Battle Ready
Speaker: Pastor Nancy Odle
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3e4Z5N8Nf0
YouTube upload date: 2024-04-02 (used as publication date; not represented as the recording date)
Video duration: 00:38:30
Transcript basis: Faster-Whisper small.en automatic timestamped transcription.
Transcript note: Formatted for publication while preserving the supplied sequence and substantive wording. Automatic recognition and punctuation errors may remain; verify against the audio before exact quotation. Statements in the transcript are the speaker's and are not automatically independently verified facts.

[00:00:04] Lord, I just thank you for this group of people that you've brought together for this purpose,
[00:00:10] Lord God.
[00:00:11] I thank you that we're going to continue to just draw closer to you, dive into your word,
[00:00:16] and Lord, that we're going to just let our hearts be softened, Lord, towards you and
[00:00:21] towards each other.
[00:00:22] Father God, I pray in Jesus' name that you would do a mighty work in marriages and singles
[00:00:27] and even the children that are here, Lord God, I just pray that your Holy Spirit would
[00:00:31] be with us, would help us to grow, and help us to draw closer to you and each other.
[00:00:37] In Jesus' name, amen.
[00:00:44] So I entitled my little talk Battle Ready.
[00:00:50] A lot of times in marriages we get so consumed with what's going on in between spouses that
[00:00:59] we forget who our battle is against.
[00:01:03] I mean, Pastor Troy and Pastor Dee really just went through all the scriptures and everything
[00:01:08] else.
[00:01:09] We could just go home on that, and those are all the things that we need to study and get
[00:01:13] right in our lives and in our marriages, but I will go ahead since I did a PowerPoint.
[00:01:22] I have here relationship goals.
[00:01:24] I love this picture because this is what we're supposed to be, hand in hand, battling
[00:01:30] everything that comes against the Word of God, our marriage, our families, our unity.
[00:01:37] This is what we're supposed to look like, and we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
[00:01:42] Unfortunately, a lot of times, like I said, we are wrestling against each other in flesh
[00:01:49] and blood.
[00:01:50] We're actually not realizing it, but we're shooting arrows at ourselves.
[00:01:56] Like Pastor Troy and Pastor Dee said, we're one flesh, so when we do this, when we launch
[00:02:03] arrows, when we launch insults, when we have these issues with each other, Matthew 19.5
[00:02:10] through 6 says, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave
[00:02:15] to his wife, and they too shall be one flesh.
[00:02:20] Wherefore there are no more two, but one flesh.
[00:02:24] But therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.
[00:02:29] So if you're one flesh, I had a really, I tamed down my picture, I did this one instead.
[00:02:39] My first instinct was to pull up someone stabbing their own flesh.
[00:02:44] It was pretty gruesome.
[00:02:45] I decided to lay off, I knew we would have snacks and drinks and stuff, so I decided
[00:02:50] to go with something that illustrated it a different way.
[00:02:53] But that's exactly what it is.
[00:02:55] You're jabbing, you're stabbing, and you don't realize that God has literally ordained
[00:03:00] what you are in, and you are destroying it.
[00:03:05] You are destroying something that is God-ordained, and if we would look at that and take it
[00:03:09] seriously that it's God-ordained and that you are one person, you are a team, then
[00:03:16] we wouldn't do that as often.
[00:03:19] The word asunder, it says, what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
[00:03:26] Asunder I thought was interesting.
[00:03:28] One of the words, one of the definitions was to place room between.
[00:03:34] And a lot of marriages, this happens because of each other, and they don't even realize
[00:03:40] it.
[00:03:41] You end up with a lot of room between you.
[00:03:43] You end up in different worlds, like you have people who in counseling they'll come
[00:03:48] to you and they'll say, oh, she's not the woman I married.
[00:03:53] He's not the man I married.
[00:03:55] And it's because they have allowed things to put room between them to where they don't
[00:03:59] even recognize each other anymore, and they don't have the same visions and goals and
[00:04:04] motivation.
[00:04:08] So if we're not to fight each other, who are we to fight?
[00:04:14] Anybody?
