I remember being
a young pastor and trying to counsel couples who were going through a difficult
time in their marriage. I tried to give them tasks to do to help them deepen their
commitment to each other. After a few
years, I realized this wasn’t working.
About 30 years ago the Lord offered me some fresh insight. He said, “Don’t give them any more
lists. Give them this one
instruction. In their place of
separation tell them to begin walking toward Me. Their first task is not to
save their marriage – it is to reestablish their individual intimacy with
Me. As they continue to walk toward Me in
a deepening individual intimacy they will eventually close the distance between
each other and stand shoulder-to-shoulder before Me. This is how I restore marriages.”
Intimacy with God
is like target practice. The closer you
are to the target the less chance you have to score a miss. Intimacy with God
has a greater potential for breakthrough than standing at a distance from each
other demanding that all our questions be answered or having things work out
the way we had hoped.
Every struggle
you now face can find its resolution in God’s presence. God is restoring more
than marriages. He is restoring individuals,
businesses, churches, denominations and nations. Each of these restoration processes will have
in its core a reestablished intimacy with God. No matter how well crafted your
plan of restoration may be, it will ultimately fail if the participants are not
living together in a relationship where intimacy with God is the greatest
value.
Today, stop
trying to fix yourself and other people and simply invite them to walk with you
deeper into a reestablished intimacy with God.
In this journey you will begin to shed the dividing issues that created the
separation in the first place. This is where you will find the peace you are
seeking.
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