Your Marriage God's WayНамуна

Two words summarize what goes through people’s minds as they consider God’s commands to husbands and wives: intimidating and overwhelming. If you are not intimidated or overwhelmed, you do not understand what is expected of you. If you had to obey God’s commands in your own strength, you would not only feel overwhelmed or intimidated, but completely hopeless.

But thankfully, because of a promise Jesus made to us, we can feel hopeful. Jesus told His disciples, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” (John 14:16). You are not alone! The Holy Spirit will empower you to do what God has commanded you to do.

The New Testament Greek word translated “be filled” is pleroo, which means “keep on being filled” or “stay filled” with the Spirit. Paul is talking about a practice that should be ongoing in our lives as believers. We need to allow—and trust—the Holy Spirit to influence us as husbands and wives. The following verses include promises from God’s Word—promises that God will enable us to do what He has called us to do. As you read them, consider how they apply to marriage:

• “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).
• “It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
• “What is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead...” (Ephesians 1:19-20).
• “May the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead...make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 13:20-21).

When we become discouraged in our marriages, these are the truths we need to remember. God is the one working in and through us to accomplish every good work. He makes this possible through the incomparably great power that raised Jesus from the dead. God wants us to be equipped to do what He has called us to do, and of all that God wants from us, what could be more important than the way we handle our relationship with our spouse?

Your marriage gives you the opportunity to reflect Christ and the church to others. Does God want Christ and the church to have a great relationship? Absolutely! Does God want the world to witness Christian marriages that wonderfully represent Christ’s relationship with the church? Without a doubt! God has given us His indwelling Spirit to help make that happen. It is as if God has said, “The standard I have set for husbands and wives is high, but you do not have to fulfill it alone. I would not command you to do something without also giving you the resources that enable you to obey.”