I’m sixteen years
into my second marriage and frankly I’m amazed by what I have not known about
love until recently. I’m almost forty years into my life with Christ and I’m
surprised at how much I’ve learned about His faithfulness in the last few years.
God has always loved me. He’s always been faithful to me. But something kept me
from experiencing that truth for way too many years.
What if I had known this at the beginning of my first
marriage? What if every bride saying “I DO” knew it walking into her promise to
love, honor and cherish for the rest of her life. God has inspired me to share
what I’ve learned and the book, Prayers for New Brides: Putting on God’s
Armor after the Wedding Dress, was born.
It’s something you can use to insure your new bride knows who she is fighting
and who is fighting for her.
But you have a story to tell too. You have experiences with
the God who sees, helps, plans and keeps His promises. Let those truths be the
mustard seeds of faith your pass along to the new brides in your life. You can
use these biblical accounts of God’s victories to encourage her if you are not
sure where to start in sharing your own.
God Sees
You
God saw Abraham’s faith, declared him righteous and offered
him more than he could have asked or imagined. Both
Sarah and Abraham were too old to have children but God was able to make it so.
God sees the imperfections two people bring into marriage and He is not afraid that
they might not make it.
God Wants
to Help You
God has no fear because He is the Victorious Warrior. He is
all-powerful. He has unlimited wealth. He is able to rest His power on every couple’s
weaknesses. His power applied to Abraham and Sarah’s age and years of
barrenness brought them a son. But Isaac, their son, was just a glimpse of what
God had planned.
God Plans
God saw how much the world needed a Savior – someone who
could pay the premium for the mercy every spouse will need. Abraham and Sarah’s
marriage was part of God’s plan to deliver Jesus to the world. Both husband and
wife grew weary waiting for Isaac and gave in to the temptation to fix the
problem on their own. But God’s mercy triumphed over the judgment they deserved.
Isaac was born. Jesus came from Abraham’s lineage. And God’s mercy is new every
morning to each spouse who fails God and the marriage vows.
God Keeps
His Promises
God’s promise to make Abraham a father of many nations was
fulfilled. He kept His promise to send a Savior to release those who are
imprisoned by the kingdom of darkness. The spiritual battle to steal, kill, and
destroy a marriage was won when Jesus overcame the grave. The same power that resurrected
Jesus is able to resurrect a dying marriage. Trusting the promises of God leads
to victory in life and marriage.
God makes everything beautiful in its time. The
beautiful marriage every bride desires takes time and faith that God sees, He
wants to help, and He has a plan.
Jennifer O. White is the
author of Prayers for New
Brides: Putting on God’s Armor After the Wedding Dress. With fierce
honesty, she shares her own experience of one failed marriage and one rescued
by the Wonderful Counselor. Praying God’s Word is her passion and she’s
inviting all brides to guard their marriage with the Sword of His Spirit.
You’ll find her blogging about prayer at jenniferowhite.com.
Awesome post and great reminder that Satan wants to tear apart our marriage because it can be used by God's glory!!
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