One of the most rewarding and difficult parts of my life is my marriage. I love my Angie beyond reason. I love the passions that she has. I love her desire to be like God and to do things well. I love how she longs to be an even greater mother, homemaker and minister. Like most other marriages we have certainly been through our ups and downs. This past year we have found ourselves in more downs than ups and I accept my lion's share of the responsibility in this. I have not been the leader that I have needed to be. I have not been the kind of Godly man and husband that she needs me to be. The end result of this has been a marriage and family that has not been all that God has wanted it to be. This in turn has been used my the enemy to attack the emotional well being of myself and my wife. We have struggled with feelings of failure and inadequacy. For myself these feelings have permeated every aspect of my life. I feel like I have been a failure at work, at home and at church. I can look back at this past year and see some good things that have happened and yet I still see the whole of the year as a failure. I know in my head that it is not as bad as it seems but some times one of the hardest things we have to do in life is move head knowledge to heart knowledge.
As this year comes to a close I felt it only appropriate to try and place some sort of redeeming touch on the year by starting a new daily devotional with my wife. I know some of you may be wondering why not just start something new on the new year and I can see your point. For me though it was why wait. Why should wait another day to do something I should have been doing a long time ago.
Today's lesson deals with a marriage being a blessing. Specifically it deals with what the Hebrew word for blessed means-“to endue with power for success, prosperity, fertility and longevity.” When I read this I was struck by the word success. When we ask God to bless our marriage we are asking Him to infuse it with the power to succeed and to endure. We also know from Scripture that when ask God for these kinds of things that He will provide it to us. Therefore, way back when Angie and I first got married and we asked for God's blessing upon it He gave it (and us) the power to succeed. What an amazing thought this is that no matter who bad things may get or how dark the future may seem that God has already granted us the power to succeed in our marriage. This thought has literally blown me away!
If this is true of marriage then it must also be true in other areas of our lives. When God chose to bless something it means that He is empowering it to be successful and to endure. I know that some of you may be thinking of some ministries or churches that have failed and wondering if it was never God's will for that ministry to exist or not. The simple answer is no. We live in a fallen world and just like Adam and Eve's marriage started out as perfect it to would fall in to some level of failure. I think we see one result of the cracks in their marriage by how their 2 sons dealt with each other. The fact that one brother killed another and then ran away reflects at least partially on Adam and Eve and the examples the set for their kids.
In the end God does not want us to focus on the failures that are around us. He wants us to focus on those successful parts of our lives. He wants us to be able to see the things that have gone well and that are going well. I pray that to do you will take the time and focus on the things that have gone well (even the small things) and not dwell on the bad. The enemy would like nothing more than for you to come to the end of your day and to look back and see nothing but defeat. Do not allow the enemy to steal your joy in this way.
As this year comes to a close I felt it only appropriate to try and place some sort of redeeming touch on the year by starting a new daily devotional with my wife. I know some of you may be wondering why not just start something new on the new year and I can see your point. For me though it was why wait. Why should wait another day to do something I should have been doing a long time ago.
Today's lesson deals with a marriage being a blessing. Specifically it deals with what the Hebrew word for blessed means-“to endue with power for success, prosperity, fertility and longevity.” When I read this I was struck by the word success. When we ask God to bless our marriage we are asking Him to infuse it with the power to succeed and to endure. We also know from Scripture that when ask God for these kinds of things that He will provide it to us. Therefore, way back when Angie and I first got married and we asked for God's blessing upon it He gave it (and us) the power to succeed. What an amazing thought this is that no matter who bad things may get or how dark the future may seem that God has already granted us the power to succeed in our marriage. This thought has literally blown me away!
If this is true of marriage then it must also be true in other areas of our lives. When God chose to bless something it means that He is empowering it to be successful and to endure. I know that some of you may be thinking of some ministries or churches that have failed and wondering if it was never God's will for that ministry to exist or not. The simple answer is no. We live in a fallen world and just like Adam and Eve's marriage started out as perfect it to would fall in to some level of failure. I think we see one result of the cracks in their marriage by how their 2 sons dealt with each other. The fact that one brother killed another and then ran away reflects at least partially on Adam and Eve and the examples the set for their kids.
In the end God does not want us to focus on the failures that are around us. He wants us to focus on those successful parts of our lives. He wants us to be able to see the things that have gone well and that are going well. I pray that to do you will take the time and focus on the things that have gone well (even the small things) and not dwell on the bad. The enemy would like nothing more than for you to come to the end of your day and to look back and see nothing but defeat. Do not allow the enemy to steal your joy in this way.
