A Happy Marriage - Simplifying Life

 

Happily ever after is a misnomer. Marriage is tough by any standards. Some marriages are better than others, but we all struggle with disagreements from time to time. Let's face it, we even frequently argue with our self.

Arguing is not really a negative issue. It is how we argue that makes it a problem. We can mildly disagree, vehemently disagree or destructively disagree. These destructive fights tear the fabric of our marriage, which affects our society as a whole.

Family life is stressful at best and almost impossible at its worst. We allow our children to be involved in more activities than they can bear, which puts a strain on the whole family.

Attempting to watch 4 different ball games played by 4 different children at 4 different gyms or parks all played at the same time is an example of the crazy conflicts that can stress us out.

The best rule of thumb is to sign up our children for one extra-curricular activity at a time, and to make sure that their schedules do not conflict. If they are interested in various hobbies and venues, this will be so much easier.

The financial strain on marriages today is enough to break the back of the strongest couple. With both partners working fulltime, the stress of homemaking and child rearing is also daunting, especially if everyone needs their own room, TV and smart phone.

Simplifying life can be overwhelming, but will drastically reduce the amount of stress on the family. With a more fluid schedule, we have more time to enjoy each other's company.

Spending time together allows relationships to evolve on the same level and in more mutually satisfying ways. We weather the shifting winds of life as a family rather than alone.

Staying healthy emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually demands that we follow God's will for our individual and corporate life. He has a perfect plan that sustains us through troubled waters and allows these trials to strengthen rather than to dissolve our relationships.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that the only way to achieve lasting peace and joy in our life is to follow Your Spirit's direction each moment of the day. As we increase our intimacy with You, our intimacy with others improves as well. Teach us to keep our focus on our own fallacies and idiosyncrasies rather than allowing our spouse's issues to take precedence in our mind.

Remind us that we tend to blow their faults out of proportion unless we humbly compare them with our own flaws. Please change us from the inside out; keep us healthy in body, soul and spirit; strengthen us as individuals, a family and a society. Allow us to be that shining beacon of light to help others avoid the jagged rocks on the coastline of life. Help us to continually work on changing one aspect of our life at a time that will improve our relationships.

Thought for the Day:

As we take a searching moral inventory and decide what will make us more fulfilled as a Christian and as an individual, we will strengthen our personal life, our marriage and our family unit, and insure that we can better respond to the grace of God in the midst of every conflict.

Union with Christ - Spiritual Rest and Victory

Very few people in these modern times abide in God's rest (Hebrews 4:10). We are too overcome by the stress of the multitude of activities that we allow to rule our life, by the consequences of our choices and by the people with whom we fellowship.

We lack discernment, will power and wisdom; we take on too many tasks at one time; and we spend too little time in God's presence, growing into a spiritually mature Saint (John 15:16; Ephesians 4:11-14).

Unless we grasp the fullness of our identity in Christ, we fall short of all that God wants to do in us and through us. We do not earn this divine life by our good works; it is a free gift which comes along with Salvation (Ephesians 2:8-20; 2 Peter 1:4).

Christianity is not a religion. It is an intimate union with the Lord of Hosts living His divine life in and through every authentic Believer (1 Corinthians 6:17).

As God Word strengthens us, we overcome this world and we also live victorious lives over the wiles of Satan (1 John 2:14). We scatter the darkness by turning on God's Light.

Deceiving thoughts flee at the mention of Jesus’ name. Satan cannot initiate anything in our life without God’s permission; and if we submit to God and resist the devil, he is obligated to flee from us (James 4:7).

Satan may try to distract us from serving God, but as we keep our mind on Christ, we remain in perfect rest and victory as His Holy Spirit leads us through each moment of the day (Isaiah 26:3; Philippians 4:7).

Prayer:

Father God, You gave all of Your spiritual blessings and everything pertaining to life and godliness to all of Your Saints in the past, to those present with us now, as well as those who will be born in the future (2 Peter 1:3; Ephesians 1:3; 1 Corinthians 2: 20-21). Your love flows to all of us through thousands of generations of those who love and serve You with our life (Deuteronomy 7:9; Exodus 20:6).

Remind us that You work Your power in us and You are able to do more in us and through us than we can ever imagine or accomplish for You on our own (1 Corinthians 1:24; Ephesians 3:16, 20; Colossians 1:11; 1 Peter 4:11). You give us an abundant supply of power for everything we need in order to sufficiently accomplish Your will for our life (2 Corinthians 3:5, 4:7, 9:8).

Thought for the Day:

We do not pound out a meager existence for our self in this life, but we live in the fulfillment of abundant life through Christ in us. - John 10:10

A Serene Life

The busyness of life is more and more distracting to the modern day person and parent. We make sports, music, dance and hobbies a priority over church activities, which teaches our children that worldly pursuits are more important than God in our life.

The way to remedy this modern phenomenon is to align our activities with Biblical priorities by seeking first God's Kingdom (Matthew 6:33). This causes the noise of life to diminish, and we find more joy and tranquility in our daily schedule.

Rather than to drown out God's directives by the noise of worldly pursuits, we reduce the cacophony of life by making God's will our priority each moment of our day. As the noise of this world diminishes, the guidance of God's Spirit is more acute and discernible.

We fully experience God's abundant life, which brings Him glory and honor in our every thought, word and activity (John 10:10). We come to realize the magnitude of the concept of Jesus Christ actually abiding in us by His Spirit, and we surrender our goals and priorities to Him (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Jesus admonished us to live dramatically different lives from those who live in the world. He encouraged us to love God more than those in our household and even our own life (Luke 14:26; Matthew 6:24). 

Our love for God is so paramount that we actually feel more love for Him than we do for anyone else. God has the bulk of our affections and everything we think, say and do is a reflection of Christ's life within us (Galatians 2:20). 

Our heart swells with our adoration of our God and Savior, and we serve at the pleasure of our King in our family, church and community activities.

The worldly clutter in our life disappears and we live above the clamor of life swirling all around us. We rest in God and serve from this place of unhindered peace (Hebrews 4:9-11). We see life from His perspective and we rise above the demands of modern society.

We can also rise above the temporal issues of this life, the attitudes of our fellow sojourners, and the circumstances that attempt to overwhelm us. This prevents them from robbing us of our joy in the Lord.

When we keep our focus on the joy set before us, spiritual truths actually govern our life. God is still in control, Jesus sits on the throne and abides within us, and the Holy Spirit will guide every step we take and keep us in God's will for our life.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that You created rest for more than the Sabbath and help us to enter into Your Kingdom's rest. Open our eyes to the reality of Christ in us and the fact that His presence in our life removes the necessity of us struggling to survive in this world. Help the codependent and workaholic to totally surrender to Your Spirit's direction for each moment of our day, rather than to succumb to the tendency to enable people and to do more than Your will for our life.

This way we rise above the stress and negativity of life on planet earth and dwell in Your Kingdom now.  Teach us to rest in Your loving presence, which will increase our positive emotions and decrease our depression and anxiety over the issues we face each day. We thank You for Your grace in our life and for our unity with the Trinity, which abides within us.

Thought for the Day:

Any negative emotion in our life is a red flag to signal an unresolved conflict within us, an idol we erected above the Lord, a misleading focus on the importance of the issues of this life, or that we are walking outside of God's will for our day.