The Warrior in Your Marriage by @JenniferOWhite

The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."

Zephaniah 3:17 NIV

You will always be a beautiful bride. God delighted to give your hand in marriage to His son. He needed you to have the assurance of intimate, faithful and unconditional love. Despite your mistakes and issues, God crazy loves you. He created a way to make sure you could wear the white gown of your dreams every single day. He sent you Jesus: your ultimate bridegroom. He let Jesus pay an unbelievable price to ensure your dress would always fit and never, ever show stains. Jesus did all of this for you regardless of your weight, temper, cooking skills, and the tidiness of your home.

However….

Your marriage will NEVER be perfect. There will always two imperfect humans in your holy union. You said I do as two sinful (sin-filled) individuals who are on a quest to work out the oneness of marriage. As hard as you both try to love each other completely, you will struggle a bit. Why? Until death parts the two of you, the battle between good and evil will follow your relationship. There is a war and you, my friend, are in it.

The Bible promises that God’s goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life (Psalm 23:6). You are never without the benefit of God’s wild pursuit to guard, guide and protect you. He has been fighting His enemy since the Garden of Eden. He is an experienced warrior and He is fighting for you.

The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. Exodus 15:3

He warns us that Satan is prowling the earth looking for opportunities to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). Satan is very aware of your and your marriage. Marriage is one of his favorite targets.

Staying married requires a fight. This fight is God’s fight. Your job is showing up on the winning Warrior’s side of the battle. There you will discover that He is fighting for you. You will also find Him ready to teach you, encourage you, and protect you.

You must suit up for the fight. God supplies armor (Ephesians 6:11-18) you need to battle your own selfish thoughts, expectations, and every cultural ideal that does not honor God and His ways.

He will delight you with constant communication about you and your husband’s worth. He knows your needs and He is able to meet all of them. He will never leave your side, witnessing your every victory, every fear, and every battle wound. He will never stop pursuing you if you wander away from His leadership. He will find you, bring you home and throw a party for all of heaven and earth to enjoy.

Have you experienced God as the victorious warrior in your marriage?

Have you considered Jesus as the Savior of marriages?

Take a moment to surrender your marriage challenges to His leadership.

 

Jennifer O. White is an author, speaker, and encourager to those seeking a life of hope, peace, and confidence. You are invited to join her on a brave life, marriage, and world-changing adventure with Jesus at her blog: Prayerfully Speaking. Today’s post is an excerpt from her forthcoming book: Prayers for New Brides: Putting on the Armor After the Wedding Dress.

info@jenniferowhite.com

Getting Through this Lingering Storm - @jenniferowhite

Getting Through this Lingering Storm 

By Jennifer White

Do you feel defeated?  Is something in your life causing you to feel subdued and vulnerable?  Are your hopes frustrated, your needs deprived?  Maybe the wreckage seems catastrophic with another storm emerging on the radar.

We long for safety and a secure future.  We want now solutions that buy us victory in the battle against cancer, mental illness, unemployment, oppression, and attacks by others.  We trust that God hears our prayers.  We know that the disciples woke him up from a deep sleep on a storm-tossed boat, and He calmed the sea with a few words.  

Still, this situation, your situation, needs a savior now.  You have prayed.  You asked for God to intervene, and it’s been months, maybe years.  Why doesn’t your Savior enter stage left and tell this hurricane to be still?  

                            

Looking for an Exit Sign 

I’ve been wrestling with this myself.  My human nature sees danger and is looking for an exit sign.  My heart desires peace and is tired of pursuing it only to see the door slammed again.  Doesn’t God want me to walk away?  Doesn’t He want me to finally rest after decades of tension and “sucking it up”.   

I rationalize using this scripture and that one, as they come to me.  I hear wise counsel to act, to stand, to fight, and I still want to shut the door on this long-lasting saga.  Confusion clouds my mind, and my emotions deliver the rain.  This just needs to STOP!  

Then God speaks to me when I am quiet enough to hear Him.  Yesterday, it was in the middle of the night, when the room was dark and I had been at rest for a while.  He reminded me that David, before he became King David, spent years avoiding the vengeful pursuit of King Saul.  He endured more than I can imagine from a powerful foe that had been appointed by God.  The betrayal he must have felt, but he endured.  He even honored his enemy in a cave when he could have released years of pent up frustrations.  He held on to God’s promise that he would one day be king, and he waited.  

Can I Keep Going, Keep Hoping? 

Has God given you a promise that seems like a vacation destination you will never be able to visit?  Are you enduring a storm that rarely gives the sun a chance to shine in your life?  Do you feel like Noah building a big boat with no clue what rain is?  Do you feel like Abraham and Sarah waiting for a baby when your peers are enjoying grandchildren and great-grands?  Do you know you are called to do great things for God but find yourself thrown in a well by your family?  

Who is Driving? 

