Last night as we were flipping channels, Robin and I came upon a show that really caught my interest. It's called Celebrity Wife Swap. The premise of the show is that two couples switch their spouses for one week to learn from an outside perspective what things they can work on in their own marriages.
The show last night featured Mick Foley who was a very popular WWE wrestler from the Pensacola area as well as his wife and kids. The other family featured was a couple who were strikingly good-looking but very defensive and combative and immature in their relationship.
After the week was over and the two couples met to discuss what they had learned, the Foley's were very humbled and felt like they had gained much to help them in their relationship. They already had a very tender and sweet relationship but lacked order in the home as well as just having good old fun as a family. The other couple however became very defensive when the other spouse suggested changes. There was no connecting as they really had very little gentleness and tenderness between them where they could really hear each other's hearts.
One of the things that I love in Robin's and my marriage is that from the very beginning we try to always keep our "pea-pod" clean (that's what we call it--the 2 of us and Jesus) on a daily basis. We check in with each other regularly to make sure that nothing has gotten in of negativity or allowing others drama to affect us to where we disconnect.
Staying connected is the most important thing in marriage by a longshot. Robin and I both did not fully understand that in our first marriages and thereby now put a very high premium on cultivating continual connection of the heart daily to where we truly hear each other at all times. When defensiveness tries to get in, we immediately pray and we renounce it and embrace humility and tenderness before the Lord.
But I don't really want to talk about marriage and marriage relationships today. I want to talk about our personal relationship with the Holy Spirit.
I look back over my 33 years as a Christian, much of that in full-time service to God, and lament the fact that just like in my marriage, where I didn't fully know how to stay connected, I really didn't fully understand how to stay connected to the Lord day in day out either. I was inwardly very noisy. My mind and thoughts easily went all over the place causing all kinds of emotional chaos. I loved the Lord with all of my heart as well as his people ,but did not understand the dynamics of a healthy relationship, whether with my spouse or with the Lord himself.
What I have learned and now walk in -- not just with Robin, but with the Holy Spirit, truly is what Romans 12 labels as walking in the Kingdom of God, walking under his rule in our daily lives where righteousness, peace and joy by and large mark each day. The Holy Spirit is a gentle dove and though he never stops loving us, it is hard for him to stay in fellowship with us when we are aggressive, loud, and plowing our way through life just trying to survive. He is attracted to a peaceful heart that is content and always listening and open rather than angry and defensive.
I want to challenge you today dear ones to step up to another level. I believe too many of our marriages are marked by strife and discord and defensiveness rather than righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. I likewise believe that too many of God's children don't enjoy the close fellowship of the Holy Spirit that Jesus died to give everyone of us, not just a select few. It will take humbling ourselves and admitting that we are defensive, often ornery, many times not pleasant to be around, whether with our spouse or children or the Holy Spirit himself. I don't know about you, but I want to be the kind of person that people enjoy being around but most importantly the Holy Spirit enjoys being around.
I will leave you with this verse that has been on my heart this morning:
"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
Amen!
Pastor Bobby Lepinay
i wasn't commenting in the Wife swapping show, i didnt even see that until i had commented. sorry. don't know where that advertisement came from. lauren
Posted by: lauren belfield | November 08, 2015 at 08:14 PM
excellent p. bobby. i enjoyed reading about your journey and want to tell you, You still have It. blessings abundantly. lauren
Posted by: lauren belfield | November 08, 2015 at 08:11 PM