Promises
We love talking about promises!! The dictionary says promises are declarations assuring that one will or will not do something; a vow made. Something promised, or an indication of something favorable to come, expectation or indication of future success. What promises are in your heart for the future with your spouse? Are you expectant? God is a God of promises!! He speaks promises for our future success to our hearts and through His word.
The Future
With everything going on in day to day life it's easy to lose sight of the future. I mean, it comes whether we expect it or not. We don't have to do anything special for it to be in the next minute of time. If we aren't careful though, we could look up and see 40 years have passed and we still haven't possessed the promise? Caleb was said to be 40 years old when he and Joshua spied out the land, and because of others unbelief they had to wander for 40 years, but they still possessed the promise! Why? Because they never lost sight of what was important and believed God for their promise! How do you and your spouse plan for the future?
Expectation
Life can get tough at times, busy, and overwhelming with stress and we can lose our focus. We get sidetracked by the here and now. The future is happening to us instead of us preparing for it! Expectation is the key to staying ready! When you are expectant you are constantly looking forward to an event! Think about a woman with child, she has 9 months to look forward to her baby coming into this world. She prepares, cleans, eats, prays over her unborn child, herself, and is expectant for the delivery date. She isn't going to lose sight of the fact that she is pregnant. She is living in expectation!!
My Mountain
Caleb worked hard, he had belief in God that he would one day possess his promise, he prepared himself by keeping himself ready to take his mountain in battle, and he walked in it! He said, "give me my mountain" when the time came! He was expectant and was always thinking about his promise from God. In your marriage how can you and your spouse find ways to stay expectant, and look to the future for what God has promised?
Discouragement
What happens when you and your spouse get discouraged. If you look at the word discouragement: it means to deprive of courage or confidence. You are literally taking courage and suffocating it. In Joshua you hear it said a lot, be of good courage! A verse we have hanging over our bed is Joshua 1:9. God commands them, Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be though dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee wherever you go! How amazing is that! The enemy wants nothing more than to come into your home and discourage you, to take your courage, and to make you afraid. But the promise is that God is with is wherever we go!
Promises Kept
When you feel let down, or stressed, or overwhelmed, what do you do? Do you go to God in prayer, do you fast? What about going to His word and reading it out loud? God is a promise keeper! We get discouraged when we let our guard down, when we allow things into our home, or when we try and do it all ourselves. There is a battle in the spirit realm we cannot see, unless God opens your eyes to it. This is bigger than what we live in every day. When you are about to possess your promises from the One who keeps them, you will encounter warfare.
Battles
Battles come when you least expect them, they are usually in the form of distractions, or discouragement. We live in the natural realm, we are married, and we see our spouse daily, we sometimes miss what is going on deep down in their hearts. Why? Because we live in the here and now. When we are on the verge of our promise, likely, discouragement will come and distract us from this battle. We will feel our courage leave, and fall into a place of unbelief. The other 10 spies who are not named were on the verge of their greatest victory, they were about to posses the land flowing with milk and honey, and they fought a battle they couldn't see. They got discouraged, or lost their courage. It caused them to forfeit their promise. They never got to enter in and possess it. Today as you and your spouse discuss your promises, don't give up, don't lose heart, instead fight, pray, and take courage!! You are about to possess your promise!!!
Scripture
Monday: 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." God is faithful in His promises toward us especially that we may be saved!
Tuesday: Numbers 14:23 says, "Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:" They died in the wilderness because of their unbelief. They missed the future God had for them because they were looking at the problems instead of the promise.
Wednesday: Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." We call to the Lord by faith and are expectant He will answer!! He will do great miracles in your marriage and life when you are expectant!!
Thursday: Joshua 14:12-13 says, "Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance." Caleb was expectant and never lost his courage to possess his promise! We too have to keep our eyes on Jesus and be expectant for His promises to us!
Friday: Joshua 1:9 says, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Don't lose courage, when you are close to your promise!
Saturday: Numbers 14:24 says, "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it." God made a promise to Caleb and He kept it!! He is faithful!!
Sunday: Ephesians 6:12 says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” They lost their place because of unbelief, and they lost their courage because they didn't trust God. Pray tonight for God to open your eyes to the spiritual battle that surrounds you as you are on the verge of possessing your promise and ask God to help you in your marriage to gain courage to posses it!
Contact
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