It’s not a perfect representation, of course, since the best marriage we can possibly make on earth still involves a pair of fallen, broken people. But in its deepest sense, at its deepest level, this primary human relationship between husband and wife is meant to be a living witness to others of the love of Christ for His church (Eph. 5:22–33).
1. Place your frustration in the right place.
Instead of directing your anger or frustration at individual members of your family, direct it at the enemy who has targeted the family you love.
2. Trust the Holy Spirit.
Quit trying to be the Holy Spirit in your relationship, responsible for poking and prodding that husband of yours until he finally sees things the same way you see them. Nowhere in 1 Corinthians 12, or anywhere else in Scripture where the divinely infused gifts of God’s Spirit are listed, does “improving thy husband” appear as even a footnoted selection.
3. Pray for your spouse, don’t seek to improve.
The more you pray for your husband, the more the Spirit will shine a spotlight on the places in your own heart and actions that need a bit of work, too. The only effective way to fight in marriage is to pray.
The family is one of the key axis points of God’s purposes on earth. And your family, at the point of your sphere of influence, is a major component of what He is doing right here where you live. In order to make sure you’re fully cooperating with Him and with the enormous opportunity embodied in your family structure and its people, they need you to not be on their backs, not be up in their faces, but be down on your knees.
Pray These Verses for Your Family
Consider praying the following verses for yourself and your family:
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor. 13:4–7)
You wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. (1 Pet. 3:1–2)
When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD,
He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. (Prov. 16:7)
