Walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. It is in marriage that you can best apply this scripture. There will be many opportunities in marriage to fulfill the lust of the flesh. Our flesh wants to rise big time whenever our spouses do something that we consider unpleasant.
All works of the flesh as described in Galatians 5: 19-21 especially enmity, strife, jealousy, anger (ill temper), selfishness, divisions, envy can all be seen in marriages.
In marriage, we are tempted to pay back evil for evil, tit for tat and it is easier to go by the rule of a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye. In marriage, it is easy to enter into strife, to be angry at our spouse, and be bitter against them.
In my twenty-one-plus years of marriage, I have come to note that it is always easier to nip things in the bud before they get out of hand. It is always easier to apologize on time before things get out of hand. It is always easier to talk things over than to let them linger and become bigger.
Galatians 5:22 (Amp), ‘But the fruit of the Holy Spirit (the work which His presence within accomplishes) is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self- control (self restraint, continence)
When we allow the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the resultant effect will be a Spirit-controlled marriage. That is where the Lord wants us to get to. That no matter what happens or whoever it is that is at fault, we are Spirit-controlled. Our lives are controlled and influenced by the Holy Spirit.
This can only happen when we begin to acknowledge the Holy spirit’s presence in our lives individually. When we learn to put our bodies under and allow the Holy Spirit His rightful place.
May God bless our marriage.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am Spirit Controlled.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, help me acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s place in my life
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Gal 5:16 (MSG) My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness.
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Begin today to acknowledge the person of the Holy Spirit.
One sureway to do this is to let your husband have the final say. Give your husband the honor of having the final say in your marriage.This is how to win the heart of your husband.
The intelligent, opinionated, and strong-willed wives have issues with this. They are choleric, goal-getters, and achievers. They are used to making their own decisions and sticking to them.
Of truth, opposites attract, so usually, a fast and active wife will probably have a quiet, slow, and steady husband. Now the challenge would be being submissive to your husband when you consider him too slow, passive, and weak.
You know what, that is your opinion, but if you want to win your husband’s love, you need to tuck in this opinion and obey God’s instruction to submit to your own husband’s disposition. After airing your opinion, genuinely let your husband have the last say. Remember he is the king of your family kingdom. The king’s words are never to be argued.
So what if I am sure he is in the wrong, should I just look on? Not necessarily, you can pray about it but not argue endlessly.
Give your husband the honor of reigning in your marriage, let him have the last say. Never drag power or usurp authority with your husband. Keep your tongue. Don’t nag about issues or over-flogged things.
May God bless your marriage.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I will love, respect and honour my husband.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Pray that God will teach you how to honour your husband.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Proverbs 31:11 (KJV) The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Decide to honour your husband.
A point of frustration could be deliberate or not. But if one is faced with the reality of your spouse frustrating you, what do you do?
Well, in this kind of situation, you just have to exercise patience. Have a lot of understanding and don’t react. Reacting will mean retaliating or giving it back to your spouse in the same coin or measure it is given to you.
If the frustration is as a result of some form of sickness or disease, you just have to pray to God for healing and the strength to bear your spouse’s burden.
You may be frustrated because you are not a patient person or because of temperamental differences, background differences or simply male – female differences.
If you are newly wedded, your frustration could be out of misunderstanding of the things you don’t like. Especially if you had a long distance courtship or relationship. The tendency is to want to either retaliate or withdraw from the source of your frustration or pain. Please don’t do this.
In marriage, you and your spouse are a team. United you stand and divided you fall. Know that whatever comes, you are still married and you intend to still remain married.
Let your point of frustration drive you positively to seeking help, change of character and into seeking God. You can start to pray for your spouse every day consciously. Lift your spouse up in prayer and it will be to your account.
When you are also at the point of frustration, don’t keep silent on each other and don’t seek friendship outside of the marriage. Some have done this and regretted their actions. This will only draw a big gap between the two of you. The more you grow apart, the more the gap grows and the more things get difficult.
Just know that marriage requires constant working at it. It requires daily commitment, communication and patience. There are times when all is well and rosy like heaven. There are other times when you just have to keep the flame ablaze and fan the flames.
The bottom line is, don’t give up on your marriage. Don’t make a permanent decision based on a temporary situation. The frustration you are facing is only temporary. That phase will definitely fade away.
God bless your marriage.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I will not frustrate my spouse. I am patient with him/her.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Ask for grace to be patient with your spouse
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Genesis 2:24, KJV “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Don’t give up on your marriage
Finally, we have come to the end of our discussion about love languages. Every husband should have been able to discover to a large extent what his wife’s love language is by now.
You must have discovered that the way you speak your wife’s language is by speaking her love language. It is the language she understands.
God is not an author of confusion, so God would have put on your inside the ability to speak this language which is your wife’s love language. How often you speak this love is how often your wife feel loved. The extent to which you stubbornly refuse to speak this love language is the extent to which your wife feels unloved. So if you want your wife to feel unloved, you can go ahead and not speak her language. But if you are tired of quarrels and you want to experience peace in your home and life, then you have to learn these love languages and speak them.
The five love languages are:
1. Words of affirmation 2. Quality time 3. Service 4. Gifts 5. Physical touch
We are looking at the last love language which is:
5. Physical touch Here, the wife loves you to touch her. She feels connected to you when you touch affectionately. You must learn to hold her hands whether in public or in private.
Research has found out that there is a number of touches you give a woman daily and this will prolong her life span.
A husband who instead of touching his wife complains that she is immature is not being smart. He is only pulling trouble by the hands. Your touch must be meaningful. It does not have to be sexual, but meaningful.
Your touch must be special and mean more to your wife at all times. It must communicate love, tenderness, hope, appreciation, fondness, care, security, friendship, companionship, togetherness, spiritual covering, playfulness, thoughtfulness, blessing and all the good things you can think of.
Another aspect of physical touch is praying for your wife. Each husband must learn to hold hands with his wife and pray. There is the power of agreement when you hold hands and pray. He should also lay his hands on her head and proclaim and release blessing.
You have not touched your wife in days except when it comes to jeru trip, it does not work that way.You should be able to sit down side by side, hold hands and even kiss in public.
If your wife has her love tank filled up, she will not be tempted with looking elsewhere for love. This will eliminate to a large extent the problem of infidelity.
Satisfy your wife by speaking her love language to the best of your ability and stop complaining that she is difficult. No woman is difficult. Her love language is like her password. Once you know it and use it, you have her doing everything you want.
Love covers a multitude of sins. That means when you learn to speak your wife’s love language, that action covers up her sins even if they are many. You don’t have to see your wife’s sin, just focus on speaking her language.
God bless your marriage
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am the most loving husband to my wife
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Father, open thou the eyes of my understanding in Jesus name.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Son 4:11 Thy lips, O [my] spouse, drop [as] the honeycomb: honey and milk [are] under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments [is] like the smell of Lebanon.
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Speak your wife’s love language
