If you're married, like I am, then you'll appreciate what I'm about to say. There are times in life, but especially in marriage, when the one you love the most is the one who frustrates you the most--occassionally causes you the most anxiety. This is not an attack on men, because I'm sure all husbands will have the same thought about their wives at some point or another. This is the cool part: The reason they frustrate us the most is because God designed them that way. No, He didn't design our men simply to frustrate us. God designed men to be men and not women. Here's why there's frustration or anxiety: we (the wives) can't make them do what we say--all the nagging in the world won't get us anywhere--or what we think they should do, or what we think they should desire to do for themselves.
The reading in today's The Word for You Today said, "Your anxiety is being caused by your thoughts and self-talk, not your partner or circumstances...Factor God in; He's the changer of hearts and minds. Lean on Him and He will lessen your anxiety and increase your peace and confidence!" (40). Look with me, at what Dictionary.com says about anxiety, "distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune," (italics mine). The other day I talked briefly about what fear is: False Evidence Appearing Real. Let's break this down: If anxiety, which is fear, causes distress or uneasiness in your mind and fear is false evidence appearing real, then the real battle is won or lost in your mind. Whether you are aware of it, or not, we're at war and our battle is in the spiritual realm.
Three questions I'm sure you're asking: 1) Who are we fighting with? Ephesians 6:12 tells us that our fight is not against people we can see with human eyes, but our fight is against "authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." That's some scary stuff! That's more scary than all the horror flicks, combined. 2) What do we do in this battle? "We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ," (2 Cor. 10:5). What does that mean? It means that our enemy, the devil, who has only come to the earth to "steal and kill and destory," has been hard at work feeding you lies of various degrees and you need to know the Bible well enough to be able to recognize them as lies, (Jn 10:10). 3) How do we win? Are you ready for this? This is really cool! We need to take our Christ-given power and authority and destroy the devil. What do I mean "power and authority"? Let me show you. God has given us power of attorney, that is, He has given us the power to act in His name. God gave power of attorney to Christ and Christ gave power of attorney to us, (see God's Plan for Man by Finis Dake, 393-404). In Matthew 16:19, Jesus teaches us specifically how this works: I will give you the keys of the kingsdom of heaven; what ever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what ever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. The Greek word for "keys" means to "denote power and authority of various kinds." Jesus has given us the power to bind Satan and to "loose" or release the power of the Holy Spirit. When the verse says it will be done on earth as it is in heaven, it means the heavenly or spiritual realm.
What does all of that mean for us in reference to husbands and wives? It means that if there is something attacking our husbands, like sickness or depression, we have been given the authority to bind it up and send it packing back to the pits of hell. Two key things to remember when you are binding Satan: 1) always send him to the pits of hell; you don't want him releasing what you bound on someone else & 2) always fill up the void (see Matthew 12:43-45).
Let's pray for our husbands:
Lord, thank you that you have reminded me and have given me this authority. Satan, I speak directly to you: you have no power over my huband! You have no right to him. He is a child of God and he is protected by the blood of Jesus. My God has given me the keys of the kingdom of heaven and what ever is bound on earth is bound in heaven and what ever is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven. So Satan, I bind you up and I spit you out--with all of your demons--and send you back to the pits of hell. And angels of heaven and Holy Spirit, I loose you to come down and fill up my husband. Fill up every nook, cranny, crevis, void, hole, every spot that Satan or his legion might try to fill up. I pray right now, in Jesus' name, that if they ever do come back, that they will find it filled up. Thank you, Father God, that you have given us this authority through your Son, Jesus Christ. It is in His name that I pray, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment