Marriage, God's Help to Man II

 STRENGTH FOR MY DAYS 
A Daily Devotional by Bishop David Bakare

Marriage, God's Help to Man II

Saturday, 7 September

 

And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Genesis 2:18

SCRIPTURE FOR TODAY: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

 

MORE LESSON: Deuteronomy 28:1-2 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

 

Today, we would continue to look at the different aspects of help available to partners in marriage.

2. Help in adversity: Ecclesiastes 4:10 says, For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. This verse confirms that marriage is for HELP. You need somebody to help you and that's why God cannot leave you without a spouse. This verse says, …if they fall…. This means that both husband and wife are not infallible; so if one falls, they can access their partner's help to rise again. We live in turbulent times and one of God's support systems is Christian marriage. Hardly do you see both partners down at the same time. But even if they do, the encouragement provided by each partner will become a strength and anchor for them to rise again. If your partner falls, do not trample upon him/her; rather, help him/her to rise again.

God loves you and it is His desire to bless you with a godly marriage. If you are believing God for a life partner, use the Scripture because God answers prayers when they are scriptural. Answer comes faster when you back up your prayers with scriptures. You don't cry to prayers and expect an answer. Tell God what He said and ask Him to perform His word. Marriage is for help, God is interested in helping you. So if marriage is one of the ways by which God provides help for a man, then He is interested in getting you get married.

3. Emotional help: The Bible records that when one is down, he needs another person to help him. Now there are times that in marriage it's not only financial problems that come, you can have some emotional problems, and you need your partner to quickly get back on your feet. Sometimes, there are issues that you can't discuss with anybody but your spouse will help you. May be because of the flesh, we can fall sick and many things can happen in the course of the sickness and nobody can help you, but having a supportive partner will help you heal faster. There are times you need someone you can tell both the good and the ugly and it is a beautiful thing if that person is your spouse. Spouses should not be judgmental or critical of their partners but should be apt to provide the necessary emotional support during difficult times.

The beauty of marriage comes alive when men and women access the help God provides through the union. But in order to access this help, you must do what God has said to do husbands must love their wives and wives must be submissive to their own husbands. Every piece of equipment will only function at its best to the degree to which people adhere to the instructions in the user's manual. In the same way, we can only get God's help when we handle marriage the way He designed it to be.

 

Prayer/Action

* Declare that your home is blessed while singles should pray for a God-ordained helpmate.

* Pray for help in marriages.

* Ask God for help not to miss your helpmate.

 

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: No room for limitation or stagnancy this month, in the powerful name of Jesus.