What a huge difference it would make in our lives as we stand for the restoration of our marriages if we could only understand and believe that God truly IS ALL WE NEED! Because that’s what it takes to really walk in the victory, peace and joy Jesus came to give us, and that’s how His most awesome and omnipotent power is released to work on our behalf. As I heard a preacher put it many years ago, that’s how we stay under the glory spout where the glory comes out! The following verses are just a few that confirm that we MUST seek and put the Lord FIRST:

1 Kings 22:5
But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the counsel of the LORD.”

Matthew 22:37
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

Exodus 20:2-4
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

Exodus 34:14
Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Matthew 19:29
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

Mark 10:28-30
Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.

Even though Isaiah 55:8-9 explicitly tells us that our ways and thoughts are NOT God’s ways and thoughts, because His are so much higher, it’s VERY difficult to avoid applying our limited understanding to the situations we face and to the things of God, but Proverbs 3:5-6 specifically warns us NOT to do that. In fact, it says Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. For instance, in our very limited human capacity, it’s not easy to understand something like Luke 17:33, which says Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. But the answer to that is found in verses like Matthew 6:33, which says But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. And Philippians 4:19, which says And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Joyce Meyer is doing an AWESOME series this week on her TV broadcasts about God being in control, which I have a feeling I’ll refer to all week, because so far they’ve really confirmed a lot of what the Lord has put on my heart lately. The scripture reference she used in the beginning of her message yesterday morning is something we all need to remember, because it’s 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, which says We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. As Christians, especially when we’re literally standing against the gates of hell (which Jesus promised WILL NOT prevail!) for the restoration of our marriages, and in many cases for the salvation of our husbands, life is not going to be easy and we’re going to face what appear to be impossible odds. And if we allow Satan to deceive us by getting us to focus on all of that instead of the awesome, never changing promises, power and faithfulness of our Lord and Savior, he wins, and our marriages will not be restored. Ladies, do we really believe that our Father in heaven, who loved us SO much that He watched His beloved son die in agony on the cross to give us victory over the devil and his plans to kill, steal and destroy us, our husbands, our children and our marriages, would call us to run the marathon of marriage restoration only to shoot us down before we cross the finish line? I don’t think so! The ONLY reason we won’t cross the finish line in our race to marriage restoration is because we stop running the race the Lord set before us OURSELVES. If we FINISH the race, we’ll cross the finish line and receive the awesome reward God ALREADY has set aside for us! My prayer for everyone running this race, and ours for our husbands should be, Ephesians 3:14-21, which says For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Don’t miss, God Will Make a Way! – Part I, which is the first message in what I know is one of Joyce’s most awesome and powerful series, with a lot in it for anyone standing for marriage restoration.

Posted Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 at 12:05 pm in Seeds Of Faith.