[00:04:15] This guy.
[00:04:18] This guy.
[00:04:21] We are supposed to be recognizing and fighting the enemy, and he is all up into
[00:04:27] marriages because he hates marriage.
[00:04:30] He absolutely hates it.
[00:04:33] The Apostle Paul was talking about forgiveness, and he said in 2 Corinthians 2,
[00:04:39] 11, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.
[00:04:48] So we are not supposed to be ignorant of his devices, and especially when it comes
[00:04:52] to putting room in between us in our marriage.
[00:04:57] That word, devices, in 2 Corinthians 2, 11, it means an evil purpose.
[00:05:04] So the enemy has an evil purpose for your relationships, and of course this goes not
[00:05:09] just with marriages.
[00:05:10] This is in churches, this is all relationships, but especially with the marriage.
[00:05:18] So devices, if you look at where it's been used in other places, you find that it's always
[00:05:25] referring to their minds.
[00:05:28] But their minds were blinded, the God of this world had blinded the minds, casting
[00:05:36] down imaginations in every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of
[00:05:40] God and bringing into captivity every thought.
[00:05:44] It's about how the serpent beguiled Eve, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity
[00:05:51] that is in Christ, and then the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep
[00:05:57] your hearts and minds through Christ.
[00:06:00] So it's always referring, it's referring to your mind, it's referring to the enemy
[00:06:04] attacking your mind.
[00:06:07] And boy, does this happen in marriage relationships.
[00:06:11] I mean sometimes it feels like there is just a dark cloud swirling around and just all
[00:06:17] of these, you know, I mean crazy stuff.
[00:06:20] I love my husband, my husband loves me.
[00:06:22] We have a great relationship, we're pretty, you know, understanding of spiritual warfare,
[00:06:30] and yet he gets us, you know.
[00:06:33] I'll be sitting there, you know, especially certain times and I'll be like, he just doesn't
[00:06:39] love me, you know.
[00:06:41] I mean that is the most idiotic thing that could, and sometimes I just start sulking and
[00:06:46] it just feels good to sulk sometimes, you know.
[00:06:49] And he's like, he doesn't love me enough, he doesn't do this, no, no, no, no, no.
[00:06:53] So that's how the enemy gets in.
[00:06:54] He just starts planting these seeds to put room between you.
[00:07:00] So I pulled up, well first I've got a quote from Sun Tzu, if you know the enemy and
[00:07:07] know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
[00:07:11] That's from the art of war, Sun Tzu.
[00:07:14] And so that's what you have to realize, you know, a lot of people say, don't focus on
[00:07:17] the enemy so much, don't, you know, don't talk about the devil, but you need to be
[00:07:22] educated about what he's doing in your life, because he's doing stuff in your life, whether
[00:07:26] if you can ignore it, but it doesn't make it go away.
[00:07:31] So I pulled up this, there's three illustrations that Dr. Rebecca Brown, who's passed away
[00:07:37] now, but she wrote several books.
[00:07:39] This is from, he came to set the captives free.
[00:07:42] And this is an illustration of how the enemy works in someone's mind.
[00:07:47] You can see in the first picture here, who are you listening to?
[00:07:52] These are two roommates, one just happened to be named Nancy, oh, Nancy, get it together.
[00:08:01] She's in a good mood, she's singing, she's happy, she's praising the Lord, right?
[00:08:07] And the enemy comes in and puts these thoughts in her mind.
[00:08:11] I'll bet Sally didn't do the dishes last night.
[00:08:14] Now how many of you wake up in the morning, you're getting ready, and just all of a sudden
[00:08:19] a thought comes in.
[00:08:20] I bet he didn't take out the trash.
[00:08:22] I use that one, because apparently that's a, that's just a thing in, in coupleship.
[00:08:28] It's like, he never takes, do you play the game where you, ours is in the corner
[00:08:35] next to a door?
[00:08:37] And so you see how much you can pile up on the wall, as it goes, you know, here's a milk
[00:08:41] carton, it stayed, you know, seems to be a thing, but you know, he starts coming in
[00:08:52] and you can be in the best of moods.
