Bob & Charlyne's Blog - from the heart of a restored marriage

Bob and I watched on Wednesday evening the rescue of the 33 miners trapped in a collapsed Chilean mine.  One newscaster reported the miners had been buried one-half mile under the earth for seventy days.  That sounds like impossible circumstances, doesn't it?

I was just praising the Lord for the Chilean president that made the commitment to rescue the miners and for all the different skilled people with expertise from so many nations that united together and helped make the rescue a success.  Can you imagine the anxieties, thoughts and fears the families were battling, but instead they made a camp where they lived and called it "Camp Hope!"  They were praying and believing for a miracle.

As I thought of our standers, I thought of you and your circumstances, which seem so similar.  Your beloved spouse is buried and blinded in a prison of sin.  They are trapped and cannot see a way out.  But you have been chosen by God to pray and intercede for your husband, wife or child to be set free from the deep pit of sin that they are living in.  Your Lord God will send the Holy Spirit to speak to your spouse or child regularly.  Then suddenly God will send His warrior angels to go set your spouse free!

One commentator said that the workers would say: "They would never give up on rescuing the miners."  In fact, many workers were already working on a plan B or plan C exit in case the first attempt did not work.  That is determination, perseverance, courage and tenacity.  Oh, that all nations around the world would fight for marriages, spouses and children that are turning into casualties because we are not willing to fight to rescue the families like the one thousand workers did for 33 miners trapped in a mine. 

Who are you going to be like?  Will you turn off the news and forget there were 33 miners alive trapped in a mine?  Your spouse is trapped with thousands of other sinners who have yet to cry out for help.  They need to call on the Name of Jesus.  Have you made that forever commitment to your beloved spouse and marriage vows?  Remember, you are one-flesh and married for life!

Let us all pray for a revival of our churches around the world to fight for their marriages and families who have prodigal husbands, wives or children who have become trapped and enslaved in a sinful pit that leads them down to the chambers of death.  (Proverbs 7:27)  The churches can rescue them and then thousands, possibly millions of people living in the dark will start seeking the Light that is radiating from all churches who are proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the only answer for any of your problems.

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."  John 3:17

A couple days ago I emailed a few donors to thank them for their faithful Ministry support. In that message I told them about a small radio we have put aside at home for hurricanes. It does not require batteries or electricity to operate but has a crank that when turned winds a magneto and powers the radio. Thirty seconds of cranking powers the radio for thirty minutes, and then it needs to be cranked all over again. That was about the best illustration of ministry funding I could have come up with.

As that email was going out, I realized our hand cranked radio was also a great illustration of the Christian life in general. God provides us the ability to receive all the power we need. Time spent in God's Word charges us, as does prayer, as well as our church attendance and corporate worship. No matter how flat we get, a few cranks of the handle of Christianity gets us going again.

Do you know the number one reason that marriage where a spouse has returned home fall apart again? Because someone stopped standing. The spouse who once stood strong has adopted the attitude that the enemy wants every restored marriage to have. They are almost saying, "Thanks God for bringing my spouse home. Next time I need you I'll call on you again."

If I were to pull out hand cranked radio, sitting just a few feet away, it would be dead as a doornail because it has not been used in a year. If our electricity were off and we had to depend on that radio all day every day, you can be sure it would stay cranked up.

The same is true of standing as well as living out the Christian life. We need to stay cranked up and in communication with Jesus. If you are thinking "It will be different when my spouse comes home," you are setting up Satan to get the victory when your spouse comes back through the door.

To quote a statement my wife has said often, "Standing really starts after they walk back through the door." May you stay cranked up as a Christian and as a stander, regardless of where your spouse is or what they are doing.

The power won't hold for more than a day, but think I will go and crank up our radio. We will be covered for today and tomorrow I can do the same thing all over again. After all, we are in hurricane season.

It is also storm season around some marriages with a spouse at home. May the stander in each home with both spouses present get busy cranking so that the enemy will be defeated.