Is Your Home A Prison?
Happy Love Month!!! I’m super-excited about this month because it is the beginning of our journey here at Golden Nuggets Blog in exploring different topics on relationships as inspired by the Holy Spirit. My love for “Love” started as a young girl when I became so intrigued by relationships, with the constant quest to know how I could know who the right person to marry was and hence the questions I asked several people, who usually said “You would just know it” and in my heart, I would say “HOW???” So, since I wasn’t getting a clear answer, I explored the answer to that question in the wrong places such as romantic movies. Nothing against those types of movies but I forgot those were fictional and not reality. As I explored more on “love,” I began to understand that “Love” is actually “God, Almighty.” He is Love. He doesn’t just have a huge amount of love in Him, but He is love!!! The fibre of His being and His DNA is love!!! At last, I found a piece of the puzzle in 1 John 4:7-8 NKJV, which says:
“7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
You can imagine the excitement I have to know that I am the daughter of Love, or should I say, the daughter of the Almighty Love (a.k.a the Almighty God). Clearly, you can see I am having so much fun and joy writing this :).
With this new discovery, I put aside the fictional movies and started pursuing real love, which is God Himself. As I drew near to Him, He began to reveal the desire He has in bringing restoration and transformation to families. The first institution ever created by God, in the beginning, was marriage, which is the bedrock of a family. He is so intentional about marriage and families that He did not just rush to create it. Instead, He and the team (God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit) took their time to develop a blueprint for marriage. In Genesis 1:26-28 NKJV, He said:
“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
When the blueprint was finalized, God began the actual forming or building of the different components of marriage (Male and Female). As you read Genesis 1:31, you will notice that when God looked at what He had created, indeed it was very good!!! God desires to see marriages and families that are very good. He desires that marriages and homes are filled with joy unspeakable, full of glory. He desires to see a flow of peace that surpasses human understanding and desires that these fruits are reproduced into the generations that follow. Unfortunately, this is not the case for every marriage and family. When the first family (Adam and Eve) messed up and disconnected from God, this opened the door to pain, sadness and all sorts of evil. As a result, marriage was also affected by this. It was very heartbreaking to me when I came across Jeremiah 37:15 that shows the state of many marriages today:
“11 When the Babylonian army left Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s approaching army, 12 Jeremiah started to leave the city on his way to the territory of Benjamin, to claim his share of the property among his relatives there.[f] 13 But as he was walking through the Benjamin Gate, a sentry arrested him and said, “You are defecting to the Babylonians!” The sentry making the arrest was Irijah son of Shelemiah, grandson of Hananiah. 14 “That’s not true!” Jeremiah protested. “I had no intention of doing any such thing.” But Irijah wouldn’t listen, and he took Jeremiah before the officials. 15 They were furious with Jeremiah and had him flogged and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary. Jonathan’s house had been converted into a prison”. (Jeremiah 37:11-15, New Living Translation).
The officials had interfered and converted a home that was meant to be a safe haven into a prison. Many marriages have been converted to prisons filled with pain, sorrow, and bitterness because of the invasion of some wrong companies. When God was removed from the relationship between Adam and Eve, resentment set in, causing Adam to blame Eve for the fall, who also passed the blame to the serpent. The third-party (the serpent) that was allowed into that relationship opened the door to evil in their home. There are some associations that need to be cut off because it opens the door for the devil, our adversary, to have a foothold. Is it a friend, book, television show, song or social media, that keeps feeding you with negative thoughts about your marriage? It is time to break off such association. The moment Eve entertained the devil, the desire for the forbidden tree, which wasn’t initially there, began to grow.
“4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:4-6 NKJV)
If your home feels like a prison right now, I have good news for you! God always provides a way of escape from every situation and He is still in the business of bringing restoration and transformation to families. It’s no wonder that the first miracle Jesus did on earth was at a wedding that He was invited to (John 2). During that wedding ceremony, they had run out of wine and when this was brought to the attention of Jesus by His mother, she instructed the servants, saying: “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5 NKJV). At Jesus’ command, the servants filled six water-pots with water and drew some from it and presented it to the Master of Ceremony (MC), who tasted the water that had turned into wine. Being so surprised at the quality of the wine and not knowing what had happened behind the scenes, the MC approached the groom and commented that the groom had reserved the better wine until that moment, which was the opposite of what people usually did (John 2:6-11 NKJV). Let’s look at some golden nuggets from this story in John 2:1-12.
1. Invite Jesus into Your Marriage
Just like a wedding that is strictly by invitation, if Jesus Christ is not given an invitation, He will not be showing up at that marriage because He is not welcome. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, He is unable to help you convert that prison marriage into one of joy and peace. He is ready to offer you a personal helper called the Holy Spirit, who will guide you through this change in your marriage. In order for the Holy Spirit to work with you in bringing this change, you need to open your heart to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you would like to do so, please say this prayer with me:
“Lord Jesus Christ, I believe you are the Son of God and I believe You died for me on the cross of Calvary. I know I am a sinner and today, I come to You to forgive me for all my sins and to make me a brand new creation. I accept You as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you Lord for forgiving me and making me born again, in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Congratulations!!!! You are now born-again! This means you share the same DNA as Jesus Christ and because of you, there is a great celebration in heaven right now!
If you made this decision, I would love to hear from you today! Please leave a comment on this post or reach out to me at https://www.cccghq.org/contact-us
2. Do Whatever He Says You Should Do
When a device is malfunctioning, it is taken back to the manufacturer to fix it or we refer to the manual written by the manufacturer. It is wisdom to return to the one who created marriage to ask for how to resolve the issues in that marriage. Every marriage is different and God knows the specific root cause of the challenges you may be facing. He may instruct you from the word of God, the Holy Spirit or through some human authorities He may have placed in your life; ensure to yield to Him.
3. Expect a Sweeter Marriage
The servants weren’t too sure what to expect, but as they yielded to the instruction of Jesus Christ and moved towards the MC, the water turned into wine. As you yield to the direction of the Holy Spirit, which could include seeking the assistance of a marriage counselor, the transformation power of the Holy Spirit will begin a good work in your marriage and transform it, not to the original state, but to a way better version of your marriage. One of the things I love about God is that when He restores, He never returns it to the initial state. Instead, He goes the extra mile and makes it into a sweeter marriage.
Does your home feel like a prison? Jesus is ready to do a makeover and turn it from a prison into a sweet home! I pray for you today that the Lord would still every storm that might have risen in your home and restore His peace and joy in overflowing measure in Jesus’ name, amen!
I look forward to hearing your testimonies of God’s transformation power in your home. Please leave a comment on this post or reach me at https://www.cccghq.org/contact-us
Have a blessed home!
By: Pastor Ibukun Adewusi