Happy Friday! May the Lord bless and keep you today. May His face shine upon you and give you peace. Enjoy your day and your weekend.

“²⁹ But let me say this, dear brothers and sisters: The time that remains is very short. So from now on, those with wives should not focus only on their marriage. ³⁰ Those who weep or who rejoice or who buy things should not be absorbed by their weeping or their joy or their possessions.³¹ Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away.” – 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 NLT

Paul reminds us that the things of this world are nice, but they are temporal.

Brothers and sisters, if you are married there is a spiritual obligation to marriage, but our first love should always be for God. God should always be at the center/head of your marriage. As you seek God for direction in your marriage, as you submit your marriage to the Lord, as husbands love their wives as Christ loves the church and wives submit themselves to their husbands as the church submits to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33), you can trust the Lord to grow and mature you in faith and in your marriage. Again, this doesn’t mean your marriage will be easy. Marriage is a lot of work for both parties. But what it does mean is that you trust God above yourself and have more faith in God in your marriage to love, submit and respect one another.

Additionally, Paul reminds us not to be overly occupied with weeping, joy or possessions because they are not only temporal, but if they take the place of God in our lives it disrupts our relationship with God. For example:

• A person may become so overwhelmed by grief, that they do not allow God an opportunity to work healing into their hearts. They remain bitter. They retreat from reality. They remain victims and blame others.
• A person can be so occupied by the desire to have fun that they sacrifice their morals, opportunities for church and godly relationships.
• A person can buy things or hoard things to have a sense of self-satisfaction or pride.

Don’t get me wrong. Grief is real and it has its place. Joy is great and the Lord gives it to us (the joy of the Lord is our strength). Possessions such as a house/home, food, clothes, etc., are essential. These things become a problem for the Christian when they become more important than God’s presence in our lives, more important than godly counsel and more important than our will to do the things God has called us to do.

Sisters and brothers, all these things will pass away but the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. Trust his plan. Put the Lord first in your life, in your marriage/singleness, in your finances, in the rearing of your children and in your relationships with others. Ask God where he wants to start, and give him permission to begin in you/your situation.

Father God, thank you for today. Thank you for the love you give and the peace that you extend to us all. Lord, you know our hearts and our struggles. Lord, you know our strengths and our weaknesses. Lord, forgive us for the times when we put relationships, joy and possessions before our love for you. Lord, forgive us for our sins (known and unknown). Lord, we want to be pleasing to you in all of our ways. Lord, equip us with your wisdom and discernment so that we may be an example of you in our marriages or singleness. Lord, we want others to see you in us. Heal our brokenness from grief, betrayal and things that have happened in our past that we cannot change. Lord, teach us to love as you love and to forgive as you forgive. We no longer want to be trapped by the things the enemy desires to hang over our heads. Lord, set us free from the enemy’s schemes and let us find refuge in you alone. Lord, continue to transform us into the children of God that you created us to be. May your will be done in our lives. In Jesus name, amen.

Keep praying! Keep Trusting the Process! Keep believing!

Do you have a prayer request? We would love to pray for you. Send your prayer request to:

prayerrequest@maryewhiteministries.com

Photo Credit: Walter Richie

Bible Reference: http://www.biblegateway.com

Copyright© 2019 Mary E. White Ministries