Devotion for Marriages – Building Trust & Love
Trust is an essential element for intimacy within marriage. If there is no trust, there is no intimacy. Transparency is the key to build trust. In many ways, intimacy and trust are interwoven.
Praying together as a couple is like getting naked spiritually with each other. We share about our greatest need, weakness and fear. Our true hearts are made known & heard, and deeper intimacy is experienced through deep communication. It gives the wife great security to know that the husband is connected to God with her.
Trust builds submission. If the wife knows that the husband is completely submitted to the Lord, it will give her strength to submit to her husband.
Many couples want to find rules and formula that will make their marriage better. However, to just know the right steps will not help if you are not empowered to take the step. For example, if we have a car and the map to go from point A to point B, but without petrol in the car tank, it is useless. We need to be empowered by His grace to do what we know we should do.
Heb.4:16 – “Let us, therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
1Cor.15:10 – “But by the grace of God I am what I am…”
We are who we are by the grace of God. Grace is God’s ability, strength and capacity working through us. It makes us able to do what we cannot do in our own strength.
2Cor.12:9-10 – “His strength is made perfect in our weakness...when I am weak, He is strong in us”.
To build a marriage that is healthy and glorifying to God and which makes a difference to the next generation, we need grace to grow in “agape" love, i.e. God’s unconditional love. We need agape love to grow in our love for each other in a marriage. We can’t give what we do not have.
Love never ceases to be effective. If love doesn’t work, nothing will. Manipulation, nagging, crying, controlling, etc., will never bring peace. Many couples try using these fleshly methods to pull their spouse closer to them but unknowing; they are pushing their spouse away from them instead. The most attractive person is a loving person.
Praying together builds trust in each other and at the same time we are also acknowledging to God that we need His Grace to build our marriage!
Points to Ponder:
Are both of you intentionally building trust and acknowledging God’s Grace in your marriage relationship through praying together on a regular basis?