Marriage Battlefield

As part of my “You Sermon” series at LifeQuest, I spoke this week on How to Get the Most Out of Your Marriage.” If you missed the message at LifeQuest, you can listen to it on the pod cast at www.lifequestlive.com. This week my blog is dedicated to looking at issues that couples face in marriage.

It is a very challenging thing when men and women begin to stand up for Godly ideals. When we begin to put our faith out there and begin to share God’s Word to others, we have an enemy who is seeking to destroy everything he can. I am not a person who sees Satan behind every bush or who believes that every incident in life is some “sign” from God (remember, the Pharisees were chastised for looking for signs!) but I do take the Bible as truth.

In Ephesians 6, Paul said that we are at war with a spiritual enemy. In John 10, Jesus told us that the enemy comes to “steal, kill and destroy.” I honestly believe that one of the greatest battlegrounds in the spiritual battle is in the home of Christians.

Here’s how I see this work. Satan knows that he is defeated. He knows that there is nothing he can do to steal us away from the hand of God. But, he can seek to make our lives miserable and to destroy the work that God is trying to do in us and our children. He causes husbands and wives to become divided against one another. He makes pleasing the children the singular goal of our life. He causes us to be too busy to pray together, to eat together or to worship together. In the most extreme cases, Satan causes one spouse to decide that another person is better for them than their own spouse. He convinces us of the lie that our life is about being “happy” instead of about fulfilling God’s design for us which brings joy. Suddenly, families that once stood for the things of God are divided and destroyed. The enemy wins the battle, but never the war!!

As Christians, we must always remember that we are on the winning side. Jesus Christ won the war over Satan on the cross. We must stop losing battles in our own homes. Here are three tools to help you win the battle for your home:

1) Pray as a family. Pray for and with one another against the attacks of the enemy.

2) Sacrifice your own needs for the needs of your family. Nothing re-establishes love and trust as much as sacrifice.

3) Never leave the battlefield. One of the biggest issues we face is choosing to walk away instead of stand and fight. The truth is that when we leave the battlefield we are not the wounded. It is our children, our grandchildren and the reputation of Jesus Christ that is hurt.

Fight for your marriage. Fight for your home. When the enemy is attacking, drop to your knees and fight!!!