Appreciating God’s Process
The road to marriage and crossing paths with the right person for you is a very narrow one. It’s a road that can only accommodate two people, you and your future spouse. The thing that you must always keep in mind is that the love of God is the map that will lead you to this road. When the love of Jesus Christ is firmly anchored in your heart, it behaves like an inner navigation system that guides the two of you to each other. This is the way destiny has always worked and God designed it to be fail-proof.
If you don’t have faith in God’s process, it will not work for you. It’s really just that simple. Our love for Heavenly Father is expressed through our faith in what He has said in His Word. Our faith is based on what we believe about God, and this faith must be backed up with action. We can’t just say we believe something and expect it to stick. There has to be something that outwardly demonstrates that all parts of us, our spirit, soul, and body, are in agreement with what we believe. That’s how faith works and that’s how love works as well.
And we need not get it twisted, our faith will be tested. You and I have the distinct responsibility and privilege of proving that our faith in God through Christ will withstand the test and come out as pure gold. 1Peter 1:7(MSG) states, “Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.” Loving God is backed up by what we do, not merely by what we say. Love is a commitment, so when we’re asking God to bless us with the person that He has ordained to walk with us through life, our understanding of commitment must be crystal clear.
What are the signs that we understand commitment? Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew 6:33(NLT). He teaches, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” To seek God demonstrates our commitment to be led by Him and not take matters into our own hands. We pray first and then we must wait for an answer, because when our faith is firmly planted in God, He will always answer us.
It’s not about you having faith that you’ll get married. That’s a given if you desire it and you’re trusting God. It’s about having faith that Heavenly Father is who He says He is in His Word, and He will do what He has promised He will do. The union of marriage is sacred. Marriage is God’s institution. It doesn’t belong to us, it’s His! He has given it to us to as a way to bless and teach us about His nature. So, we can’t ask God for His goodie and not think that we will not need to meet the requirement of stewardship. As God’s children, we’re commanded to be diligent, loyal, trustworthy, and all the other qualities and discipline that come with proving we’re committed to Him.
God tells us in Ephesians 2:10 that we are His masterpiece, and He created us as new spiritual beings in Jesus Christ. He tells us in this verse that long before we entered our mother’s wombs, He planned good things for us to do, and we must be committed to carry those good things through to fruition. God looks at us and He doesn’t see our faults; He sees Christ! He always sees the best in us because of our acceptance of Jesus Christ into our lives. We’re God treasures. And we can’t allow it to slip by our understanding that the person that He’s destined to walk with us through life is His treasure also.
Just as God requires you and I to be good stewards of His blessings and to take good care of what He gives us, we must comprehend that He is the most excellent steward of His blessings, and He doesn’t miss a beat. God doesn’t give us blessings to trample on, to misuse, or to neglect. He’s perfect, and He only gives good gifts. If you want a treasure from Him, you must prove your ability to properly care for it. Again, when Heavenly Father looks at us, He sees Christ. He sees His masterpiece, and the extraordinary beautiful thing about it is that He sees every person this way!
In our prayer of asking God to allow us to cross paths with our future spouses, we must see what He sees. We can’t look at any person and see less than what God sees. If we’re picky and petty, putting folks down, judging them all the time, thinking we’re somehow better because of our looks, income, or breeding, our vision is off. We’re prone to missteps, mishaps, and accidents when our vision doesn’t match God’s. So, we can’t expect Him to give us one of His treasures if there’s stuff in our hearts that will cause us to mistreat or mishandle the treasures we’re asking to receive.
God is a God of order. He doesn’t deal in chaos and confusion. He doesn’t tell us, “No! You can’t have it!” Psalm
84:11 tells us that He doesn’t withhold any good thing for those who
have a heart to please Him. So, He doesn’t tell us ‘no’, He helps us to
spiritually prepare for the blessing we seek, so that we are able to
follow His order. He helps us to grow in the example of Christ, and this
means our commitment to grow in patience, faith, and submission to Him
and our spouses will be required. Growing in these areas is a huge part
of God’s process, and when we yield to Him, and prove ourselves
teachable, He will put us on the path that leads to a blessed marital
union.■
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994,
1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing
Group.
“Appreciating God’s Process”, written for Christian Encouragement and Inspiration© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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