Satan hates marriages, and he hates purity. I you may believe I am thinking too much about Satan, but me and my newlywed wife have identified areas recently that Satan is actually trying to use to destroy our marriage. They are little things that can turn into monsters while we are married.

I had something really wierd happen a couple days ago. I was listening to a podcast at work by Craig Groeschel, and the series was on the spirit world, and the message was about demons. All of a sudden I felt really dark, and it still creeps me out, and I don`t know what it was. I felt something wasn`t right. I thought, “That`s just my body being wierd”, but as the message went on I just felt darker. So I decided to be wierder, and I said outloud as strongly as I could “In the name of Jesus leave me alone”. And the feeling was gone. I felt a huge relief, and strangely enough almost exhausted.

I don`t know what that was for sure, but I know that Satan is trying to attack my marriage and blow it apart. He wants nothing more than to have an affair and dump Tabitha`s heart to the curb. He wants me to not be her spiritual leader. Satan wants me to put work first before Tabitha (read “Choosing To Cheat” by Andy Stanley) and start ignoring her and our future kids.

Here’s the thing; this post isn’t about me, it’s for US:

Satan wants to destroy your purity, and unfortunately he’s doing a good job.

Stop looking at the sunshine girl in that newspaper.
Stop checking out the joggers running past your house every morning.
Stop looking at magazine ads with models in bras.
Stop looking at the NFL cheerleaders.

If you noticed, these are all less obvious attempts at Satan to get in on your purity. Notice that I didn`t say:

stop masturbating
stop looking at porn
stop cheating on your wife
stop having sex with strangers

Those are much more obvious. So stay mindful. God is on your side, and I`ve read the back of the book: He wins. So fight with your hearts, stay mindful, stay focused.

Aaron

So as you`re reading this I am on my honeymoon, and I thank you for all the prayers we have recieved. We feel like God is going to bless our marriage in massive way.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we went to see Hillsong United and there was a couple who came to the worship experience on their wedding day. One of the last things they said was “We are married and now we are here to worship the Lord.”

This is more of a challenge to the married couples. What are you doing to worship God in your marriage? The best way to worship God is to serve each other in a loving, caring way.

Fulfill each other`s needs.
Pray with your spouse.
Admit when you`re wrong.
Bring out the potential in each other.
Go on dates together.

These are just small steps towards a lifetime of marrital bliss. One of our goals in marriage is to not have a honeymoon stage, but have a steady relationship of love, with steady doses of trust, respect, and hope. We will have our fights and our disagreement, but what gets accomplished in the end?

So worship God. And it is NEVER too late to start.

Ready? Go.

Aaron

A 6-pack of reasons not to get drunk…lol.

At Aaron’s wedding this weekend there was a superbly drunk man who’s name I do not know.  He was 26 years old.  After seeing him staggering in the hallways, I asked if he had a ride home and what his plans were.

“I’m going up the street to Solid Gold baby!”  (Solid Gold if you haven’t guessed is a nearby strip joint.)

To which I replied:

Come on man, you gotta treat women with a little more respect, don’t you think?

He says:

Hey man, you gotta ride a couple donkeys before you find a princess right?

So I say:

Well, I didn’t have to. (Introduce my wife).  Neither did Aaron.  (Nor did his best man).  Gotta make wise choices if you wanna find the love of your life.

His last response before we left:

I find the new love of my life every Saturday night!

I’ve seen the other side- I had a conversation two weeks ago with a 22 year old who has been a stripper for 6 years.  It’s not fun.  It’s not glamourous.  It’s not pretty.  It’s degrading.  It’s embarrassing.  She’s sick of the hurt and pain. She wants out.

Then I meet this guy.  The DEMAND that fuels the need for supply (God’s daughters).  What do you say to guys like this?  How can we structure our society in such a way that behaviour like this stops?  How can we bring back respect for women?  How do we see marriage brought back as a great thing?  How can we see purity and right-living be the path of choice?  How can we see men and women saved from sin?

Jay

My fiance and I just got back from one of the best God experiences we have taken part in. We went to Toronto with family to see Hillsong United at Ontario Place, and it was unreal!!! There was even a couple who came on their wedding day (we talked to them after the experience, and they are the same age as us, 21 and 18 … the first thing the groom said was “Don`t let anyone tell you you’re too young”.)

If if you ever have the chance to check out Hillsong, it will be an amazing experience. What really got to me was the crowd. During the song “With Everything”, the crowd started the chorus. When the song was clearly over, Joel Houston had stopped playing, and it was really done, the crowd started again, and the words had so much meaning:

“With everything we will shout for your glory.
With everything we will shout forth your praise.”

It was so powerful, and you could feel God there in a huge way. But in a way, it challenged me. “Are you living the words, Aaron? What are you doing to shout onto My name, proclaim My glory?”

So I will redirect the challenge to you:

Are you giving your everything to God when you do your taxes or weekly finances?
Are you giving your everything to God in your friendships?
Are you giving your everything to God in your dating or married life?
Do people see normal, or do they see God’s loving spirit pouring out of your body?

There are always things that we will hold back. Give him everything you can, and take nothing back.

Aaron

The Rape of Tamar by Eustache Le Sueur 1640

“Come to bed with me, my darling sister!” That’s the line he uses.

Messed up right?

That’s the story of 2 Samuel chapter 13.

Jerk named Amnon is ‘in love’ with his step sister Tamar.
Tool pretends he’s sick and sends for her help.
Evil man grabs and rapes her.
Idiot burns with hatred and throws her on the streets.
(eventually Tamar’s brother just kills him)

When I was in high school, I did the same thing. Sorta.  At least in the spiritual sense.
In Christ, every women is to be treated as a sister.  Sickenly, I treated a few like Tamar.

Every girl I ever fooled around with I ended up hurting them in some way.
I broke their hearts. I remember feeling a sort of ‘hate’ towards them.  Really, it was a disgust at myself.
Maybe it was the guilt. The shame. Regret at losing something I couldn’t get back.  The sense that I’d betrayed my future wife. The hurt I caused. The damage I’d wrecked on the future marriage of others.

Not worth it.
Don’t be an Amnon.
It’ll kill you in the end.

Jay