Truth #3: Don't forget who you are fighting for and who you are fighting against.
So as God perfects us to be more like His Son (Truth #1) and as He uses hard things to bind ourselves together (Truth #2) He brings glory to Himself. Lots of glory.
People look at strong Christian marriages and they ask questions. How come she doesn't nag you all the time? (Because God is developing patience in her heart.) Why is it so easy to get your husband to commit to a local church? (Because God is building him up to be the spiritual leader in our home.) When you two disagree, you do it so respectfully. How do you manage that? ( God is teaching us to honor one another and to cultivate peace in our home.)
I could go on and on with examples. When two people who love the LORD honor him and each other through marriage, it sets an example of the gospel- and people notice it. Most see it as a beautiful thing. The LORD certainly does. It brings Him much joy.
But there is one person who hates it very, very much. Can you guess who?
Satan.
The last thing he wants is for God to receive glory and for the gospel to be honored. So he fights hard against it. He lies to us. He discourages us. He sends more challenging trials our way. He keeps pointing out our spouse's faults.
And if we are not careful, we can start listening to him. And sometimes, we can start to believe that the man that God made us one with, is our enemy. This leads to all kinds of trouble... anger, strife, all kinds of fighting. We are fighting the wrong person!
We must not let this happen. We must know Satan's schemes and have plans to defeat them. He only has a few tactics, but I'm sure he uses certain ones on certain people.
He loves to tell me that Ross really doesn't love me. Because if Ross really did love me... he'd say it more. And when he did say it, he'd say it more passionately. And he'd be more romantic. And...
And I just have to tell Satan to shut up.
But if I don't do it fast enough, I start questioning Ross and feeling disappointed and hurt about A BUNCH OF LIES!!
And how do we defeat Satan's lies? With the truth. The truth about our husbands- but most importantly- the truth about our Savior. We ask Jesus for help. We ask Him to guard our hearts against the lies.
I've done that several times. Satan's favorite time to lie to me is late at night when Ross has just fallen asleep. (If he really loved me, he wouldn't fall asleep while I was talking to him... SHUT UP!!) Sometimes, I'm just too tired to fight, and I just ask Jesus to fight off Satan for me. "Please guard my heart. Stand in the gap and fight for me, please!" And He does. And my heart is filled with peace and I can go to sleep.
When I shared all of this with Marisa- the bride-to-be, I encouraged her to pray, pray, pray for her marriage, for her husband, and for her heart. To pray the truth of Scripture over them. The word of the LORD sends Satan running. Here are the Scriptures we prayed for her. I encourage you to pray them over your marriage as well.
Proverbs 5:15-18- Pray for sexual faithfulness and satisfaction within your marriage.
Ephesians 5:22-24- Pray that the wife would have a submissive heart.
Ephesians 5: 25-27- Pray that the husband would be loving and a spiritual leader in the home.
Psalm 127: 3-5- Pray for the blessing of children!
Titus 2:4-5-Pray for older women mentors and for a heart that loves their husband and children, that's self-controlled, pure, busy at home, kind and submissive.
So start fighting the good fight- against Satan- with your husband- not against him!
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