Let me open you up to today’s devotional by quoting this scripture.
Philippians 4:8 AMPC For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].
When we learn to obey the word of God, things happen for us in the positive.
Whether married or single, we are to intentionally find good things about our spouses to fill our minds with. Filling our minds with the good quality of our spouses keeps us kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving towards them.
As Singles, when your fiancee or fiance is trying hard to please you or your spouse is doing their best to make the marriage work, you don’t ignore their efforts.
Don’t say, that if I appreciate their efforts now, they will relax and not continue making efforts. Don’t say, that until I see 100% improvement, I will not acknowledge the efforts made.
This mindset is very wrong.
Celebrate and acknowledge the little efforts. What we appreciate, appreciates and what we don’t appreciate depreciates.
Appreciation also begets respect and willingness to do more. If all you see in your spouse are the errors, their faults, their shortcomings, and their weaknesses, then something is wrong.
If you are looking for faults, you will find them. Whatever you are looking for is what you find.
Even with the little errors, you can overlook and ignore, you use a magnifying lens to focus on them.
Remember, you are not perfect either. Neither are you easy to also live with. Fill your mind with the good in your spouse.
As singles, you can write out those good qualities in your partner and keep them before you so that you can appreciate them. Appreciation should be verbal, don’t internalize your appreciation.
When you start practicing these as a single, it becomes a habit that will help you in your marriage
As a couple, I don’t believe your spouse won’t have any good qualities. I am sure you will be able to find at least one good quality in them.
Focus on that. Begin to praise, appreciate, and celebrate that good quality and before long there will be more qualities to appreciate.
Practice these and your marriage will enjoy bliss, joy, peace, understanding, patience, and love.
You may want to ask, so what about the weaknesses? We don’t get better all at once. We get better gradually. It is one step after the other.
In today’s world, it is so easy to fall into the temptation of getting all worked up or worried or anxious about so many things.
Our relationships as singles are not spared from this strategy of hell to snuff joy, understanding, and bliss from them.
You will always see ladies more beautiful, more caring, more understanding, richer, and more respectful than your fiance or fiancee. Make up your mind with the help of God to stay focused on your partner.
You will always have desires, especially of material things. Don’t focus on what you don’t have and get anxious or agitated about those things
Celebrate your partner. Be intentional about seeing the best in each other.
Appreciate what you have and leave what you don’t have.
The same goes for us Couples. Other ladies and men will not suddenly become ugly. There will still be countless good men out there. Don’t compare the qualities of other women and men to your spouse.
Accept and love your spouse the way they are.
We are all a work in progress. The human tendency is to complain about what God has given you. The more you complain the more you will have reasons to complain. The more you appreciate your spouse the more grateful you are for them.
Don’t become anxious, especially about the good things of life, you don’t have YET. A pregnant woman does not envy the woman carrying her baby. They both carry something, it’s just a matter of time and the pregnant one will also carry her baby.
These things are not bad in themself but when you have your mind focused on them, they tend to choke the bliss out of your marriage.
Philippians 4:6 NIV Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Enjoy your spouse. Thank God for the spouse God has given you. What you lack now, will become plenty only if you have the right attitude of thanksgiving.
Material prosperity will come. Let us learn to enjoy ourselves on the way to our destination.
God does not want us to be worried and get preoccupied with things we don’t have.
He expects us to make our request known to our maker through prayers.
Enjoy your spouse. Enjoy your children. Enjoy where you are and what you have in the present.
Ask every couple, things get busier after the wedding!
Dear singles, you will never have “free” time like you do now as a single! Enjoy it while it lasts!
Instead of rushing into marriage, fasting, and praying for a wedding, relax and calm down, and serve God with all your energy now!
The reality remains, that nobody can marry your own! Let there be a million weddings daily, nobody can marry your spouse!
Let go of the pressures, because pressures take away all the pleasures. Moreover, pressures don’t get prayers answered quickly, if anything, it brings delays.
Pressures make you lower your standards, become vulnerable, and entertain nonsense!
Take a look at the scripture.
