I’m excited to have Lori Schumaker as my guest today while I’m on vacation. She is sharing her hope-filled insights for when our marriages are impacted by the schemes of the devil, as we continue in my spiritual warfare series. Please make her feel at home here by commenting below and sharing her wise words all around the web!

I remember those beginning years well. And the arguments that accompanied them.

I remember the tears. The doubt of who I am and of my worthiness.

When you don’t live in the reflection of Christ, you wear the labels of a broken world.

I came into our marriage wearing a multitude of those broken labels and sadly, those labels effected the health of our relationship. My husband wasn’t perfect. We all bring with us our own set of unhealthy behaviors. But what my label wearing did, was prohibit me from handling issues subjectively.

When he did something less than stellar, I wore his faults as my lack of worthiness. His faults couldn’t simply be about him. They were a reflection of me.

I’d spent my life earning my worth from the approval of others. From achieving and being “good”. Our world is a fickle, demanding, broken, and often angry place. So, to see oneself in the reflection of that puts us on the unpredictable track of rollercoaster living.

How about you? Have you spent much of your life being what we often hear referred to as a “people pleaser?” Have you stopped to examine the why behind that behavior? Is it simply because you don’t like to see people unhappy?

Or is it something different? Is it deeper than that?

When someone isn’t pleased with you, does it cut deeply into a place where all your insecurities lay hidden? And are you bringing that into all your relationships? Especially into your marriage?

It wasn’t until I decided there had to be more to this longing I felt within myself. There had to be more to Christ’s victory on the cross than my salvation on the other side of the cross.

There had to be victory on this side of the cross, too.

And the battle for that victory meant victory for my marriage, as well.

[bctt tweet=”I had to fight the enemy and see myself in the reflection of Christ, not the world.” username=”BethSteffaniak”]

But it wasn’t easy, because the enemy knows the ground he loses when we rise up and see ourselves as chosen and worthy reflections of the God of the Universe.

He knows that . . .

Purposes are fulfilled.

Marriages strengthened.

Love flourishes.

And families thrive.

[bctt tweet=”Satan loses ground when we rise up and see ourselves as chosen, worthy reflections of God.” ~Lori Schumaker” username=””]

But where do we start?

1. We start with obedience to the longing for more that God has placed in us. It’s a longing to embrace our value and to see ourselves in His reflection.

2. We commit to believing that God is bigger than any sin done by or against us. Believing is a heart word. It’s something we must say and feel so strongly that we are willing to lay our lives down on that truth.

3. We repent of and surrender everything we have held in the recesses of our hearts that bring us shame. No more holding back with God. We get real and get right with Him. Trusting that He will redeem.

4. We begin the hard work of catching every lie the enemy rattles through our minds and disputing it with the Truth of God. It means committing to reading God’s Word because the more we know His Word, the more we can replace the lies within negative self-talk with truth. We all have to start somewhere in the Word and God will bless your efforts. Each Word you soak in, you will find it surfacing in just the right moment.

5. We pray bold, fierce, heartfelt prayers! God hears all our prayers whether long or short, complex or simple. But when we go to battle in prayer and we pray His Word, we enter that battle fully armed. It’s a battle the enemy will never win. And one God wins every. single. time.

Friends, if you are allowing the labels of the world to negatively effect your marriage, it’s time to claim the victory Christ has already won for you. See yourself in His reflection. The reflection that is steady. Unwavering. And overflowing with love.

See yourself as His creation so that the issues in your marriage are not exacerbated by unjustifiable emotion. When we know who we are in Christ, we can keep our issues as simply an issue and not an attack of our personal worthiness.

I pray you step into the victory Christ has already claimed for you. I pray you boldly step forth in obedience and I claim victorious marriages in the name of Jesus!

Finally, receive your power from the Lord and from his mighty strength. Put on all the armor that God supplies. In this way you can take a stand against the devil’s strategies. This is not a wrestling match against a human opponent. We are wrestling with rulers, authorities, the powers who govern this world of darkness, and spiritual forces that control evil in the heavenly world. For this reason, take up all the armor that God supplies. -Ephesians 6:10-13 GW

[bctt tweet=”Christian bloggers, come join From Messes to Messages linkup! #GodRedeems” username=”BethSteffaniak”]

Thanks so much to Lori for being my guest today while I am away. I hope you’ll check out her blog—lorischumaker.com—where she offers Christ-centered hope and wisdom on a variety of topics that includes everything from marriage to parenting to her primary focus of finding our identity in Christ. 

 

What is another way that you’ve stood against the devil’s schemes and strong in Christ’s work on the cross?

 

What is one way you’ve been attacked by the “Enemy” in life or marriage?

 

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