by Daniel Robertson

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.(Jeremiah 29:11, N.I.V)

Your marriage is meant to be great. It is meant to be something wonderful, something amazing. God's intent is that your marriage would be full of hope, passion, joy, and companionship. More than that, your marriage is meant to be a shining example of God's love for the whole world.

God's plans are for you to have a hope and a future, and that includes your marriage. God's plans are to use you and your marriage as a vessel to spread the message of His mercy and glory throughout the Earth.

Your marriage is meant to mean something. God's desire is that your marriage would stand for something great. To make an impact on this generation when the world is full of darkness and sin.

Somewhere, Things Went Wrong
If you're anything like most married Christians out there, your marriage doesn't look anything like that. The truth is, most of us live in apathy to the call of God on our lives. We go through our days worried about things that have no eternal significance.

More than that, most of our marriages are troubled by a number of problems brought on by selfishness, pride, anger, or passivity. In other words, sin.

Sometimes marriage can be downright hard. Other times we might feel that we are just living side by side, not really sharing our lives. And other times our marriages can seem great, all the while we just know that so much more is possible.

This isn't always a bad thing.

God cares more about your holiness than your happiness.

If your marriage isn't all it should be, this may be an indicator that God is trying to get your attention. He has a way of using our spouse as a mirror to expose our own sin. It is only when we see our sin for what it truly is that we can repent, turn away from the sin, and turn to God's righteous power to cleanse us and set us on the path of holiness.

As long as we live in ignorance or denial of our sin there can be no change. One of God's purposes in marriage is to force us to see our sin and to give us a reason to want to change. Only then can His healing and restoring power begin to work in us.

What If It's Not Me?

Oftentimes marriages can be difficult even when you are doing everything you know how to follow God and submitted to His leadership. You are doing everything you can to be the best husband or wife you can be. Sometimes it may seem that you've tried everything in your power but your marriage is still on the rocks.

First, I would say that you will never be free of sin, nor will you ever be the perfect spouse. You will always be a work in progress and God will always be working to show you your sin so that you can repent. Difficulties that arise in marriage can be one of the ways God does this.

Wives, do you get angry at your husbands lack of initiative? God may be trying to reveal his sin of passivity, but He is probably also trying to reveal your anger at the same time.

Husbands, do you shut down when your wives try to take control? He's probably at work in your own life to reveal your passive-aggressive tendencies.

That being said, I'm not saying it's all your fault that your marriage is having problems. The truth is it may be your spouse that is causing the most problems. The only thing you can do is remain faithful to God and your spouse and to stay in prayer for your situation.

You cannot control your spouse, nor are you responsible for their sin. You can only do your best and trust in God to deal with your spouse.

This doesn't mean you can't have an influence on your spouse. But by far the best way to do this is often to let go of the situation and hand it over to God.

What If It's Not Either Of Us

Even if both you and your spouse are following God and doing your best to be obedient to Him there can be problems in your marriage. This is because we live in a fallen world that has come under the influence of our Enemy. He will stop at nothing to keep us from impacting the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the de-facto ruler over this earth and is very interested in keeping you down.

It is his goal to keep us from realizing our full potential. If he can keep us in sin, he will. If he can keep us in apathy and passivity, he will. If he can keep us preoccupied with trivial matters, he will. If he can send difficulties our way to distract us from God's mission, he will.

Whatever he can do to stop our marriage from making a difference in this world, he will do it.

This is why it is important to continually submit ourselves to God and remain under His authority. Resist the devil and he will flee. The darkness has now authority over the light. Remain in God's truth and you will be protected from the full force of Satan's malice.

God's Purpose For Your Marriage
God's purpose for your marriage is the same as His mission for the Church. It is the same as His mission for each individual Christian. It is the same as the mission of Jesus Christ.

His vision for your marriage is to use it to redeem the lost and to transform lives with the power of Jesus Christ.

Daniel Robertson is a Christian husband and father who writes about the issues faced by Christians in their marriages. Visit his site at http://www.godshelpformarriage for practical advice on how to build a stronger marriage.

Copyright by Daniel Robertson.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS