This sounds like a preaching topic on a Sunday morning service. But we can also apply this to our marriage. We can’t separate our lives as Christians from our marriage. We have a Christian marriage because we first of all live the Christian life.
We have an enemy, an accuser, an adversary, the one who hates us with perfect hatred, the one who comes to steal everything good in our lives, he seeks to kill everything alive and seeks to destroy everything that gives us joy.
Look into your marriage, are there things that make you happy, that give you joy? Are there things you are grateful to God for, things that you are excited about?
Know that the devil is working over time, and he desires to put an end to your joy. But thank God for His Mercy, He will never allow this to happen.
Ps 94:17 KJV Unless the LORD had been my help, My soul had almost dwelt in silence.
We are all recipients of God’s mercies. We should never take these mercies for granted.
In learning to cooperate with God in other to get His will totally done and manifested in our lives, we have to be obedient to whatever He asks us to do.
One such instruction is ‘Go Ahead And Laugh at the Devil’. This may sound strange but it is an ‘act’ of faith. How can I laugh at the devil? When he is throwing ‘fiery darts’ at me? I don’t know whether it’s the fire of the dart to deal with first or the pain of the dart.
Sometimes it could be overwhelming. When you are like that, just laugh out loud!
You know God told the children of Israel to look at a brazen serpent hanging on a pole when they were bitten by real serpents. It looks ridiculous, but that is where their victory lies.
God will never ask anything that is not an act of faith and that He Himself has not done before.
Ps 2:1-2, 4 KJV Why do the heathen rage, And the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: The Lord shall have them in derision
God Himself laughed at the devil and his cohorts (the heathen that imagine a vain thing against the Lord).
So instead of giving the devil attention, complaining, arguing, murmuring, getting frustrated, depressed, or downcast, just give out a good laugh.
First, the devil will be confused. Then he will flee. Light and darkness can’t stay together, darkness has to bow and go.
One of the surest ways to get the devil off your back fast is when you do the opposite of what he expects.
Sometimes he even expects us to be binding and loosing, sweating with unbelieving prayers. Just act out in faith. Do the extraordinary and laugh.
In famine and in war, you shall laugh. He has put laughter in your mouth so laugh.
Glory to God.
Go Ahead And Laugh at the Devil
May the sound of rejoicing and laughter never cease from your home and marriage
God bless your marriage
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY God has already given me the victory so I can laugh at the devil
PRAYERS FOR THE DAY Keep my eyes on your finished work Lord
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Ps 2:1-2, 4 KJV Why do the heathen rage, And the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: The Lord shall have them in derision
3 Things That Sustains You In Marriage. Why do we write devotionals every day and invest time and energy to keep pumping the word to you? It is because we need to keep hearing these words. There are so many voices struggling to get your attention, and you are what you hear.
Whatever we give our attention to will influence our actions, that is, how we behave.
Our intention is that your marriage can be all God says it will be. The more you hear or read, the more you will recover and be converted.
So this morning, I will be writing on 3 Things That Sustains You In Marriage
The first thing is:
1. The peace of God.
Many of us wonder what the peace of God is. Some believe that when I have a good job, have money to pay my bills, have no trouble at work, attend parties at weekends, and my children go to a good private school, then I have the peace of God.
I wish I could tell you that life without struggles is all there is to the peace of God.
We all know that life happens. Sometimes good people have bad problems that they can’t even account for. It seems as we grow older, we begin to experience life. That was why I loved being a child, but the reality is that no one can be a child forever. Even children now have issues which is no fault of theirs.
This world is on a downward movement and will always have troubles no matter what.
Our father is so good and merciful that He has already made provisions for us to overcome and navigate this world. He gave us His peace.
John 14:27 AMPC Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]
The peace of God is one of 3 Things That Sustains You In Marriage. No matter what comes along the way or what the devil throws at you, His peace will sustain you.
When God speaks, He speaks peace. He is the prince of peace and He says peace be still to any raging storm in our lives or marriage.
Jesus wouldn’t just speak, you have to consciously have Him on your side. Have Him on your boat. Have Him in your home and marriage.
At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus was invited.
(John 2). He was not only invited but He was also recognized and acknowledged. His words were taken as important enough to obey whatever He said.
Do you want to experience peace in the midst of chaos? Let Jesus, the Word be given priority. Whatever He (the Word) says then do it.
What He (the word) says may not make logical sense just like it didn’t make any sense to fill water pots with water when they needed wine.
Whatever situation you are in that wants to steal the peace from your marriage, just listen to the prince of peace. He has peace in His custody.
May the Lord grant you His peace in Jesus’ name, Amen.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY God has given me His peace. I declare I have peace in the midst of whatever crisis
PRAYERS FOR THE DAY Lord in the name of Jesus, give me the tenacity to study your word, the source of peace.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Go for the peace of God in the midst of whatever crisis you may be experiencing
Emotional Maturity in Marriage is what we are looking at this morning. Man is a tripartite being. We are spirits, we have a soul and we live inside a body. Our body is the earthly suit that makes us able to live and function on this earth. Exactly what a spacesuit is to astronauts in space, and makes it possible for them to stay and function in space.
We are spirits and really we need to understand we function from the spirit realm. We have to understand our identity as spirits and operate as such.
My focus for this morning is really centered on our Soul. Our soul is what connects our spirit and body together. Our soul is what makes us give expression to our spirit on earth through our bodies.
Our Soul contains our will power, intellect, and emotion. Our willpower is what helps us in decision-making. Our intellect is the faculty that help us function in the intellectual world. Our emotion is the seat of our feelings. It is where we feel pain, hurt, bitterness, loyalty, faithfulness, guilt, joy, etc
3 John1:2 in AMPC Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.
Our soul must prosper. We must move from one level to another. We must grow in our soul realm. We should not be directed by our feelings alone in our marriage. This is what Emotional Maturity in Marriage is all about.
