Remembering...

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Good morning, SHINE friends. Today I am re-posting something I wrote a few years ago. I pray it encourages you. I needed God to refresh my heart with His words on this subject again. It is good to go back and "remember" what the Lord has told us and done for us. Join me today as we focus on pigs and pearls. :) Oh, and happy Thursday!

 "Do not give dogs what is sacred, do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear them to pieces." 

I have recited this verse to my children in the past. I have told  them that they are sacred and holy, and that they should guard their bodies and hearts. I told them that it would be like throwing something sacred into a trash can. Or, like throwing their favorite toy or game into a mud pit with pigs.

Their bodies are holy because the Lord resides inside. They must use discernment at all times. I am not sure if they truly get this concept yet, but my prayer is that they will. My prayer is that they will honor the body and heart the Lord is taking up residence in and not get them trampled by the world.

"Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself." 1 Corinthians 6:19

The Lord laid something fresh on my heart yesterday in regards to this verse. All day I prayed and pondered what He was showing me.

We are to not only guard are own bodies and hearts against anything or anyone that would trample it, but we are to guard other things. Things that are sacred in the eyes of the Lord.

• Our marriages.
• Our children.
• Our eyes from what we see and what we read.
• Our ears from what we choose to listen to.
• Our hands in what we touch.
• Our feet in where we walk.
• Our minds in what we choose to believe or meditate on.
• Our mouths in what we speak.

There is so much to say on this.

 I will start with the one most near and dear to my heart....marriage.

Are we guarding our marriages with a dead bolt? Are we aware of the dangers that are lurking in the places we go together, or not go together?

"Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8

Marriage is sacred in the eyes of the Lord.

We must treat it this way. We must guard it like a mama bear would guard her cub. With fierce and intense protection.

Do you know what the divorce rate is in the United States?

 40-50%!  I just googled it.

This proves that marriages are not guarded enough. It's extremely hard to break in a house with a security system and dead bolts. Right?

{Many spouses have guarded their marriages, and yet the other spouse did not. My heart breaks for this. I pray that if that was you who got trampled on even when you guarded that marriage faithfully, that the Lord will bring healing to your heart. Restoration and complete healing. In Jesus Name.}

Divorce is rampant on both sides of my family line. My parents are the only couple that have remained together among their many siblings.

This scares me. A lot.

I'm protective over Lem. He is the very first person I pray for each morning. I pray scriptures over him and I pray over every part of his body. Even his loins! {it's a fact}

I want to guard what we have. I cannot do this without the Lord's intervention. However, I must ask Him! I must lift Lem to Him regularly and tighten that dead bolt daily.

Not only do I pray for Lem, but I guard our conversations and the intimate details of our marriage. I don't want the enemy getting any kind of foothold into this marriage...especially by my own doing.

Another way the Lord has shown me how to guard our marriage, is to guard our time together. I try to make sure to sit with him on the couch {his favorite place} at the end of the day. I do not love sitting on the couch absorbing the latest sports game. BUT, I do this for him. I do this because he loves me right on that couch next to him.

Each time I put down whatever I am doing to just "sit" with him, I thank the Lord that I am the one that gets to sit with him and not some other girl!

I also know what makes Lem tick. I know what his love language is. His love language is VERY different from mine, but I try to love him in the way he desires to be loved. Some days are very hard to conjure up the love. If I'm being real.

However, on those days I turn to God and pray for strength to love him like he desires to be loved. I pray for God to remove anything in my heart preventing me from showing Lem the love I need to show him.

God shows up every single time.

Find out how your man desires to be loved. It may just be little things that don't mean much to you, but would mean the world to your man!

Love always returns dividends of love. Don't give up, even when you don't see those love dividends immediately. Keep going, keep loving.

We must guard our marriages, girls. The enemy wants your marriage. He wants my marriage. If the enemy can get into our marriage, he will do his best to destroy our entire family.

Let's tighten the locks, girls.

Lord, help us to guard and protect our marriages. Just like the scripture in Matthew says, we must not throw our marriage to the enemy to trample and destroy. We must be alert and on guard against the schemes of the enemy. Father, help us to be diligent in guarding our sacred marriage union. Help us to be aware of any behavior or activity that will hinder our marriage being protected. Let us not be naive in this world, but be filled with discernment and wisdom. Let us be focused on being vigilant and prayerful for our marriage. If there is any obstacle in the way of our marriage being pure, nurtured, and cared for...I pray You will remove those obstacles and draw our hearts back to our spouses. In Jesus name, amen.



armoring up,

jill