Can it be true that God supplies what I need in marriage?
Maybe you want to believe that God supplies what you need in marriage. But do you ever feel like you don’t have what it takes? The demands are overwhelming. And just about the time you think you are about to get a handle on your marriage, you find you are still lacking. We certainly need God to supply what we need in marriage because we can’t do it on our own!
I am divinely enabled to minister to my spouse.
“We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.”
Colossians 1:11–12 NLT
As Paul prayed God would impart His power on the Colossians, we too should pray that God will impart power on ourselves and our spouse, not for selfish aims but so that they can live for God in a worthy manner. Enabled by Christ, we both may live within the divine strength needed for the believer to attain Christian virtue, persevere in the faith, resist temptation and deceitful teachers, and so to, know the joy of the Lord.
Jesus promises overflowing resources.
Encountering the woman at the well, “Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water’” (John 4:10 ESV). The living water Jesus offers is identified in John 7:37–39 as the Holy Spirit dwelling within believers.
“Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”
John 4:13–14 ESV
As a result of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, “A person’s deepest spiritual longing to know God personally will, amazingly, be satisfied forever. “2 Complete in this knowledge, we are enabled to convey this good news to others like a well springing forth. This includes living abundantly as God supplies all we need in marriage!
The church is to be moving toward Christlikeness—maturity that ultimately looks like Christ. This is exclusively accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit because only the Spirit knows what Jesus looks like. Reflectively the marital relationship matures to represent a portrait of Christ and His relationship with the church as we allow the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in our lives.
My spouse cannot supply what is lacking. But as we allow the Holy Spirit to live in and through us, God provides all that is necessary for our marriage. The goal of marriage is not to get what I want but to be what God wants—a portrait of Christ’s relationship with the church.
Insight Journal
- I believe God has divinely enabled me to minister to my spouse as evidenced by . . .
Excerpts from Marriages that Minister by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis. Available from your favorite book retailers, including Amazon and Redemption Press. (As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.)
Would you like a more in-depth study of Marriages that Minister? Enroll now in our Teachable Marriages that Minister class.
Read more about Marriages that Minister: A Portrait of Christ and His Bride.
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1 The ESV Study Bible, ESV Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), Col. 1:11.
2 The ESV Study Bible, ESV Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008), John 4:14.
