I would guess that almost everyone who is either on Myspace or Facebook has friends or friends of friends who have listed their relationship status as "it's complicated". Usually when someone states that their relationship status is complicated, they are saying that they are separated or are divorced. It's always a little sad and disheartening when I see that status on someone I know and who's relationship status did read "married".
The question is, how did your relationship become complicated? And if it wasn't complicated before, what was it? I understand that over the last three to four decades, marriage relationships have become less and less meaningful. Marriage vows and covenants are no longer binding. I'm sorry, I don't mean to offend anyone who reads this and may be divorced or going through a tough time in marriage, but lets be real. My parents have been married now for fifty two years. That is half a century. I know my parents aren't the only ones who are still married after a half century together, but my point is that if we were to take a poll of people who have been married for at least that long and people who have been married for maybe ten years or less and asked if they thought they would be married that long of a time, the ones who have been married longer would have have a different answer than the ones who have only been married a few years.
I have often wondered about people who have gotten divorced. Sometimes I want to ask, why did you get married in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I do understand the answer to that question, and I also understand many different reasons why people get divorced. I agree with some reasons. I also understand that God never meant for it to be that way.
" Therefore shall a man leave his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
Genesis 2:24
September 1st of this year my wife and I will have been married for nine years. Let me tell you, it's complicated. My wife and I didn't have a normal meet, date, fall in love, get married relationship. It's complicated. I began to discover in the first year or so of our marriage, that marriage is nothing that I thought it would be, nor is it anything I feared it would be. It's complicated. I have issues that my wife has to deal with and there are things about me that annoy her sometimes. It's complicated. My wife has some issues ( sorry honey ) and sometimes she does things that irritate me. It's complicated. We have have been through rough patches in our relationship and are still trying to figure each other out. It's complicated. We don't know all there is to know about life, about marriage, or about each other. It's complicated. We have both uttered the D word. It's complicated. While we both probably wish we could change some things about each other, we also see the need to change some things about ourselves. It's complicated.
I will be honest. I believe some marriages become "complicated", because of selfish reasons with either the husband or wife. I believe some relationships were "complicated" before marriage ever took place. Satan has sought to destroy anything and everything that God has established as pure and holy. Think about it, when two people come together, they bring into contact lots of people who may or may not have ever known each other. When or if they have children who then become connected with two whole families. When that marriage is destroyed, all of those people in some form are touched by it just as they are touched by the marriage. Whether with the mere knowledge of the divorce or much more involved, a life has been touched and altered.
So what is the solution? Learn.
Learn that life and relationships are complicated. Learn that marriage is complicated. Learn that no matter how complicated it is or has become, God can and will show us how to figure it out. Learn not to just pick up the pieces when things get broken, but learn to put the pieces back together and make it stronger or if need be, learn to make something new and better. When we learn that things are complicated, we can learn why they are complicated. When we learn why they are complicated, we can learn to make them less complicated.
Relationship Status: A Little Less Complicated.
In Christ,
Kevin
Monday, August 23, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Shut The Hell Up!!
So, have you every wanted to say that to someone? Have you ever said that to someone? You don't have to answer. I am sure that at some time we all have said it, thought it, or had it said to us. Let's think really what would or should it actually mean to shut the hell up?
In my last post from the AMP'D series, I mentioned different voices that want our listening attention. One of those voices is the voice of the world. Since the fall of Adam, the world that was created and designed for us has been turned upside down and infected with sin. Adam's sin of disobedience transferred his God given authority to Lucifer and opened the door for corruption and chaos. Jesus paid the price for Adam's sin and ours by laying down his life on the cross. By doing this Jesus bought back the authority that Adam had given to Lucifer.
Even though Jesus had paid the price and bought back our authority, the damage was done. Sin still permeated through out the world. The difference now is that instead of us being subject to the sin and chaos, it is actually subject to us. We as sons and daughters of God either have not realized this or do not believe it. Carnal thinking hinders and limits the work of God in our lives.