Today is the day to put fear and hopelessness in the trunk of your car and let faith drive.  This is going to take a little heavy lifting.  Fear can become obese over time and with influence.  HOWEVER, it crumbles when addressed by the reality of God, so roll up your sleeves and tell that crazy phantom who God is. 

He is your Shelter (Psalm 91:1).  

He is a Safe Place to hide (Psalm 46:1).  

He is your Defender (Psalm 18:1).  

He is your Sustainer (Colossians 1:16-17). 

He is the Gentle Shepherd (Isaiah 40:11) who prepares a table for you in the presence of your enemies (Psalm 23:5). 

He pursues you each day with perfect portions of His love, His power, and His sound mind (Psalm 23:6, 2 Timothy 1:7). 

He is enough.  He is more than enough for the length of this crazy hard time you are going through (2 Corinthians 12:9).  

Hold up your difficult person, situation, or illness to Him and see the difference in power.  Take another step forward into the unknown with your eyes on His greatness.  Take the next step in the long tunnel of darkness and know He is with you.

Let God Be God to You

Relief will come.  It might be today, next year, or when you move into the perfection of Heaven.  Until then, He is God, and He is with you and me.  He is enough.  Cling to Him.  See the storm from His perspective.

Jennifer O. White
Author.  Speaker.  Encourager at Prayerfully Speaking
@jenniferowhite

Jennifer White pursues God in prayer with the Bible as her guide.  She leads others to do the same at Prayerfully Speaking.  Wife to David is her highest calling.  She recently completed her first book, Prayers for new Brides:  Putting on the Armor After the Wedding Dress.  #LIVEWONDERSTRUCK with her that God is and does "more than we can ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20). #GodAnswers 

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"The Antidote for My Wounded, Angry Heart" By Jennifer White

Photo by Creative Common Image

I am a recovering people pleaser, so my list of enemies has been relatively short.  Even with all my efforts to be everyone’s favorite, there have been a few people I couldn’t please. 

The words of Mary DeMuth lanced my recently wounded and inflamed heart.  In Wall Around Your Heart:  How Jesus Heals You When Others Hurt You, Mary reminds us how Jesus dealt with His foes:    

“He offered grace to those who violated His laws.  He dignified outcasts.  He engaged Himself in the very world that put Him to death.  Jesus is our example of openhearted living; of exhibiting wild love that dared to wash the feet of Judas, who betrayed Him; of reinstating Peter, who denied Him thrice.  Jesus, in His divine irresistibility  welcomed all, loved all, endured all.”  All!  

I’ve been trying to swallow this bitter reality.  I have been Jesus’ enemy.  I have: 

-       Relented too many times to premarital sex

-       Chosen divorce

-       Lied about my sin to protect my reputation

-       Chewed relentlessly on the faults of my husband

-       Broadcasted the faults of a family member like a spewing hydrant 

Yet, he lets me wear this robe of His righteousness.  He calls me friend.  His mercy for my attitude, my irresponsibility, and broken promises to Him, others, and myself is new every morning! 

God is love.  He loves me with 1 Corinthians 13 love.  He is patient with me while I struggle to grasp the gospel.  He is kind to me even though I have dismissed His instructions.  He is not rude to me with snarls and reminders of my weaknesses.  He does not force His rules on me but gives me the freedom to choose to say yes.  He is not irritable with me because He’s exhausted from cleaning up my messes and yours, too. 

He prays for me.

He empowers me.

His power rests on my weakness.

While I was His enemy, He pursued me with a hope-filled love.  He held out His hand to me, smiled, and offered His help. 

In Luke chapter 6, Jesus gives us radical relationship instructions. 

²⁷ “Love your enemies.  Do good to those who hate you.  ²⁸ Bless those who curse you.  Pray for those who abuse you.”  ^35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.  ³⁶ Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” 

There it is in verse 35:  “He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”  You and me, we are the ungrateful, evil ones, and He is merciful.  He is kind to us. 

The one who hurt me has seemed so ungrateful for my kindness and support.  I will be merciful.  I will be kind. 

I am choosing to see this enemy as God’s little girl, hurt and walled off emotionally.  When I do, she looks much like I once felt and still do at times. 

I am choosing to take my ugly thoughts about her into the obedience of Christ; the obedience of praying for her and blessing her.  (Luke 27-36) 

I have more peace.  

“The greatest challenge of my life is choosing to commune with God with everything I am, learning to receive His wild, but abundant love, then flinging it joyfully in people’s direction.”  

Mary DeMuth, “Wall Around Your Heart”

Jennifer White pursues God in prayer with the Bible as her guide.  She leads others to do the same at Prayerfully Speaking.  Being wife to David is her highest calling.  She recently completed her first book, Prayers for new Brides: Putting on the Armor After the Wedding Dress.  #LIVEWONDERSTRUCK with her that God is and does "more than we can ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20). #GodAnswers 

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