Once we’ve made the decision to be obedient to God and stand for the restoration of our marriages, there’s NO more important question to answer than whether or not we have the ability to believe, because if we don’t believe in God’s Word and every promise it contains, AND God’s ABSOLUTE power and willingness to fulfill them, we’re very sadly deceived if we expect Him to deliver on them. That’s why the very FIRST step in standing for marriage restoration MUST be reading and studying God’s Word, along with a lot of prayer and fasting, to make CERTAIN we KNOW and understand HIS will as we decide to stand against the destruction of our marriages and families. And if we don’t STAY in the Word and continue praying and fasting, Satan WILL come along and sow lethal seeds of doubt in our minds to keep us from believing, because he knows that he has no more effective weapons than doubt and unbelief! And the good news is that you don’t have to take MY word for it, because of the awesome illustration found in Mark 9 14-27, which says:
When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” “O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

The above passage of scripture very accurately describes what often happens when we decide to take a stand for the restoration of our marriages! First, we usually encounter and even find ourselves involved in discussion or debate about the “law” and what the Bible actually says and means about marriage, divorce and remarriage. And many times, we find Jesus and truly turn to Him for the first time in our lives, and we run to Him in wonder and delight, because we think and HOPE he can help us and that He will save our marriages. But as we face and struggle with the problems and challenges encountered every day when standing for marriage restoration, without seeing any changes or results as we pray, we become discouraged, and doubt and unbelief set in. Then time after time, we ask the Lord over and over again for a “sign” of encouragement, or even for something VERY specific as a sign that He will restore our marriages. And EVEN though He faithfully answers our prayers and we actually witness and experience the EXACT thing we asked Him for as a sign of encouragement or that He’s going to restore our marriages; even when we’ve seen something that we KNOW ONLY GOD COULD DO, we still end up accepting and proclaiming that our marriages are dead and that marriage restoration is hopeless! How can we ask God for a sign, and then be so delighted when He faithfully answers our prayers, only to give up on Him, and so often just a matter of days or weeks later! That’s like calling the Lord a liar! If we ask Him for a sign or for encouragement and He gives it to us, and then we reject or refuse to believe the promise He sent the sign to give us, why in the world should He ever do another miracle for us. What reason does He have to believe we’d use it for His praise, honor and glory? These are very important questions for us to understand the importance of and answer, because the Bible leaves absolutely no doubt that EVERYTHING God does will be for the glory of Jesus (Ephesians 1 and Isaiah 55) and that without faith, it is impossible to please Him and He will NOT answer our prayers or perform miracles for us if we don’t believe He will (Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 10:38 and James 1:1-8)! So, just like the father in the above passage of scripture, we have to ask the Lord to help us in our unbelief. And as He always is, He will be faithful to help us and He WILL come and lift us up! But we need to beware of the warning in Matthew 13:57-58, which says And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

And finally, we have to realize and recognize that even our faith and ability to walk in faith comes from the Lord, because Romans 12:3 tells us For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. And then John 15:5 says “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. And praise the Lord for Philippians 4:13 (NKJ), which assures us I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And as a reminder of what faith really means and requires of us, we can read Hebrews 11:1 (AMP), which says NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. And Romans 10:17 even tells us what it takes to have faith that pleases God and gives us the assurance that He WILL answer our prayers and restore our marriages, because it says Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. So once again, we learn that the most effective defense against Satan’s lethal weapons of doubt and unbelief is spending quality time studying and meditating on the word of God! And experience proves that there is a very direct correlation between the time we spend in the word and the time we spend battling doubt and discouragement. And if we’re spending too much time in that battle, Satan will probably win, because we’ll give up the stand God called us to for our spouses and the restoration of our marriages. And since that’s a choice each one of us have to make for ourselves, I pray that we will all get a lot more serious about reading and studying our Bibles and send Satan running right back to hell where he belongs! And then we’ll all truly be blessed and encouraged!

Posted Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 7:19 am in Seeds Of Faith.