes off of Jesus for one second. He needs to be involved in our marriage – and in every aspect. When both husband and wife are focused on Jesus, He ties our hearts together. Did you catch these words? Keep your gaze on Jesus – not on each other.
When our gaze is on one another instead of Jesus, we put our spouse above where God should be in our lives. This is not fair to anyone – us, our spouse and especially not our children. No one, not even our spouse, can take the place of God in our lives. God and God alone is to be above all others.
What road is your marriage on?
I mentioned earlier that I saw roads reflecting where we are in our marriage. The first vision was two people – husband and wife – standing back to back walking away from each other as in a duel. The only time they turned around to see each other was when they were taking a shot at one another. They were going opposite ways on the road.
The second vision was two roads that ran parallel to each other but they never intersected. The husband was on one road and the wife on the other. This reflects a husband and wife (or maybe it’s better to say a man and a woman) living two separate lives.
The last vision was two people on the same road, going in the same direction and travelling at the same speed. This is the Godly marriage. It’s not always easy to keep in sync but if you have a prayerful life, it is possible. Will you have the occasional bumps causing you to get out of sync? Absolutely! But when you pray regularly for your spouse and with your spouse, God will see that you get back in sync.
If your marriage is on the first or second road, don’t despair.
Get quiet before God and ask Him to change your hearts. Ask Him to put you on the same road as your spouse, going the same direction at the same speed.
Without God, a good marriage is impossible.
But with God’s presence and His love and grace, a good marriage is possible.
He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible with God.”
Luke 18:27
If you don’t already pray for your spouse, start doing so today. Pray for your spouse often. Pray with your spouse every day. It’s amazing how God will work in a person’s life through another person’s prayer and even more amazing how God will work in a marriage through united prayer.
Here’s a prayer for each of our marriages:
Dear Father,
Thank You for Your Word. You are so faithful to show us how to live every area of our lives if we will just take a minute to look in Your Word. Help each of us get more intentional about praying for our marriage and our spouses. Father, we ask that You create in each of us pure hearts and renew steadfast spirits. We ask that You turn our vision toward Jesus. Each day, Father, we commit our love and our marriage to You. Lord, protect our eyes from looking at anything that would detract our attention from our spouse. Help us to be pleasing and honoring to You.
Fill our hearts with Your love so that we can love one another as You do. Keep the enemy from our homes, from our marriage and from our children. We plead the blood of Jesus over our homes, our our relationships, over each of our lives and over the covenant of marriage that we made as one with You.
We ask that You guide our prayers. And we thank You and give You all the honor, praise and glory.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen♥
Stay in the Light and the Love Always,
Eva