[00:08:54] And then all of a sudden, in the morning, you're like, I bet he, oh, listen to him,
[00:09:00] he's doing this, he's doing that, she's doing this, she's doing that.
[00:09:03] And so in this illustration, she just lets it roll, you know.
[00:09:07] The demon continues to build her anger, throwing in more negative thoughts about
[00:09:11] her roommate, Sally.
[00:09:13] So by the time she sees Sally, Sally doesn't even know what's hitting her,
[00:09:17] because she's already ticked off, and Sally's like, okay, well, so what does
[00:09:22] that do for Sally?
[00:09:24] That gets her irritated and angry at Nancy.
[00:09:28] So this is how the enemy plays spouses against each other all the time, I mean
[00:09:35] all the time.
[00:09:38] So how do you handle it?
[00:09:40] What do you do?
[00:09:41] How do you respond to the negative thoughts?
[00:09:43] Well, in this illustration, you see that she's having the same scenario come
[00:09:48] up.
[00:09:49] I'll bet Sally didn't do the dishes last night.
[00:09:52] She actually recognizes, she says over here, wait a minute, I shouldn't
[00:09:55] be thinking these things, I'll think about the Lord instead, let's see.
[00:10:00] And she starts quoting, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
[00:10:04] But the enemy continues.
[00:10:06] The enemy continues to plant those seeds.
[00:10:10] And so it happens again.
[00:10:13] Because it didn't cause the enemy to stop those thoughts, you know.
[00:10:18] So she ends up, here we go again.
[00:10:20] She's irritated and ticked off, and that happens with Sally.
[00:10:25] And they both have a horrible day.
[00:10:27] And this is what happens once again in marriages.
[00:10:30] So how do you deal with the enemy?
[00:10:33] How do you deal with him and the onslaught of thoughts and the issues that
[00:10:36] he brings into your life?
[00:10:38] Here we have her, she's singing, she's happy, he brings that up.
[00:10:42] She recognizes it, that's the key.
[00:10:46] That really is the key.
[00:10:48] You have to recognize what the enemy is doing in your marriage, what his
[00:10:55] tricks are.
[00:10:56] He uses the same ones all over, but he will find some buttons that work
[00:11:01] with you, and he will keep pushing them until you recognize them and stop it.
[00:11:07] And so how do you stop it?
[00:11:10] You actually say, you know, Satan and you demons, I rebuke you in the name
[00:11:14] of Jesus, I will not accept those thoughts about Sally, go.
[00:11:19] This is what we have to do.
[00:11:20] And you have to do it out loud.
[00:11:22] You have to speak out loud to these demons.
[00:11:24] They're not in your head.
[00:11:25] Do you have some thought come in, which is a spirit of division?
[00:11:33] Call it what it does.
[00:11:35] Spirit of division, I bind you in the name of Jesus and I command you to go from me.
[00:11:40] Go from my house.
[00:11:42] Take authority over these things to protect your marriage.
[00:11:46] So what happens when you don't take those thoughts captive?
[00:11:52] What happens when you let the enemy just rule your mind and your marriage?
[00:11:57] We have a story about this in the Bible, and it's in 1 Chronicles 15, and I'm just going
[00:12:05] to give you bits and pieces of it.
[00:12:07] It's when David, David is praising the Lord, he's bringing the ark back, he's rejoicing,
[00:12:13] he's dancing, he's going wild.
[00:12:17] And his wife looks down and it says, and it came to pass as the ark of the covenant
[00:12:22] of the Lord, came to the city of David, and I'll just say Michael, that's not the correct
[00:12:28] way to say it, but Michael, the daughter of Saul, looking out at a window, saw King
[00:12:34] David dancing and playing, and she despised him in her heart.
[00:12:41] That's what happens.
[00:12:43] That's what happens when you let these things get in you and plant seeds.
[00:12:47] You start to despise your spouse in your heart.
[00:12:52] You may not even realize it at first.
[00:12:56] The word despised, we have here, to disesteem, low esteem or regard, despise, disdain, contempt,
[00:13:04] treat or regard with contempt, think to scorn, vile person.
