A Good Marriage - Draw Together or Pull Apart

 

 

Marriage is designed by God, but is usually an uphill battle. When we put two or more people together, there is inevitably conflict of some sort. Let's face it, we often cannot even get along with our self, much less with other people.

Life happens, challenges arise and situations change. These often attack our marriage as well. Not only do we have to adjust, but we have to bear the consequences of our spouse's attempting to adjust as well.

If we face life's challenges together as a unit, we can change and adapt together and at the same time. This makes for a much smoother transition. When we include God in the decisions and problem solving efforts, He works out everything for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28; Ecclesiastes 4:12).

God saw that man was alone and this was not good. So He created marriage to bless us and to lighten our load in life. He helps us to enjoy our marriage rather than to endure it. He provides faultless fruition for every need. 

This requires that we spend time together as a couple, unified in the Spirit and with one another in prayer. God never promises us a window into our future, but He does promise to walk with us and in us through its challenges.

Taking advantage of our days off, vacation times, free week-ends, and an occasional afternoon or evening without prior commitments, we can make time to watch a movie together, listen to a political debate, follow our favorite team on the sport's channel, read a book together, snuggle beneath the sheets, have dinner at a restaurant instead of at home, join friends for coffee and dessert, etc.

In Christ, we find joy in our marriage partner and solace in their care for us. We find fulfillment in helping them to fulfill their needs as God supplies us with everything we need. We enjoy life with the mate He gives to us (Ecclesiastes 9:7, 9).

Prayer:

Father God, life is never, ever easy; but You make all things possible as we have faith in Your faithfulness. You have arms long enough to save us and ears that always hear our cries (Isaiah 59:1; 1 John 5:15). Help us to commit every moment to You, rather than to follow our own path in life.

Everything You do remains forever (Ecclesiastes 3:14). As we walk in obedience to Your Spirit, we reap the rewards of righteousness rather than the consequences of our sin and disobedience. Remind us to draw together as a couple and to lean on You for strength to face life's challenges.

 

Thought for the Day:

Let us make a conscious effort to add more romance to our marriage; to put an end to pessimism, skepticism, criticism, etc; and to deal with negative emotions before they get deep seated in our soul - confessing our sins to God and to one another.

Drenched with the Presence of God

 

God diagrammed the course of human existence before He ever brought the first couple to His perfect Garden. Their sin did not surprise Him, and He already planned for Jesus to pay our sin debt (Romans 7:21-25).

Through Christ, we are Born Again - a spiritual rebirth of our human spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, empowering us to walk in God's will every moment of our day.

We are not drawn to the darkness, because Christ in us is our spiritual light. Satan no longer holds us as powerless captives, weak-willed hostages or rebellious infidels.

Carnal feelings, earthly desires and worldly longings are things of the past. The war in our mind ceases, because God's Spirit in us wins battle after battle to renew our mind (Ephesians 4:23).

Once we accept Christ, we slowly get lost in the beauty of His holiness (Psalm 29:2). We exalt His name for His faithful love and grace toward us (Isaiah 25:1). Christ is our whole life (Colossians 3:4).

We think of nothing but Christ in our every waking moment. We follow His Spirit as He directs our steps in the very center of God's will (Proverbs 3:5-6).

God is our eternal dwelling place and we are His Holy Temple (Psalm 90:1-2; 1 Corinthians 3:16). We are completely absorbed in Him and He fills every fiber of our being.

We behold His beauty as we dwell in His house and we meditate in His Temple (Psalm 27:4). He gives us a reason to hope during the trials, which we experience throughout our day (Jeremiah 29:11). We are drenched with His very presence.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for setting us free from the law of sin and death by Your Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). We have less stress and striving in our life since we completely surrendered to the work of Your Holy Spirit in our life. We love Your Kingdom and we look forward to inheriting Your promises in eternity.

Keep us ever faithful to Your Word and Your life within us. Write Your laws on our heart and fill us to the brim with Your Spirit (Hebrews 8:10; Ephesians 3:16-9). Transform our mind to the mind of Christ and give us an abundance of Your presence until we overflow to the brim with Your love, grace and complete unity with You (Romans 12:2; John 17:23).

Thought for the Day:

Sin no longer tempts us, disobedience disgusts us and rebellion no longer motivates our behavior, because we love God with our entire body, soul and spirit and we detest what He abhors.

Freedom from Negative Thoughts and Emotions

 

Our behavior and emotions are fueled by our thoughts (Proverbs 23:7). We act out what our soul - our mind, will and emotions - is experiencing. However, once we spend time analyzing our thoughts, and coming to a complete understanding of what is really bothering us, then we can go to God for healing.

When negative emotions are controlling us, then we are not totally surrendered to the will of God in our life. Trusting God with our hurt and insecurities will insure that we will gain His perspective on them. He will reveal to us the lie, which Satan planted in our mind and His truth about the issue.    ( www.theophostic.com )

We fight Satan's deception by drawing near to God and then resisting the devil, so that He will have to flee from us (James 4:7). Too often we look at a person's outward behavior and detest them for it, or try to change it, but issues in their inner soul are causing their behavior. Once we denounce Satan's deceptive stronghold in our life, we are set free to see the problem from God's perspective.

Yet, at other times, our thoughts and emotions are based on real problems, such as abuse, neglect, deprivation or a myriad of other concerns. This is when we need to find help from law officers, counselors, our pastor or a caring friend. They will assist us in finding alternate living arrangements to protection us from the behavior, which is killing our soul and our body.

Prayer:

Father God, this evil world is so full of issues, which try our soul. When Satan's deception is added to the mix, our soul is often depressed and overwhelmed. You give us ideas to rearrange our life or our activities, which are fueling these negative thoughts and emotions. Enable our Born Again spirit to rise above these problems and to find our solace in You. Remind us that even if our physical or emotional conditions never change, we still have Christ in us, who is our eternal hope of glory, now in our inner being and also for eternity.

Thought for the Day:

When we sense the battle going on in our soul, we can surrender our thought, emotions and behavior to God's Spirit and He will conform our mind and transform our nature into the mind and divine nature of Christ. - 2 Peter 1:4; Romans 7:15-19, 12:2