DCLM Daily Manna 10 July 2023 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Little Foxes In Marriage
TOPIC: Little Foxes In Marriage (DCLM Daily Manna 10 July 2023)
KEY VERSE: “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27).
TEXT: Ephesians 5:21-33 (KJV)
21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
MESSAGE:
Marriages fail, according to experts, not because there is a general breakdown in moral values in society admittedly, but because the spouses do not feed the union with what it needs to flourish. Across scientifically conducted studies, divorces and separations have been traced primarily to infidelity, domestic abuse, unresolved arguments, absence of love, transparency or intimacy, financial challenge, delay in childbearing, etc.
Feeding the home with God’s blueprint for a happy marriage is what will destroy the ‘foxes’ attacking marriages and bloating the statistics on divorces and estrangement among couples. His recipes of sacrificial love between husband and wife, as well as mutual submission to each other are invincible weapons that can set marriages free from its current afflictions. He says that if spouses can only replicate the affection of Christ for His Church, the devil inducing problems in the home would be put at bay.
The myriad of solutions in books on marriage, purporting to address the tragic turn of events in the system, have failed because their recommendations are not sourced from the One who created the institution. Some of these publications even offer counsel and courses on how to speed up divorce for troubled unions. Yet, God says what He has joined together conjugally, no person should put apart (Matthew 19:6).
God has the final say on marriage; and love, conceding to one another, accommodating spousal weaknesses and cherishing the Lord as the Master of the family are the universal antidote to failing marriage unions today.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Divorce can never be found where Christlike love is in place.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
2 Kings 20-21
Deeper Life Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
