Throughout our lives, we will all face various times of crisis in personal relationships. There will be challenging encounters and seasons to navigate, whether in your marriage, with your family, or with your children.
I hope what I have to share with you today will help you successfully face relational crises when they arise. Again, God’s Word has wonderful wisdom and guidance for us.
According to the Bible, the first step in addressing a relational crisis is to admit you cannot turn things around by yourself. Second Corinthians 3:5 says, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.” Friend, you need God’s help. Stop being self-sufficient and start being God-sufficient.
Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” The word for house here is the Hebrew word for family. Unless the Lord builds the family, they labor in vain who build it. Is the Lord building your family? Are you laboring in vain?
When crisis hits your family, the Bible says you must also realize who the real enemy is. It’s not your wife. It’s not your husband. It’s not your mother-in-law. It’s not your children.
Ephesians 6:12 (TLB) says, “For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood but against persons without bodies—the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world, and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.”
The devil is your enemy, my friend, and he and his evil spirits work overtime to destroy families and homes. He will do everything he can to destroy your happy home. He is a master at dividing and conquering.
That’s why I encourage you to make the decision to obey and serve God no matter what you might face. When you do, you give God what He wants: someone in the home with whom He can come into agreement. But if you remain hostile and stubborn and you refuse to budge, God has no channel through which He can work. He has no vessel through which He can move to impact your family.
So don’t cop the attitude that says, “Well, when my spouse starts doing such and such, I’ll start doing my part.” No! That attitude just bars God from working. God is looking for someone who will come into agreement with Him, someone who will be a vessel and a conduit for Him to bless the family. Will that someone be you?
