Becoming Upright

I just read this in a book (Married For Life by Bill Morelan) and I thought it was remarkable to write a blog post about!   I have never really considered the significance of confessing/repenting and asking for/accepting forgiveness before praying in order to become more righteous and ‘upright’ before God so that He can delight in our prayers and they can have ‘great power and wonderful results’!!!  Basically, become right with God before asking for anything from God.  

It makes perfect sense because in human relationships it feels wrong to have to ask someone for something when we have tension/conflict with them.  I think we naturally want to resolve conflict before making requests of someone.  And why do we have this natural tendency?  Because we are made in the image of God and this is how He relates with us (and wants us to relate with others)!  But with our fallen nature we are in almost constant need of restoration with God.  So next time you think to make a request of God, I encourage you to take a minute first to become upright!

And just in case any of you ever have a day where accepting forgiveness is hard (ie, forgiving yourself), let this be an encouragement to you...

“What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.

But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭7:14-25‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Change you to change your marriage

Have you ever wondered if things can really change in your marriage?  If your efforts can really make a difference?  Well, I assure you they can but only if both you and your spouse are willing to change yourselves first!  There’s a reason why so many attempts at fixing marital problems fail miserably...they jump too quickly into trying to solve how spouses relate to each other when instead they first need to look at the two individuals that make up the marriage.  Are both people making up that marriage happy and fulfilled on their own outside of their spouse?  If not, there will most definitely be issues when those two individuals try to navigate a relationship together.  I know this goes against the whole Jerry Maguire concept of ‘you complete me!’, but there’s a reason why that movie is fiction.  Too many of us enter into marriage thinking it is the missing piece to our happiness puzzle, only to realize later that we are just as unhappy married as we were single.  That’s because WE didn’t change!  If both people don’t have a firm spiritual foundation, a healthy view of them self, their basic financial needs met allowing for food, shelter, and transportation, a sense of purpose in and contribution to this world, and unconditional love by a tribe of people who are meaningful to them, there is no way that they can be effective as a spouse.  Two unhealthy, unhappy people joined together in matrimony cannot lead to a healthy and happy marriage!  Both spouses need to change themselves if they want to change their marriage.  The purpose of marriage is not to make us happy but instead to sharpen us and help us accomplish God’s plan for our lives in ways we couldn’t on our own.  But man do we like to view the world by what it can do to serve us!