The hell that I am speaking about shutting up, is the hell that comes into our lives. Attacks from the enemy in whatever form they may take. If you turn on the news or keep up with current political and social happenings you know that it seems like one bad thing after another. I am all for keeping up with what's going on around us as pertains to the world, we shouldn't bury our heads in the sand and wait for the day it will go away by no means. But, day after day listening to the constant influx of worldly turmoil will begin to affect your mind and well being and then eventually that of those around you. Take me for instance. I read headlines and listen to the occasional news story on tv, but I don't do it constantly. I especially try to avoid news shows because certain things cause such an anger on the inside of me that it puts me in a bad mood, which then affects my family. Ephesians 4:26,27 says, to be angry and sin not and don't give place to the devil. Being angry is one thing, Jesus was angry at times, but when that anger motivates you to sin i.e. cursing or becoming dangerously violent, then there is an issue. If that occurs you have done the second part of the verse and given place to the devil's influence.
We have to realize the power and authority that has been given to us.
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19
You see, everything that is negative that comes against you bombarding your life is seeking to kill you, steal from you, and destroy you, but you have the power and the authority through Jesus from God to stop it.
Where I live it is very wooded and we have found scorpions in our house on numerous occasions. When we see a scorpion I immediately take something and kill it. I don't just let it go, I don't try to gently scoot it along out of the way with my fingers, I kill it. When the hell of life begins to bombard us, we should immediately kill it. Shut it's voice up. Satan wants to speak into our lives death and destruction by manipulating our emotions and thoughts and how we react to them. We have to consciously make a stand and speak to the situations around us. In Luke 17:6 and Mark 11:23, we are told to speak in faith to circumstances and they must obey us ( paraphrase ).
The constant negativity of the world and the things that are happening in it and the things that happen in your life and to you are never things that are impossible to overcome. We can overcome because Christ has already overcome it. If Jesus had not paid the price of sin and regained our authority, we would have no hope. Because of his sacrifice, we now have our God given power and authority in Him and have just cause to tell the world to "Shut the hell up!" .
In Christ,
Kevin
In my last post from the AMP'D series, I mentioned different voices that want our listening attention. One of those voices is the voice of the world. Since the fall of Adam, the world that was created and designed for us has been turned upside down and infected with sin. Adam's sin of disobedience transferred his God given authority to Lucifer and opened the door for corruption and chaos. Jesus paid the price for Adam's sin and ours by laying down his life on the cross. By doing this Jesus bought back the authority that Adam had given to Lucifer.
Even though Jesus had paid the price and bought back our authority, the damage was done. Sin still permeated through out the world. The difference now is that instead of us being subject to the sin and chaos, it is actually subject to us. We as sons and daughters of God either have not realized this or do not believe it. Carnal thinking hinders and limits the work of God in our lives.
The hell that I am speaking about shutting up, is the hell that comes into our lives. Attacks from the enemy in whatever form they may take. If you turn on the news or keep up with current political and social happenings you know that it seems like one bad thing after another. I am all for keeping up with what's going on around us as pertains to the world, we shouldn't bury our heads in the sand and wait for the day it will go away by no means. But, day after day listening to the constant influx of worldly turmoil will begin to affect your mind and well being and then eventually that of those around you. Take me for instance. I read headlines and listen to the occasional news story on tv, but I don't do it constantly. I especially try to avoid news shows because certain things cause such an anger on the inside of me that it puts me in a bad mood, which then affects my family. Ephesians 4:26,27 says, to be angry and sin not and don't give place to the devil. Being angry is one thing, Jesus was angry at times, but when that anger motivates you to sin i.e. cursing or becoming dangerously violent, then there is an issue. If that occurs you have done the second part of the verse and given place to the devil's influence.
We have to realize the power and authority that has been given to us.
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19
You see, everything that is negative that comes against you bombarding your life is seeking to kill you, steal from you, and destroy you, but you have the power and the authority through Jesus from God to stop it.
Where I live it is very wooded and we have found scorpions in our house on numerous occasions. When we see a scorpion I immediately take something and kill it. I don't just let it go, I don't try to gently scoot it along out of the way with my fingers, I kill it. When the hell of life begins to bombard us, we should immediately kill it. Shut it's voice up. Satan wants to speak into our lives death and destruction by manipulating our emotions and thoughts and how we react to them. We have to consciously make a stand and speak to the situations around us. In Luke 17:6 and Mark 11:23, we are told to speak in faith to circumstances and they must obey us ( paraphrase ).
The constant negativity of the world and the things that are happening in it and the things that happen in your life and to you are never things that are impossible to overcome. We can overcome because Christ has already overcome it. If Jesus had not paid the price of sin and regained our authority, we would have no hope. Because of his sacrifice, we now have our God given power and authority in Him and have just cause to tell the world to "Shut the hell up!" .
In Christ,
Kevin
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