When’s the last time you thanked God for your spouse’s spiritual life?
We’re into week three of our “Spouse Appreciation Month”! See our previous posts for weeks 1 & week 2.
We want to deepen our attitude of gratitude this week by focusing on the ways your spouse enriches your spiritual life both as an individual and couple.
The Apostle Paul was great at this … he often shared how thankful he was for his co-laborers … his spiritual partners! Take a minute to read I Corinthians 1:4-9 and Philippians 1:3-11.
If we read these words as “Paul” or “I” in these verses … and the “you” to be your spouse … we have a great pattern for giving God thanks for our spouse’s spiritual support in our lives.
I Cor. 1: I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Philippians 1: I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Here’s a list of things we can be thankful for:
Our spouses’ salvation … that they are recipients of God’s grace … for the enriched lives they experience because of these things God did in their lives … for their spiritual gift(s) and how they are using them to further the gospel … for their righteous living and Christ like character … for their partnership in sharing the gospel … for the “good work God is doing … completing in their lives … that their love may abound more and more.
Schedule a time this week to pray together thanking God for each other using this list as a guide to help you give God thanks for the special gift He has given each of you! Ask Him to keep working in your lives … making you the husband …father … wife and mother that He wants you to be … so that your kids, friends and neighbors might see the gospel being lived out in front of their eyes.
