ICS Daily Devotions
Go Through Suffering as One Flesh
Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NKJV) Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
We need to be careful to preserve our marriage in the midst of a crisis. The marriage covenant relationship is to ensure that we will face all kinds of life challenges together because we have promised to be together for better and for worse in the marriage vow. We are made to be one flesh.
We need to make a conscious decision that we will stick with each other no matter how long the suffering lasts. Our patience, tolerance and self-control will be tested, but nothing in life can break us when we stay united as husband and wife. It is easier for someone to give up when they are alone, but we can strengthen each other when we are a married couple, because we are not easily-broken when God is the third party in our relationship and we allow Him to journey with us. Such a marriage will withstand any onslaught of the devil.
We are born-again and has the nature of God in us, so we are able to walk in the Spirit and love one another because we are a new creation. We have been asked by the Lord to marry Christians with the same values and principles, and we have a covenant marriage relationship where we share all talents, wisdom, finances and resources in facing the crisis together, so don’t suffer unnecessarily under a strained marriage relationship just because we are going through a crisis, but instead, band together as a couple for better and for worse!
A couple that prays and journeys with each other will stay together in good and bad times. We know that God has built a hedge around us, so don’t walk out of the protection through strife, arguments and fights. Keep the peace and love by staying in the sheepfold so that the chief shepherd Jesus Christ can protect you!
James 5:11a (NKJV) Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job.
At the end of the day, we want to be known for our perseverance, like Job was despite all the bad things that happened to him, but we are in a much better position than Job was to fight the good fight of faith, because we have Jesus as our mediator and the full counsel of the Word to differentiate between good and evil. Also, we know that we have a covenant with God because He has bound Himself to protect and provide for us through the covenant relationship.
Sermon Series: Job & I
