How Did Our Marriage End Up Like This? | Spiritual Warfare
Does it feel like your marriage and life is in shambles? Do you struggle to understand how you got to this point in your life?
If I were to ask Christians if they believed that spiritual warfare was real, most people would say, "Yes."
Yet, many don't know much about the subject let alone understand it.
I believe that 90% of what happens to us is spiritual. The spiritual realm is very real. Evidence of it runs throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Recently, I taught a lesson in our group program about the schemes of the devil, the work of demons, and how they attack marriage in the modern era.
Married Christians are one of his top targets.
Why?
Ephesians 5:22-33 gives us the answer. Marriage is not just the resemblance of the relationship between Christ and His Church. It is a mini-church in and of itself. The home is sanctified to Christ and in it is the mystery of the bigger picture of God's plan. When we begin to see this, it's transformative for our marriages --- How married couples live their lives says something about the Church and the One who redeemed us into it.
Unfortunately, the works of the devil are alive and well in far too many of our homes as many couples live in the flesh instead of the Spirit: immorality, impurity, sensuality, strife, jealousy, anger, disputes, selfishness, and arrogance are the norm (Galatians 5:19-21). In these behaviors, we represent the prince of this world (Satan) instead of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
We look and act more like the world than we do Jesus who called us to love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (aka, the Fruits of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-23).
The Apostle Paul makes this distinction by calling us not to live in the flesh but instead in the Spirit.
The root of how your marriage got where it is because you have chosen to live in the flesh instead of the Spirit. The flesh craves chaos and anarchy. It thrives in conflict and the pleasures of this world.
Perhaps one or both of you have placed your needs over the needs of your spouse. You've pursued your desires instead of what's best for the other.
Control and manipulation are the cornerstone of your marriage.
Not true love, joy, or peace.
Marriage dies when it's about "me."
It thrives when it's about "us" (you, me, and God).
Here's the good news...
It's never too late to learn the tricks of our enemy and identify how we've been led down a destructive path.
I hope to meet you soon (virtually of course).
Father Don