The Gift Of Marriage!

Happy Wednesday, Golden Divas!

The 26 on the 26th might sound like a swanky restaurant; however, it is something far greater than that, it is my 26th anniversary, and I finally caught up with the date that we got married on August 26, 1994. I love it!

Ladies, marriage is true ‘Gift From God‘ to spend the rest of your life with someone who cherishes and adores you. Don’t get me wrong, yes, I get on Rick’s nerves, just as much as he gets on my nerves. However, in the end, we have each other back. We love and support one another; he is the yin to my yang in every way.

I just wanted to drop a note to my divas about how Satan is trying at all times to destroy your marriage. Some of you might know marriage isn’t always a bed of roses; you can have some thorns pricking away at your union to damage the entire rose garden, much like Melania did with the rose garden Whitehouse. You know I had to go there. Or, at times, your relationship can be blossoming into an everlasting union.

Nonetheless, the investment you put in your marriage determines the return you will get out of your marriage. That is why love and marriage require a 100 percent effort from both partners and your spouse’s acceptance as a 50/50 partner in all that you do.

As you may know, Adam and Eve were the first people to experience the gift of marriage. They were the first husband and wife to experience the power of unity in marriage, and yet it didn’t take very long for the enemy to declare war on them. Satan saw right away the impact a husband and wife can make when unified and devoted to following God. He understood the impact they could make in effectively building God’s kingdom. The enemy is convinced that if he can stop or destroy a marriage after God, he can control God’s effectiveness in this world.

Ladies, you have an enemy in your house, and it is not your spouse. The devil wants to take you, your marriage, and your family down. Satan does not want to be noticed. He is more effective and more destructive if you never see him coming. So, not acknowledging the devil gives him the element of surprise in our lives. We all need to recognize the fact that we do have an opponent, and he is “prowling around like a roaring lion looking for [someone] to devour,” as St. Peter wrote (5:8).

My marriage went a few rounds in the ring with the devil in our 26 years of matrimony. It hasn’t always been blissful; marriage takes work golden divas, it’s not for punks! My marriage and many other marriages are under attack. Did you know the world, the flesh, and the devil are all adamantly opposed to marriage? Especially, marriages that are distinctly Christian.

After all, marriage is given by God to strengthen his people and glorify himself; little wonder, then, that it is continuously an excellent battleground for Satan.

My marriage has been under attack since day one. Nonetheless, I have been blessed to endure the trials and tribulations throughout my marriage and grow from our mistakes. What didn’t break us made us stronger as a couple to witness and teach to other couples about God’s blessing and His hand on our union? Now, you know that made Satan furious.

“Go, Team McCain!”

The truth of the matter, I wouldn’t have it any other way. As I look back and reflect on our union, the growth has been tremendous as a couple and individually. In my opinion, to make your marriage work, God has to be the head of your marriage, without that three-strand cord, unrest (which is going to happen anyway) will destroy your marriage.

Satan is the king of confusion; he is always willing to steal, kill, and destroy anything Godly. He will find ways to ruin your marriage by presenting fear, lies, scoffers, and division into your union.

For all seasoned married couples and the newly married couples, don’t let the devil come between you and your spouse. If Satan cannot destroy a marriage, he will at least determine to weaken it.

Golden Divas I would like to share with you a great article that I read regarding how Satan works to destroy a marriage,

Six Ways Satan Tries to Destroy Your Marriage

To neglect any of these six things is to invite his presence and to welcome his influence.

1.) NEGLECT OF FOUNDATION

The enemy of marriage that deserves to be at the very top of the list is this one: neglecting the foundation—neglecting the biblical foundation. The Bible clarifies that marriage is an institution decreed by God, and an institution meant to glorify God by displaying something about him.

The great mystery of marriage is that the covenantal relationship of husband and wife is a portrait of the covenantal relationship of Christ and his church. Marriage is from God, God, God, and God, so we neglect God at our peril. It is only when the biblical foundation is in place that we can rightly understand how a husband and wife are to relate, how they are to take up their separate roles, and how they seek to bring glory to God both individually and as a couple. To build a marriage on any other foundation is to neglect the rock in favor of building upon the sand.

2.) NEGLECT OF PRAYER

Prayer is our lifeline, the means through which we praise God, express our gratitude, confess our sin, and plead for help. The couple that prays together is confessing before God that they are dependent upon him, that they are unable to thrive without him. Private prayer is essential to the Christian life, and prayer as a couple is vital to Christian marriages. Here, kneeling at the bedside or sitting by the fire, the husband and the wife meet with the Lord together, praising him for his goodness and grace, confessing their sin against him and one another, and pleading for his wisdom and help. When prayer ceases, the couple is tacitly proclaiming that they can survive and thrive on their own, that they do not need God’s ongoing, moment-by-moment assistance. Prayerlessness is a worthy foe of marriage.

3.) NEGLECT OF FELLOWSHIP

Another great enemy of marriage is a lack of fellowship—a local church fellowship. Satan loves it when he can compel an individual to withdraw from the church; how much better can he draw away a couple or a whole family. When a married couple leaves the church or even pulls back to just doing the bare minimum, they are going the place where they are meant to see healthy marriage modeled, where they can worship together side-by-side, where they will find friends before whom they can open up their marriage so others can see and diagnose their struggles. Marriage thrives in the context of the local church and withers outside it.

4.) NEGLECT OF COMMUNICATION

Just as Satan wants a couple to stop communicating with God through prayer, he also likes that couple to stop communicating with one another. Free, open, and regular communication is key to any relationship, none more so than marriage. When a couple can and willing to communicate, they can admit and work through the difficulties; they can share both the joys and the sorrows that are inevitable in a life lived together. Too many couples stop communicating, or perhaps they never learn. Instead of working through issues, they allow them to remain, fester, and become toxic. Communication is key to a healthy marriage, and lack of communication is a dangerous foe.

5.) NEGLECT OF SHARED INTERESTS

When a couple is dating, it is rare for them to find they have nothing in common: they have few shared interests. But as time goes on, as they become husband and wife and settle into everyday life, they can so easily fall into their separate routines. Now they live alone together, two people carrying on their individual lives under the same roof. Shared interests motivate shared time, shared conversation, shared passion. It can be a hobby, it can be an activity, it can even be a television show, but it ought to be something. The neglect of shared interests is a great enemy to a healthy marriage.

6.) NEGLECT OF SEX

God was good to provide that strange and mysterious gift of sex to bind a husband and wife together in a unique way. Sex is the superglue of a healthy marriage, yet most couples are never far from neglecting it or replacing it with pornography or something else. The Bible demands that a husband and wife maintain the sexual relationship in all but the narrowest of circumstances—with mutual agreement, for a short time, to concentrate on prayer. There are inevitable times when nothing seems more complicated than pursuing a sexual relationship. Nothing seems more comfortable than neglecting it, but to ignore sex is to disobey God directly. To fail sex is to disregard one of God’s tremendous and indispensable gifts.

To all of my seasoned and newly married couples, may the covenant of marriage stay at the head of your union, and may your marriage prosper and multiply, in Jesus’ Name!

Sources:

https://faithandmarriage.org/the-tactics-of-the-devil-2/