[00:13:10] So that's what that means.
[00:13:13] And of course, we are supposed to respect our husband, so if we start doing this,
[00:13:18] we're definitely at odds with the word of God and what our charge is.
[00:13:25] So what did she do?
[00:13:27] What happened?
[00:13:28] What's the end of this story?
[00:13:31] Second Samuel 6, 23-23, and then David returned to bless his household.
[00:13:35] He was coming to bless his household.
[00:13:37] Poor guy.
[00:13:38] He didn't know what's about to hit him, kind of like Sally in Nancy's situation.
[00:13:45] And Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, how glorious was the
[00:13:51] king of Israel today who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants
[00:13:58] as one of the vain fellows shamelessly of him covers himself.
[00:14:03] She's a little smart, is what she's doing.
[00:14:06] She's letting her mouth just roll on at her husband.
[00:14:09] Guilty, you know, we laugh, but how many of us let our mouths just roll on at our husband
[00:14:16] when we really need to have that meek and quiet spirit about us.
[00:14:21] And David said unto Michael, it was before the Lord which chose me before thy father and
[00:14:26] before all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel.
[00:14:32] Therefore, will I play before the Lord, and I will yet be more vile than thus.
[00:14:39] He sticks it to her when I back at her, and will be base in mine own sight, and of the
[00:14:46] main servants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honor.
[00:14:52] Therefore, Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no child until the day of her death.
[00:14:57] Do you see what she just did here?
[00:15:01] I mean, she just tore down her own house, didn't she, with her mouth.
[00:15:08] But what's in her heart, you have this cute little thing here, what's in her heart?
[00:15:14] What does God say?
[00:15:15] Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
[00:15:18] That's what's going to come out.
[00:15:19] It's going to show itself, the hard-heartedness, the bitterness, all of those things.
[00:15:25] They're going to end up coming out.
[00:15:28] And so this is what she did, Proverbs 14.1 says, every wise woman buildeth her house.
[00:15:34] That means we can, like Pastor Dee said, we can edify, we can build up something wonderful.
[00:15:43] It's not all us, but we do have a powerful part to play.
[00:15:49] But the foolish pluck it down with her own hands.
[00:15:53] She tore it down instead of keeping her mouth shut, but she needed to address her own heart
[00:15:59] issues.
[00:16:00] David was in the will of God.
[00:16:02] She was not.
[00:16:04] And so she ended up being cursed, no children, that's, you know, that's a curse.
[00:16:11] So he saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your heart suffered you to put
[00:16:17] away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so, Matthew 19.8.
[00:16:23] Hardness of heart, that's what she had.
[00:16:26] She despised her own husband and she allowed that hardness of heart to come in.
[00:16:32] That means destitution of spiritual perception is what that means.
[00:16:43] Read that one again.
[00:16:44] That's serious when you let that work its way into your life.
[00:16:51] If you look up the definition for destitute, it means lacking something needed or desirable,
[00:16:56] lacking possessions and resources, suffering extreme poverty, and then perception to attain
[00:17:08] awareness or understanding, to become aware through the senses.
[00:17:12] So what causes divorce is this hardness of heart, lacking or extreme poverty of spiritual
[00:17:20] understanding or awareness.
[00:17:23] You get to a point if you get, you know, and I pray nobody here is to this point, but
[00:17:29] if you're not careful whenever you're dealing with your spouse and living together, because
[00:17:34] I mean there's just issues that happen living together.
[00:17:37] We do, we are totally different creatures.
[00:17:41] You know, God did that on purpose.
[00:17:44] Remember that too.
[00:17:46] God doesn't want your husband to be like you and he doesn't want you to be like your husband.
[00:17:53] That is not the point, so stop trying to make it that way.
[00:17:59] But when we get to that point, that spiritual hardness, the hardness of heart, it causes
[00:18:09] us not to see where we truly are.
[00:18:12] We think we see where our spouse is, but the problem is we're not actually seeing where
[00:18:16] we are spiritually and physically and mentally and emotionally.
[00:18:22] The hardness of heart was also mentioned when Jesus was resurrected when he came back in
[00:18:30] Mark 16 9 through 14.
