How to Strengthen Your Marriage - Crosswalk Couples Devotional - May 1

How to Strengthen Your Marriage
By Gina Smith

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” - Isaiah 9:6

About ten years ago, my husband and I found ourselves in a place of weakness in a way we had never experienced before. This weakness had infiltrated every area of our lives, and was especially affecting our marriage. Anxiety and depression entered my life with such intensity that I could not find my way out of its strangling grip, and my husband was at a loss to know how to help me.

Thankfully, as we began to call out to God for help and strength, He provided a godly couple who took the time to help us identify what had gotten us to this place. With their help, and especially with the help and power of God, we were able to begin the rebuilding and strengthening process. After they helped us to get back on our feet, we were able to move forward. With their encouragement and continued prayer that God would knit our hearts together, God began to do a work in our marriage. He is continuing that work today and we will have to depend on him to do that work until we die.

In Isaiah chapter 6, we read about the announcement of the birth of the promised King. The announcement is one that changed the course of history and used four significant and important names. The second name he uses was the name: “Mighty God.”

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” - Isaiah 9:6

The name “Mighty God” describes one who is divinely strong and powerful. It can literally be translated as “Hero God” – the supremely powerful and supremely wise One. This is such an incredibly comforting promise for us when we realize how very weak are!

So how does this apply to our life and marriage practically? How do we move from what we believe in our heads -- that God is divinely strong and powerful -- to it actually becoming something that we live out as a married couple?

First, we must see and acknowledge that we are weak and need our “Hero God” to empower us in our daily lives, even when we may not feel weak. We must ask God to help us to see his powerful hand in the daily living of life, as we put our own desires aside and choose to love and serve our spouses. As we do this over time, it will become habitual, second nature, to call on his name for power.

Second, we must also see our need for God to work within us and recognize that he really is the all-powerful one. Translated from the Greek, the word power means “strength, mighty work, miracle, and might.”

If you are a believer, you have the same strength, power, and ability in you. The Spirit in you is the one who with Christ performed countless miracles in the Bible, the same power that literally raised Jesus from the dead. This is what we have at our disposal! God and his power are at work in and around us. But we must train ourselves to look for it. We must ask for him to transform our life and our marriage.

I believe that if we put down the books written by “the experts” and spent more time on our knees in the presence of God, asking him to empower us and our spouse, our marriages would take on a life that we didn’t know existed.

Today, I want to challenge you: get to know your Mighty God and spend time in his presence!

Gina Smith is a writer and author who has been married for 31 years to Brian, a college professor and athletic trainer. For the past 20+ years Gina and her husband have served on a Christian college campus as the on-campus parents, and her husband has been a professor and dean of students. They have lived on the campus where they raised both of their now married children. In her spare time, she loves to write, writes for several websites, and recently authored her first book “Grace Gifts: Practical Ways To Help Your Children Understand God's Grace". She also writes at her personal blog: ginalsmith.com.

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