Since the ministry is growing by leaps and bounds, along with the demands on the time needed to manage many of my other responsibilities associated with it, words can’t adequately express my appreciation for the ability and willingness of one of the FAM Fellowship members to provide such encouraging and inspirational messages and prayers as the one she sent me this morning. As always, God is so faithful to meet every need, even before we know they exist! So as you read the following message and prayer submitted by this very special anonymous author, I know you will be blessed and encouraged!

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he prays in a mighty way for those who are “marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit”. In Ephesians 1:17-19, Paul prays, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” As standers, we cannot hope to continue standing unless we know what we’re hoping for and whose power we are calling on. We’ve all got the first part don’t we? We want our spouses back; we want peace in our homes. What about the second part? Who are we trusting? Our own abilities; our mates?

Even more importantly, we have to understand the character of God if we are going to truly trust him and have a faith that moves mountains. Before he can bring our spouses home, he has to ensure that we know him. His word says that we love him because he first loved us. The more time we spend allowing God to reveal himself to us through his word, the more we get a true picture of a powerful, mighty, merciful, loving God. Once we begin to understand his character, we will begin the process of trusting him with our needs. As God meets those needs and “sends down from heaven”, answering us and comforting us, our love and appreciation for him grow as well. As love grows, so does faith and with faith, obedience. We will obey him, not out of fear of condemnation or legalistic thinking. We will obey out of the knowledge that he loves us, love is our motivation. We will obey him by faith as we understand in our spirits that he is truly for us.

This is crucial to marriage restoration because if we do not make the effort to know our God, his nature and his will, we will miss the blessing. How? Because we will grow weary and faint. Isn’t that what happens when we lean on our own strength and understanding to accomplish things? Unless we seek God in his word, we only know how to find him in circumstances. If our circumstances are not pleasing to us, then we will grow bitter and resentful. With trust gone and a bitter spirit, how can we expect God to bring us the desires of our hearts?

Lord, when we were dead in our transgressions, we followed the ways of the world, working in disobedience. But because of your great love for us, we have been made alive again in Christ. Show us the riches of your grace. We are your workmanship, create us for good works which your word says you have prepared in advance for us to do. We are members of the household of God and the power manifested in Christ’s resurrection from the dead is available to us as we stand for our marriages. Lord, I pray that in each of us, our first desire would be to live holy before you, seeking you and being obedient through faith. As you work the miracle of making us new creations, do the same for our spouses so that they also may glorify you. And unite us with our spouses again. We proclaim by faith that our households will be households for God, that Jesus will be our chief cornerstone and that in him, the “whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.” (Ephesians 2:21) We pray that you would strengthen us with your power through your Spirit in our inner being and that we would be filled to the measure of the fullness of God. Equip us to lead lives worthy of the callings we have received. We ask for humility, gentleness, patience and that we might bear with one another in love. Help us to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3) Prepare us for your works of service so that the Body may be built up until we reach unity in the faith and grow in the knowledge of God and become mature. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth over the waves of doubt and uncertainty. Instead Lord, by your grace, we will speak the truth in love and in all things grow up into him who is the head-Jesus Christ. In His name, we pray. Amen.

Posted Tuesday, February 6th, 2007 at 1:29 am in Seeds Of Faith.