The Fight For Your Godly Marriage is Just Beginning
The fight for your marriage is just beginning. My friend, that may be difficult to hear. But it is the truth.
We have an enemy who seeks to destroy every fabric of our lives. Behind the busyness of our what happens in our day to day lives, hiding in the shadows, is Satan. And he is real. Very real. He would like nothing better than to see your marriage and family destroyed. Everything that occurs in the visible, physical world is directly connected to the war being waged in the invisible, spiritual world.
The enemy operates in deception. He wants us to believe lies about God and His Word, ourselves, our marriages and everything else. He’s very strategic in the way he goes about it. As followers of Jesus Christ, we must make sure that we are aware as to what’s happening and walk in our power and authority. Angels, demons, and spiritual warfare all exist but you don’t have to live in fear.
A marriage between a husband and wife represent a covenant designed by God. As such, it is important that you recognize that you must proactively take steps to nurture and protect your marriage. Don’t wait until problems start coming your way. Start and continue praying for your marriage from the very first day. If you haven’t done this, you can start today.
Take concerns to throne of God.
Prayer is an integral part of our arsenal against the enemy. Prayer is where we can communicate with our Heavenly Father. We can take our heart aches, our worries and concerns directly to the throne of God and He will listen.
Prayer is an integral part of our arsenal against the enemy. Prayer is where we can communicate with our Heavenly Father. We can take our heart aches, our worries and concerns directly to the throne of God and He will listen. Click To TweetYes, there will be times when you and your husband don’t see eye to eye. There will be times when you seem to be arguing. A lot. There may be other times where miscommunication seems to be rampant. He misunderstands what you said. You may have misinterpreted a gesture or tone of his when he was speaking to you. Rather than allow the enemy to get in there and continue to sow discord and angst, take it to the throne of God.
There may be times in your marriage where it may seem that things are getting worse before they get better. Don’t lose hope. If you aren’t sure what to pray, ask God to help you. Ask Him to show you areas in your life and your heart that need to change to align with His Word. Make it a point to ask for forgiveness for the sin in your life. And ask your husband for forgiveness too. This isn’t easy but is always necessary. Do not allow pride to take root in your heart and marriage.
Suit up.
The first step in utilizing the spiritual resources we’ve been given is to have our spiritual eyes opened so that we can see them.
Paul unpacks the parts of spiritual armor in beginning in Ephesians 6:10
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
You must be proactive in protecting your marriage against schemes of the enemy. It is not uncommon for things to start to seem to go awry when stress or external circumstances start to impact your marriage. However, this is when you need to maintain your stance and stay on guard. MORE. THAN. EVER.
Happy life events such as a newborn baby or a home purchase are wonderful things. However, they also can open the door for different stressors to come into your lives. More challenging life events such as a death in the family, infertility, chronic illness or job loss can devastate a family. In both types of situations, it is possible to experience things like isolation, depression, feelings of overwhelm and so much more. The enemy works overtime when our minds and bodies are exhausted. He will capitalize on any moment of weakness — whether we recognize it as weakness or not. He starts to push the door open in an effort to start working overtime. Don’t let him.
Get in the Word of God and stay there. Pray it over your life. As you put on your spiritual armor, do so with boldness. Believe that God will help and protect you. He will see you through.
Prepare to do battle with the enemy for what’s yours.
As this 28 days of Godly marriage series comes to a close, I want to encourage your heart today. Marriage is no easy feat. You’ve heard over the past month many stories from different women in different seasons of life. The common thread that you saw is that despite what was happening, the goodness and faithfulness of God was ever present.
Do not underestimate the enemy. He is relentless and wants to see everything in your life destroyed. That is the truth. As such, we can not get complacent in our prayer lives. We can’t get comfortable in our marriages when things are going right. We must continue to pray for our husbands and our marriages.
Do not underestimate the enemy. He is relentless and wants to see everything in your life destroyed. We can not get complacent in our prayer lives. We can't get comfortable in our marriages when things are going right. We must… Click To TweetFIGHT FOR YOUR MARRIAGE.
The enemy wants you to be consumed with all the things that this life has to offer so that you will be distracted from what he is really doing behind the scenes…..trying to disconnect you from your life life. Don’t get me wrong — there are a lot of good things that you could and possibly should be doing. But when the busyness starts to supersede the order of the design God intended, be careful.
DO NOT expect the enemy of your soul to make it easy for you to have a solid, Godly marriage. Do not think that he is going to allow you to have plenty of time to stay in the Word of God. He’s not going to make it easy for your to continue to attend church. He doesn’t want you to attend those small group (life group) meetings with other spiritually mature couples in your church. The enemy knows that you can and will grow there. He knows that you will have other people in your life who care. Others who will stand with you and others who will fight with you.
If you find yourself at a place where you feel like you can’t pray, ask another sister in Christ to come along side you to pray for and with you. As a believer, it is my joy to intercede on behalf of another. There are people who would be happy to do the same for you.
