SETTLE THIS BEFORE SETTLING DOWN (1) (Build your Capacity to Hear God)
That morning, while working at my table in one corner of the church auditorium, the Lord said to me, “Arise, begin to pray for your future wife”. I argued initially because I just stepped out of a relationship some few months earlier.
As I began to pray and intercede, I had a flash of my wife cross my mind. She was the least likely I could have ever imagined. I thought my mind was joking with me. I stopped praying immediately. I could not believe it.
Friends, develop your ability to know God and know when He is speaking very early in life. Seek His will in other matters as you grow in the faith before you become a victim of the “prophetic list” for a marital choice.
Your ability to hear God preserves your life and destiny. Take a lesson from Samuel, have a hunger for the Lord and His presence:
First, the vision of God was scarce in Samuel’s days. Just like our days when people are more into logic than the leading of the Spirit, the word was not desired by many also in the days of Samuel. They must have been making a lot of decisions by chance and calculation. Do not settle for that.
Second, even though the High Priest would go to bed, young Samuel would rather sleep very close to the Ark of the Covenant. Peradventure, he wanted to ensure that the light does not go out.
One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God.
1 Samuel 3:2-3 NLT
Do not just be in the tabernacle. Make sure you are positioned close to the Ark of God. Do not just be a churchgoer. Develop a passion for the Lord. Love to read His Word to you. Love prayer. Love His leading. Get as close to God as it is possible. When you have a hunger and a thirst, God is always ready to fill it for you. A hungry soul pulls divine attention.
Your ability to hear God is not just useful in making a choice, it will stay useful in keeping your choice and consecrating yourself to Him alone on your marital journey.
If you wait for critical decisions before seeking God, you will be like an athlete who begins to train a day before a crucial race- he has lost already.
Let God lead you in simple daily choices. Pause during your day to fellowship with God. Ask Him for help as the day unfolds. Pause and give Him gratitude also. Be conscious of His presence with you.
Every sheep must know the voice of the shepherd. Every child knows the voice of the father. Relationship with God will help you know His voice. Intimacy with the Father will help you discern His voice from other voices.
Some marriages are in crisis today because both parties cannot hear God. It is a case of two blind people driving at top speed- it is a gamble with their lives. Hearing and heeding divine prompts averts marital crisis. Start training yourself now. Marriage is not an experiment.