More Than Married: Don't Give Place to the Devil!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Don't Give Place to the Devil!

After reading this in my devotion I had to share it with our Marriage Discipleship Group and Marriage Sunday School. And we had a great response. I pray that this will empower you the way it did to us.

Eph- 4:27- Neither give place to the Devil

We never have to fall prey to the devil! We must shut every door, close every window, and seal every place in our lives through which the enemy will try to take control over our lives.
One of the entry points the devil tries to enter into our lives is through our relationships. If we have any issues or any conflict with a loved one or friend, these conflicts become entry points through which the devil tries to get a foothold of our relationships with the ones we love. The enemy slips through these cracks and starts to build an offended place in our mind. And when this happens a wall has already begun to be built and will eventually separate us from the people we love the most.

In Eph-4:27 Paul writes, "Neither give place to the devil". The word PLACE in the Greek is Topos. It refers to a specific, marked-off, geographical location. (like a territory, province, region, zone or geographical position).
Since Topos refers to a geographical location this tells us that the devil is after every region and zone in our lives. (money, health, marriage,relationships, employment, business, and ministry). We wants every territory!

Here are some examples where we can leave the door open to the devil:
When We-
Refuse to let go of old hurts.
Refuse to acknowledge what WE did wrong.
Refuse to forgive others for what they did wrong.
Refuse to stop judging others for their grievances.
Refuse to admit we were wrong too.
Refuse to say, "Im Sorry" when we are wrong.
Refuse to lay down our "rights" for others.

If we do any of these things, we leave a "marked-off place" where the devil can enter and start playing with our minds. Remember we have the POWER and AUTHORITY to say NO!, your not going to do this. Get behind me or under my feet where you belong. I rebuke you in the name of JESUS! We must choose NOT to give the devil any territory in life. We can choose to give him a place in our minds and emotions or choose to walk in the Spirit.
Remember: Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world". (1 John 4:4)

Now for a some Greek teaching. The word "devil" comes from the Greek word diabolos, an old compound word that is made from the words dia and ballo. the first part of the the word is the prefix dia, which means "through" as in penetration.
Once the enemy locates the crack he begins to penetrate our mind and emotions to drive a wedge between those individuals and other people in their lives. The enemies objective is to separate us from each other with his accusing slanderous accusations.
You know the enemy has been working in your mind when your whole perspective about a certain person or your spouse that you are upset with suddenly changes. You become nit-picky, negative and fault finding. You used to have such high regard for that person, but now you can't see anything good in them at all. And even if you do see something good in them all the bad things outweigh the good.
This is clear evidence that the enemy has been at work and has found an entry point to penetrate your relationship with that other person. He is trying to destroy and disrupt what has been a pleasant and gratifying relationship in your life. DO NOT allow that conflict, disagreement, or disappointment to cause you to pick up a wrong attitude that will ruin your relationship.
During times of trouble sometimes we need to ask ourselves OK, if this isn't as big of a deal as I'm making it out to be. The devil is trying to find a place in my mind to get me to start mentally accusing that person. And I'm not going to let him do it.
Instead, look in the mirror yourself. And think of how many times you have let people down, how many mistakes you have made in relationships, the times you should have been accountable but instead you were shown unbelievable mercy. When you remember these things it will help you look at an offensive situation a little more mercifully.

Taken from: Sparkling Gems From the Greek.

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About Us

We met in 1988 while we were both in high school but it was not until a year later at a mutual friends birthday party did Dondi sweep me off my feet. For the first of many times since then.

After dating all through high school and sharing all the typical teenage stuff like, sitting in the bleachers watching Dondi play football every Friday night, staying on the phone all night until we fall asleep because neither one of us want to hang up first and then of course the Senior Prom did we moved to Florida to attend college. Once we both finished school we married in 1992.

As a result of both our immaturity and lack of knowledge and most important lack of God as soon as the pressures of life fell on us, we fell apart. Our marriage was going downhill fast! We had our own views and ideas and desires and neither one of us were willing to put the other one first. The problem was we were both raised with completely different views on love life and marriage. We were a very “seperated “ couple.

We didn’t know much, but the one thing we did know was that we loved each other. Even when we did not always like each other. (Which was quite often)

After a rough 3 years we had only 2 options, fix it or divorce. The only problem was were had no clue where to start. Even while we weren’t seeking God he had a plan.

Dondi was on his way from work and while passing a church he remembered his parents visited when they were in town one year he noticed a sign for an Easter play. He was drawn to attend. After going to one showing alone he came home a told me about the play and asked me to go back with him.

At this point we were hardly speaking and when we did it seemed to turn into a fight. I agreed to go but really had no idea what I was in for.

Well, the play was beautiful and the story of Easter was beautiful, but the most beautiful thing happened when the Pastor gave an altar call. That evening we not only gave ourselves to the Lord, we gave ourselves back to one another.

Shortly after that we got involved in a Sunday school for couples and made the “choice” to not just here what was being taught but actually try to apply it to our lives and marriage. We began to realize that neither one of us had seen the best examples on love, relationships and life. We had to learn what a Godly marriage was. We had to learn what it was to be a Godly man and Godly women.

That began our long journey that we are still on. To live first for God and second for one another. We not only wanted to have a Godly marriage we wanted to be “ More Than Married”

Now here we are over 20 years from our original beginning we can honestly say not only were we born again in 1995 our marriage was born again. Has it been easy? NO! We still messed up and still do. Has it gotten easier? Absolutely! We are in unity now. We overcome together with God as our guide. We purposed in our hearts to love each other over ourselves. And we both have said we would go through it all over again to get to where we are now. Three wonderful boys 22,12,10, a beautiful daughter- in -law who is all serving God and our first grandbaby on the way.

Through all we have gone through and learned God has given us a heart and passion to help others overcome and have the marriage God intends His children to have. We currently teach a marriage Sunday school class at our home church and hold a bi weekly discipleship group in our home.

Dondi and I are both leaders in the men and women’s ministries in our home church. We love all that we are involved in. We feel honored that God has allowed us to reach and work with so many couples over the past 7 years. We have grown and learned in the process.

Recently God has put another call in our hearts. This blog is what we feel will be the start of it. Our goal is to reach other couples all across the globe. Couples we may never meet here on earth. Couples that may not be plugged in at their church or even better, couples that may not even go to church.

Only the Lord knows and that is who is leading our ministry and us!

None of us are born knowing how to be a Godly spouse. But if we make a “choice” to seek God and Honor the marriage covenant. Our marriages can be the light to the darkness of marriages in the world. You can be “More Than Married”.