Ephesians 6:10-18 ~ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (NIV)

Exodus 14:10-14 ~ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (NIV)

Our pastor used parts of the above Scriptures in his sermon yesterday about what you do when you are between a rock and a hard place, or backed up to the Red Sea like the Israelites were when the Egyptians were pursuing them. One point he made was that they cried out to God.

My wife was just commenting to a couple in a mentoring session that when you are in a rough spot in your marriage you need to pray and invite Jesus into the situation. It does not have to be a nice neat package prayer, but an honest prayer from the heart that you need help. Jesus wants to be in the rough and tumble of your marriage, but you need to invite Him into it. He is a Gentleman. He will not force Himself in without you asking Him to help you. But when you do, He will show up in a mighty way.

The word that sticks out to me in both these passages of Scripture is stand. If your marriage is in crisis it is not the time to look for a new spouse, or play the field, or to cut your losses and run, but to stand, and in particular stand on God’s Word and let Him fight for you. Stand and hold the ground you have won in  your marriage. Don’t give it up to the Enemy!

I spoke to a pastor during our separation and he said, “If you are separated you are under spiritual attack.” Note what the passage above says to do: Put on the full armor of God, stand, resist, pray.  Remember, it is about our struggle not being against flesh and blood, but against the evil powers in the heavenly realms. We have a whole pop culture that is anti-marriage. We hear negative message after negative message about marriage continually in the media. Satan is the prince of the power of the air which is quite interesting when you think of the negative power of the media.

You may think that it is your spouse who is your enemy, but the real enemy is Satan who is trying to destroy your marriage, but with God’s weapons and God’s ways, we can be victorious.