Been thinking of the beautiful gift of marriage and how much of an opportunity it gives us to learn and to grow, to dig and dig deeper, to push, overcome, discover and eventually evolve into the beautiful person God always knew we could be.
Unfortunately, sometimes we can miss out on these golden opportunities because we are not spiritually alert enough to recognise the strategies of the evil one who is working overtime to destroy anything that is good, especially godly families.
Here are some destructive darts to look out for. If you are prepared for these darts you can avoid them hitting the intended target, your family.
The Comparison Dart – The planting of a seed in your mind that your spouse is not enough. Dangerous thought to entertain and it is not truthful. In a godly marriage, your spouse is just enough. He or she is part of God’s divine plan for your life and the fact that you encounter tough times does not change that fact. The mistake we make is to focus on our circumstances and not on God’s promises, then we start slipping down a dangerous slope of doubt, complaining and comparisons.
The Negative Past Dart – This dart injects you with a poison that leads you to believe that your past would forever haunt you, that mistakes made by your parents would be your reality, that forgiven sins would hinder you from a successful marriage. Isaiah 43:18 is a real cool verse. It says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” While we know our actions whether good or bad would lead to consequences, God does not expect us to seek out these consequences but rather turn away from whatever is sinful in our past and behave differently. He promises to empower us to live a new life in Christ.
Finally there is the – Lazy Prayer Life Dart – We often perform very poorly in this area; couples just don’t want to pray together. The relationship lacks spiritual insight as a result and many unnecessary arguments and disagreements can emerge all because of the lack of prayer. Our prayer life on a personal basis and jointly are often seriously lacking. No wonder our spiritual eyes grow dim at times. I am often baffled by this; why do couples do everything together but pray. This is so weird and scary at the same time. If we only understand the role and power of prayer in our marriage, we would take advantage of it. Prayer is a necessary tool and acts as a shield against darts that will be thrown at us.
Prayer makes a woman feel safe, loved and supported in her marriage. Prayer allows a man to step into his role and act as Leader and Priests of his family. Together a couple can share great intimacy in Christ, through prayer. If we could only see this and embrace prayer daily, we would experience growth in our marriage. I believe!!