God has already provided everything in His Word for us to walk out victorious lives. We must remember that victory comes after the battle. My friend, take heart. Through Christ, you can be prepared to fight yours.
It is my heart's desire to see women walk in their true power and authority in Jesus Christ. I get the honor of walking that out in my writing, speaking and everyday life.
With a cold latte in hand and my latest read under my arm, I'm usually seen going over math facts, checking out a new STEM project and studying God's Word. In my spare time, you will catch me spending time with family and friends, at live music festivals and on the hunt for a new favorite dessert.
www.angelpenn.com
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Hi Angel! Great post filled with powerful truths and tools for fighting for marriages and prayer. Love it. We are neighbors at Crystal’s today.
PS.. if you are looking for another place to link to on Thursday’s I would love if you would consider joining my linkup #TuneInThursday – it opens Thursday 3am PST and runs through Sunday night. you can find it at debbiekitterman.com/blog (Please feel free to delete the link if you think it inappropriate).
Thank you for sharing this important series on the #LMMlnkup this week.
I love the passion and truth in your blog. I’m not married but as a pastor a lot of married people come to me for help. I will defiantly refer them to your blog! Keep writing it’s amazing!
Awwww thank you Krystal! I am humbled and blessed by your words.
I am still single but this one is something i shpuld bookmark and reread someday. Truly, marriage is so important that the enemy targets to attack it almost always. Prayer truly is our great weapon and shield.
Yes it is Angel! One of the greatest things that I think I did for my marriage was preparing for it while I was single. By that, I mean before my husband and I even meant. Growing deeper in my relationship with Jesus was one of the things that helps us to see that He is the source of our hope, help and strength. Bless you sister!
I’ve enjoyed this series, Angel! Lots of helpful advice and sharing with your many bloggers friends. Thank you for taking the time to do this series, may it be a blessing to many!
Amen Julie! Thank you so much for your encouragement. It has meant so much tome!
Love the heart and intention behind this post and series Angel! Congratulations on being selected as this week’s featured fresh find @ Fresh Market Friday Linkup! So happy to have you sharing with this community of inspiring and creative bloggers!
Hi Angel,
Prayer is so important in the fight for our marriages. It’s our secret weapon that keeps us aligned with God’s Word and sync with the pulse of God. We cannot gain wisdom from Him if we aren’t in His Word and in communication with Him, right?
Thank you for these important reminders and for joining me at #MomentsofHope! I am selecting this piece as my featured #MomentsofHope Post! Please feel free to grab the featured button ♥
Blessings and smiles,
Lori
Angel, we do have to be on guard and wise about the enemy’s scheme’s, don’t we? All the more reason to stay connected to God, pray often, and trust and obey Him all the time. He is faithful who promised.
Angel, I found out just how important prayer is when facing anything, especially marriage. Like you mentioned, there are so many stressors that we have deal with on top of everything else and we have to learn to lean and depend on God for His direction. Great post!
Yes! Great advice. We do feel like in the Hunger Games sometimes when conflict or confusion arises- Wait, who is the real enemy here? It shouldn’t be my husband. Thank you for pointing people to where to take the battle when it arises. We must be vigilant to fight for our marriages and seek each other’s best so we stand together as examples Christ-honoring unity. 🙂 .
This is great advice for us regardless of the subject! “Rather than allow the enemy to get in there and continue to sow discord and angst, take it to the throne of God.” Thanks for these encouraging words, Angel. May we take them to heart.
This is so important! My husband and I have only been married coming on two years, but I’ve quickly learned the importance of praying for your marriage, and your spouse. Thank you for sharing this.
You are so welcome Taylor! You are early into your marriage like I am. Prayer changes things…and it changes us! Best wishes to you and your husband.
This is such a powerful message! It’s a great reminder that we need to be proactive, rather than reactive in our fight for a godly marriage. Even when things seem to be going great, the devil is still working behind the scenes to cause chaos, which is why we need to be continually in prayer for our relationship. Thank you for sharing, Angel. Also, you have an asbolutely beautiful site!
Thank you so much Abby for the compliment on my site. :0)
It is so true that we must be proactive. The enemy wants to do nothing except destroy our lives. A way into causing the familial unit to disintegrate is to start with marriages.
Loved this powerful post! One thing I have found is to keep others out of your marriage…by that I mean to not vent all the time to your girlfriends about your husband. Lift him up, even when he is not around. I literally just read another post that made reminded me of this as well! 🙂
Angel, thank you for this post. Your focus on prayer, being proactive, and also your insights on how the enemy works is powerful! I’m sharing!
Such simple steps to protecting our marriages, yet we so often forget to do them. Thank you for these reminders on what it takes!
Wonderful reminder to pray for my marriage every single day and to put aside selfish pride. I am one to become upset easily and I’m working hard to change that. I have to remind myself that Satan comes to steal from us, trick us, and destroy us. Thank you for your message.
Amen my sister. The advice you gave to not wait for something to happen is key. Prayer, staying in the Word and fellowship with other believers is key. Great post to close this important series. Thank you for obeying what God placed on your heart to sow into marriages.