Our thoughts are influenced by trauma and words spoken to us that are buried deep within our subconscious mind, lies whispered to us by Satan - the master of deception, worldly philosophy that once resonated with our soul, and expectations from our self and our significant others in our life.
That is a great deal of negative influence that our mind regurgitates day after day and year after year. Mental health advisers call this “self talk,” and they have various remedies to help us to overcome these destructive sources. Some of their advice is helpful; yet, some of their advice sounds good, but does not heal the root of our impressions.
- https://www.transformationprayer.org/preparing-journey-introduction/
God’s Word has the perfect “plumbline” to compare with our thoughts. It encourages us to focus on helpful wisdom, as it forcefully divides unhelpful thoughts from our mind (Philippians 4:8). God’s Spirit enables us to discern a negative thought that we can replace with a positive one: is it true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise?
If not, then we can change our focus about the negative issue, as we embrace it and treat it like a positive idea or as a matter for our daily prayers. Irritations, embarrassments, unholiness, impurity, immorality, grievous events, failings, satanic deception, etc. may be true in and of themselves, but we cannot change the event or anyone other than our self.
The Holy Spirit’s job is to sanctify and to perfect each of us. We can only pray about it or alter how we view another’s words and behavior. We can trust God to cause His Spirit to convict unwholesome actions in our spouse or to bring circumstance to bear to change our spouse’s issues or our reactions to them.
If he/she does not respond to the Spirit’s pruning, then God will show us ways to meet our needs in spite of their words or behavior. We may even find that God’s Spirit will do a work in us to change our expectations of our mate, and to appreciate or to better understand their behavior, which we once found offensive.
Prayer:
Father God, thank You for honoring our prayers for one another and helping us to bond in ways that we never dreamed possible. Anoint our union to be a witness of Christ’s union with His bride (body, family). Allow us to influence other marriages for their improvement and intimacy. Enable us to see our mate as the person we originally fell in love with, and to be less offended by their personality and habits.
Teach us to take the time to appreciate what makes our spouse the unique child You created him/her to be. Help us not to force our spouse to live with our criticism, lectures, disgruntlement, a lack of respect, etc. but to honor one another, to sacrifice for our mate, to cherish him/her, to positively regard our spouse’s place as co-heirs with us and Jesus in Your Kingdom, and to delight in our mate’s differences and strengths that make up for our weaknesses. We thank You for Your place in our marriage.
Thoughts for the Day:
God is the only being that can love us perfectly as we spend time in His Word, in His presence within us, in conversing and listening to His wisdom, etc. This occurs as we walk in His power by His Spirit, and as we affirm our self and our spouse as His beloved children; when we cherish our spouse, this does not require us to deny the reality of his/her words and behavior, but to focus on their best qualities and to pray for their weaknesses and ours.