Have you ever eaten at a buffet and felt very full? At that moment, you are full but in some hours that changes and you become hungry again. Our feelings are fickle. Our feelings change.
Don’t take permanent actions based on temporary situations.
Our feelings are subject to change. When we feel like being bitter we switch to our spirit.
That is how we mature in our souls. Don’t yield to the dictates of your feeling. You are not your feeling.
In the practical sense, it’s not everything, every word, every action you respond to, to mature in your soul. Grow up in your soul.
Guard your heart and your soul for it affects your life and indeed your marriage. It affects your relationship with your spouse. Get rid of every bad feeling, hurt, pain, and negative vibe in your marriage. Replace them with positive emotions.
God bless your marriage. Emotional Maturity in Marriage is a must
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am not my feelings. I live above my feelings.
PRAYERS FOR THE DAY Lord, I receive grace to master my feelings.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Rom 12:2 (CEV) Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.
What Do You Call Yourselves? I know couples have sweet names that they call themselves, and that is so sweet. I would like to draw the attention of husbands and wives to the immense power that lies in ‘calling’ ourselves. We tend to lose the power thereof when we lack the revelation behind that action.
The man was created in the image and likeness of God. That means we are in the class of God. We are a speaking spirit.
Gen 2: 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
We are to call those things that are not as though they are.
God allowed Adam to call Eve whatever name he deemed fit. He called her ‘woman’. She is to birth and be the mother of all living things.
We.should call ourselves based on whatever revelation of what we want to accomplish. We are to assume our priestly role. Priests use their mouths to declare. What Do You Call Yourselves?
We have to practice using our faith to call our wives and our husbands. There must first be a desire in your heart.
What do you want your spouse to be? Begin to prophesy. Not just a name you call yourselves, but making a habit of constantly calling your selves what you want to see.
Habakkuk 2:4 says …the just shall live by his faith’.
You don’t have any business experiencing whatever you don’t want in your marriage. If you have a mouth and you have God’s word.
Every one of us has a total of 24 hours. Those hours are more than enough to change the course of your marriage and your spouse.
Does your spouse have any unpleasant behaviour? Don’t waste your energy fighting him or him. The Bible says we will have what we say. We don’t just have what God says, we have what we say. The question is what are you saying?
God wants us to labor to enter His rest. That labor is laboring in the Word. We have to grow our faith consciously, Just as we build our muscles in the gym. No matter how skinny a person is, you build your muscles by putting them to use.
Begin to use and build your faith muscles. Don’t be moved by sight ( what you can see) be moved by sight. What Do You Call Yourselves?
Be a speaking spirit. Don’t just speak as a “normal” human being. God has given you what to speak. You speak His word.
God bless our marriage as we speak the word of blessing over our marriage. It is our responsibility.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am a speaking spirit. I declare and I call my spouse those things I desire to see.
PRAYERS FOR THE DAY O Lord, I receive the Grace to declare as you have spoken in your word in Jesus’ name
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4 KJV
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Start speaking by faith to your spouse and your marriage
Every Husband Must Hear This! I feel like the Samaritan woman this morning, who excitedly went into the town and told all the men about Jesus.
The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? John 4:28 – 29 KJV
I believe men really need to hear by revelation and have an encounter with Jesus. It makes all the difference. Men (of course our husbands) are the ones God gave the command, to love their wives like Christ loved the church.
I guess it just makes a lot of sense that they need an encounter with the man Jesus so that they can learn to be like Him.
What really makes Jesus who He is? What did Jesus represent and what did He come to the world to show us? I believe He came to show us the God kind of faith. To show us how to live the faith life. He lived here on earth as a man to show us how men (by extension, women also) ought to live.
If we are going to love our wives like Christ loved the church, it’s going to be by faith. Jesus wants every Husband to be men of faith. Every Husband Must Hear This
Talking about faith, our example of faith who walked by faith is our father, Abraham. His journey of faith started with God calling him to leave his kindred and father’s house.
I love the Amp translation NOW [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. [Heb. 11:8-10.] And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].Genesis 12:1 – 2 AMPC
This is the similar instruction God gave to Adam as a key to having a successful marriage.
Therefore a man shall ‘leave’ his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24 AMPC
Every Husband is called to a life of faith. It takes faith to leave the familiar and go on a journey trusting in God.
You cannot love a woman if you are a natural man. Challenges of life will come. What will you overcome them with? The bible says faith is our victory. Faith is what gives us victory 100% of the time.
In leaving your father’s house or kindred, God actually wants us to ‘leave’ the ideals, methods, and ways of this natural world. He wants us to live by another standard. Which is the standard of faith. This is done by renewing our minds.
Husbands you have to be men of faith. Every Husband Must Hear This
Romans 12:2 AMPC Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].
You love your wife by being ‘a saviour’ to her. You enforce what is written over your marriage.
I remember just before our wedding, I was ill suddenly and was taken to the hospital. I actually passed out. It was the prayer of faith of my fiance, now my husband that revived me.
Life will be full of crises and challenges. Husbands, the greatest gift you can give your wife and family is to be a man of faith.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. Be a man of the word.
Read the word, study it, meditate on it, confess it and begin to live by faith.
“Look at the proud one, His soul is not right within him, But the righteous will live by his faith [in the true God]. Habakkuk 2:4 AMP
God bless our marriage
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am a man (woman) of faith. I develop my faith and I experience victory over life’s challenges
PRAYERS FOR THE DAY I receive grace to begin to walk by faith in Jesus’ name
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Look at the proud one, His soul is not right within him, But the righteous will live by his faith [in the true God]. Hab 2:4
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Begin to live by your own faith
