LORD, YOUR WILL BE DONE!
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'" Matthew 6:8-13
Do you want to know God's will for your marriage? Will you seek the Lord asking and praying specifically for "Your will be done in my life and marriage?" I know every day we have men and women surfing the Internet, finding our Web site, asking many questions, taking opinions and polls from many different sources, wanting to know God's will in their marriage.
Will you be different? Instead, go to your Lord and seek His will and way for your life. Your Heavenly Father knows what you need before you ask Him. God knows about your birth, your parents, your hard times and your entire life. He knows all the details about your husband or wife and knows the details about you, your temptations and your strengths. He knows all about your spouse's heart and about your children's problems.
How often do you pray the Lord's Prayer? I pray the Lord's prayer at least once a day, but often many more times as I stop at different parts of the prayer and pray in more detail. Do not pray, “IF it be Your will, restore my marriage,†which is praying doubt, but pray, "Lord, Your will be done in my marriage."
Are you praying daily for your husband or wife to change their sinful behavior, actions or words? Your spouse may be going to church and Bible study, but are they putting God's Word into action by forgiving and loving you unconditionally?
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, my ways," declares the LORD... "So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:6-8,11
When you pray and talk to the Lord, He will speak to your heart. The Lord will show you His will and way through His Word and other signs. He will reveal to you in some way what He will accomplish and what He desires for you. Will you choose to do God's will in your life and marriage? I pray that you will learn to respond to doing the will of God on an everyday basis.
What is the meaning of the will of God? In Nelson's Three-in-One Bible Reference Companion it means: God's desire.
Let me share a scripture that shows you that you need to seek God's will for your goals and plans for your future. Yes, I am referring to your marriage problems. God does have a plan and a future for you. Will you seek His will and way? Will you follow His plan and say "no" loudly every day to the temptations, tricks and schemes of the enemy who wants to take you on a detour road that will lead you to destruction?
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.James 4:13-17
Paul who wrote many of the books in the New Testament lived wanting to do "God's will" in his own life. Let me share a short passage where he spoke the exact words:
They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, "I will come back if it is God's will." Then he set sail from Ephesus. Acts 18:19-21
There are many areas that we can know God's will in by reading God's Word. One example is: salvation. The Lord loves your spouse so much, that He is willing to wait for their surrender and obedience to His plan for their marriage restoration.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
Dear stander, let these scriptures encourage and bless your heart. Jesus Christ died on the cross doing God's will. Jesus shed His Blood on the cross for all sinners to receive eternal life. Do you remember what Jesus cried out to God at Gethsemane?
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Matthew 26:39
So may you ask the Lord daily to transform your heart and mind to be able to do God's will in your life.
I often ask our Bible study group, "What if Jesus came into your bedroom tonight and said, 'Wait for your spouse; your marriage will be healed." Jesus then walks out the door. Would you believe the Lord and wait for your beloved spouse? I know that some would, but I also know that after a season of time, there would be the doubters who would allow the enemy to steal the promise that the Lord had given you.
Will you stand in the gap for your marriage forever? Will you learn God's will and then "do" God's will for your marriage? We are living in the end times, so I pray that you will choose to seek the Lord to know God's will and then be obedient to God's way for your marriage to be restored. Stand firm in the Lord every day, praying for your spouse's heart to be touched by the Lord.
Let me share one of Apostle Paul's many favorite prayers that specifically is "asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding." This is an excellent prayer that you can personalize with your spouse's name in it daily and is my prayer for you today. You can "know and do" God's will for your life and marriage!
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9-14
God bless you,
Charlyne Steinkamp
Rejoice Marriage Ministries, Inc.
