My husband and I married in 2007. It was a beautiful, traditional wedding. My son walked me down the aisle. Our first pastor officiated the wedding. And, during the middle of our wedding—before our vows, he gave me a white Bible. This Bible was from my soon to be mother and father-in-law.
The pastor asked us both to hold it in our hands, and these were his words: "With this Bible, we will bring our lives together before Christ and base it around God's Word."
I wish I would have remembered those words more often during these years of marriage. We have a good marriage and have now been blessed with three children.
But, I can tell you, all marriages have their ups and downs. Everyone brings their own insecurities. And, when you are in the daily routines of life, the enemy can creep in. He uses these things to plant seeds of doubt, anger, and frustration in your marriages and lives.
I do not want to give the enemy credit for anything. But, he wants nothing more than to destroy you and your marriage. We must make sure that when we come to a crossroad in our marriage, that we are holding to those words: "With this Bible, we will bring our lives together before Christ and base it around God's Word."
I know, that's much easier said than done! I can look back at our marriage and see where I allowed the enemy to creep in, where I allowed him to plant seeds of bitterness and frustration.
May these verses comfort and encourage you today.
- Galatians 5:16 (NLT): So, I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves.
Our nature is to fall into sin; with that comes those seeds of anger, bitterness, hatred—again, this is precisely where the enemy wants us.
- Galatians 5:22-23 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things.
Lives and marriages rooted in God's Word produce the fruit of love, joy, peace. This is how God wants you to live and act related to your spouse.
Grace Marriage Mission
What would marriages look like if we all truly relied on God's Word?
In our marriages, let’s do this together when we find ourselves falling into sinful ways. Step back and remember these words, "With this Bible, we will bring our lives together before Christ and base it around God's Word”.
Pray that God will fill you with Himself and the fruit that comes from His Spirit.
Cheryl Goss is Women’s conference speaker & founder of Connecting Ministries.