1Co 7:32-35 (GNB) I would like you to be free from worry. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord’s work, because he is trying to please the Lord. [33] But a married man concerns himself with worldly matters, because he wants to please his wife; [34] and so he is pulled in two directions. An unmarried woman or a virgin concerns herself with the Lord’s work, because she wants to be dedicated both in body and spirit; but a married woman concerns herself with worldly matters, because she wants to please her husband. [35] I am saying this because I want to help you. I am not trying to put restrictions on you. Instead, I want you to do what is right and proper, and to give yourselves completely to the Lord’s service without any reservation.
Did you see that? The single time affords you to serve God more because there are fewer worries about taking care of your spouse and eventually your children!
Before you enter that phase, enjoy this one you are in. Serve God with all your strength.
For couples, this should never be an excuse to not serve God. God won’t understand that it’s because you are married that you ignore Him and His will.
My dear and most especially, God’s dearest, I bring you a word from the Lord this morning!
Single or married, this word is for you! Please pay attention to the words and take heed of them.
Let’s dive into it!
Psa 95:8-11 (MSG) “Don’t turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising, As on the day of the Wilderness Test, [9] when your ancestors turned and put me to the test. [10] For forty years they watched me at work among them, as over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked! ‘Can’t they keep their minds on God for five minutes? Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?’ [11] Exasperated, I exploded, ‘They’ll never get where they’re headed, never be able to sit down and rest.’
Many people, rather than cooperate with God, are putting God to the test, trying His patience and provoking Him with their carelessness and insensitivity!
Thank God He is a merciful God, full of loving kindness and tender mercies!
That is our saving grace!
However, we cannot continue to test His patience and behave like stubborn little kids!
God wants you to keep your mind on Him!
Regarding every decision you make, who to marry, loving the one you have married, staying faithful, avoiding bickering and strife, and so on, God wants you to keep your mind on Him! When your mind is on Him, you will behave!
The punishment for the Israelites in the above text is non-arrival! Their dreams were never fulfilled! They worked tirelessly and struggled with nothing to show at the end of the day! They wandered and meandered and yet never reached their destination!
These will not be our portion!
The scripture made it clear these things were written to serve as our examples! We must not repeat the same mistakes!
Dear singles and couples, decide to cooperate with your maker! Decide to listen to His word and His Instructions. Decide to live for Him and you will find all things working together for your good!
God the Present Help in your Relationship and Marriage
God’s word is powerful enough to be trusted. The word from His mouth will never go back to Him void but will accomplish what it says it would.
If you are a child of God, take refuge in His word and promises.
Whatever the issue or challenge is with your relationship trust God. He is the very present help in times of trouble. You will testify to His faithfulness. ( So far as the perfect will of God is known)
Maybe you are having issues with parental consent. Maybe it is the finances for the wedding that is the issue. Maybe it’s a misunderstanding that has been lingering for long. Maybe it’s peer pressure or listening to the wrong advice.
I want to encourage you this morning. Take hold of God’s word.
If you can have it in the word, you can have it in your world.
That marriage will not end in separation or divorce. The dry bones of that marriage will rise again. Finances will flow again. You will enjoy marital bliss once again. Or if you do not know what it is to enjoy bliss, God’s word will manufacture it.
Isaiah 41:18 GNT I will make rivers flow among barren hills and springs of water run in the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water and the dry land into flowing springs.
God’s word promises restoration. God promises to make rivers flow among barren hills. He will turn the desert into pools of water and dry lands flowing springs.
What a wonderful promise to hold on to.
Whatever looks like dryness in your relationship and marriage, in your finances, or business, God promises to turn it around.
The issues you face in your relationship and marriage are not meant to break you. They are there to make you stronger.
Jesus told Peter, when thou art converted strengthen your brothers.
Whatever you are dealing with right now is only for an appointed time. Its season will soon come to pass. Then you will be furnished to strengthen your brethren.
Fight the good fight of faith. After it all, we are still standing.
God’s word is a sure foundation to stand upon.
Don’t give up, believe His word and it will happen for you in your relationship and marriage.
