CAN WE LIMIT GOD'S ABILITY TO WORK IN OUR LIVES?

How do you define a marriage? By the number of children produced? The length of the marriage? The estate of the married couple? What do you think? Maybe the number of friends or perhaps the size of the couple’s house or the make of car they drive?

The exteriors of marriage are simply interesting anecdotal information. The heart of a marriage is the personal relationship between the husband and the wife. Some of the strongest and best marriages I have ever seen are those of couples who have little of this life’s “stuff” but they are in love, they communicate, they have weathered some difficult circumstances, and they are happy in each other’s presence. Some of the most troubled marriages I have ever seen involve couples who are wealthy, they barely tolerate each other, and they can hardly wait to go out and do something that does not involve the other spouse. They seemingly have everything but they actually have nothing much.

How do we define our walk with God? Is the smiling, Scripture-quoting, endlessly positive, ever chipper nuisance that you see at church actually the ideal believer? I don’t know if he or she is or not and neither do you. The definition of the ideal Christian is simple and yet it is hidden. I’ll explain what I mean in just a moment.

The definition of our personal walk with God requires an answer that only you can give. The one issue that defines our walk with Him is our devotional life. In marriage, the issue is defined by the relationship between the two involved (a man and a woman, I mean; let there be no mistake about that in my definition). In our spiritual journey, the defining issue is our relationship with the Father. The marriage relationship has an uncanny similarity to our devotional relationship with our heavenly Father.

In marriage the husband and wife do not exchange their vows, give each other a ring, kiss, and then move to separate parts of the world. For argument’s sake, let’s have the husband move to Iceland right after the marriage ceremony and the wife to Australia.  They frequently exchange letters, e-mails and talk to each other on the phone but from the time of the exchanging of vows in the marriage ceremony they are never intimate with each other. Now I ask you, is that really the kind of marriage God intended for a man and a woman? It is a marriage in name only and there will be no fruit from this arrangement.

“But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So then they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mark 10:6-9).

The communication of the partners in marriage finds its fulfillment in the consummation of physical intimacy . . . they become one flesh. And so it is in the spiritual realm; our communication is fulfilled in the intimate relationship that we have with the Father. When we close the door on life and spend time talking to Him in prayer and letting Him talk to us through His Word, we are building our intimate relationship with Him and fruitfulness begins to develop.

I believe the devotional life is so important that the enemy attacks us there as much or more than he does anywhere else. If the enemy can derail your devotional life, he will cripple your growth and spiritual vitality and render you spiritually impotent!

It is one thing to say, “God is a master craftsman and He will make me into a beautiful instrument.” But the fact is, some are so spiritually passive that they never do anything to cooperate with God. They never take the time to fine-tune their spiritual life, they just stumble along with no real vibrancy in their intimate life with Him. If you are not willing to work at your devotional life, then what you are really saying is, “God doesn’t have all of me. I’m just too busy and way too cool for that old-fashioned stuff.” You limit God’s ability to work in your life. Yes, that’s what I said, you limit God’s ability to work in your life!

How about surprising God by spending a little more time than usual in His presence? You could really shock Him by going on a fast for more than three hours (that’s about as long as most Texans and Canadians can go without a feeding). You could surprise and shock Him by making a special love gift (I’m talking money here) to a ministry or a needy person and doing it in the name of the Lord. Or a random act of kindness because you know that’s the kind of thing Jesus did. No one else ever needs to know about the “special” things you do in your relationship with the Lord, but He will know and He will smile!