THE Most Important Fact

So if I had to pick one thing that is the most important thing to remember when times are rough in your marriage it would be this:  Our struggle is NOT against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

That's actually a Bible verse - Ephesians 6:12.  God ALWAYS speaks truth in His word.  That's not what most of us want to hear.  We want someone to tell us how awful our spouse has been and that we shouldn't have to put up with it.  Or at the very least, that we are justified in being angry. We love the blame game, don't we?  We want someone to make us feel better. We sure don't want to hear that the blame should be put somewhere else - especially somewhere we can't see.

Hollywood likes to portray spiritual forces of evil as demons, vampires, witches, etc., in movies. (And isn't it amazing how much more we see of that as we get closer and closer to the end?)  But they don't have a clue.  Evil is so much more horrible than any movies Hollywood can produce.  It's not anything we should EVER mess with.  And one of the reasons it's so horrible is that evil can sometimes be disguised as something or someone beautiful - or even spiritual.  2 Corinthians 11:14 says, "For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

Although the spiritual forces of evil can't be everywhere at once, like our omnipresent God Almighty, they are numerous, and they can easily observe our faults and weaknesses.  So if they have seen me lose my temper with my husband, they can use that fault against me - unless I'm walking a close walk with the Lord and spending time with Him each day.  That's where our strength comes from.

Granted, sometimes we're just dealing with plain ole human sinfulness - ours or our spouse's.  But does that really matter?  I don't think so.  Either way, the evil forces are trying to destroy our marriage - whether by direct influence or by laughing at the chaos of our own sinfulness.  That should make us want to do everything within our power to protect and grow our marriage into the God-glorifying relationship and institution that God intends for it to be.

So don't give up, but work hard!  More to come!