[00:18:33] It says now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first
[00:18:37] to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
[00:18:41] And she went away and told them that that had been with him as they mourned and wept.
[00:18:47] And they, when they had heard that he was alive and had been seen of her, they believed not.
[00:18:53] Now why would that be?
[00:18:55] Because he had been saying he was coming back.
[00:18:56] He had been saying all this was going to happen.
[00:19:00] After that he appeared in another form under two of them as they walked and went into
[00:19:05] the country and they went and told it unto the residue and neither believed they or them.
[00:19:11] Nobody believed.
[00:19:12] What is, why was that?
[00:19:14] Afterward, he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat and upbraided them, fussed
[00:19:20] at them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them which
[00:19:29] had seen him after he was risen.
[00:19:32] So it's the same hardness of heart that keeps us from seeing, believing, and understanding
[00:19:37] what Jesus was doing at that time.
[00:19:40] And it's that hardness of heart that will cause us to not see and understand what God
[00:19:46] is trying to do in your home, in your marriage.
[00:19:51] So I just put down a few, what are some of the reasons, you know, in real life what
[00:19:57] are some of the reasons that we end up with this hardness of heart?
[00:20:03] This is a big one.
[00:20:05] Number one, feeling like you contribute more than your spouse.
[00:20:11] This is a big one.
[00:20:14] But so what?
[00:20:16] Who cares if you contribute more than your spouse?
[00:20:20] I call it the spouse peeing contest is what it turns out to be.
[00:20:26] It really is.
[00:20:27] It is.
[00:20:29] You also see it with couples who have young children often, you know, sure turn to change
[00:20:37] the diapers.
[00:20:38] This, no, it's this.
[00:20:39] And they get this hardness toward one another because they feel like I changed the diaper
[00:20:44] four times today.
[00:20:45] They only did it two, you know, and it just ends up being this contest.
[00:20:52] When really we're supposed to be serving our children, nurturing our children, serving
[00:20:57] one another, we're supposed to be humble, we're supposed to prefer one another, that's,
[00:21:03] I've seen that quite a few times.
[00:21:06] Spending too much time on your phone.
[00:21:07] That's a big one.
[00:21:08] Put the phone down.
[00:21:10] Not enough sex.
[00:21:11] Unresolved root issues and when I say that I mean like, you know, sometimes a woman has
[00:21:17] an issue because she interprets her husband through her father who wasn't kind or who
[00:21:23] had a harsh tone or, you know, or a man had an overbearing mother and so he's always going
[00:21:30] to be like, stop mothering me, you know, that kind of thing.
[00:21:33] So those are root issues that have to be dealt with to be able to be in the right relationship
[00:21:39] with your spouse.
[00:21:40] Treating your spouse like a child, involving other people in your marriage, which exactly,
[00:21:46] it's nobody's business.
[00:21:47] Do you know?
[00:21:48] I have never talked to anybody about any fight that he and I have.
[00:21:52] And boy, we can have them because we are both strong personalities.
[00:22:00] That's a kind way of saying it, but we do.
[00:22:04] We can have some knockdown dragouts just, you know, but you know what happens?
[00:22:10] We move on.
[00:22:11] You just move on.
[00:22:14] That's marriage.
[00:22:15] You move on.
[00:22:16] So don't involve anyone in your marriage.
[00:22:22] Not showing appreciation.
[00:22:24] This is something you have to learn to do, really, as a person, because we tend to think
[00:22:31] of ourselves and not others.
[00:22:34] Always pointing out what they do wrong, trying to control or change them.
[00:22:38] Once again, they don't need to be you and you don't need to be them.
[00:22:42] That's not why you fell in love with them.
[00:22:45] Keeping score and not truly forgiving.
[00:22:47] This is the huge thing in marriage.
[00:22:52] It really is.
[00:22:55] This isn't always the devil.
[00:22:57] We're not always fighting the devil.
[00:22:59] Sometimes it's not the devil.
[00:23:02] Sometimes it's me, me, me, me, me.
[00:23:04] It's that me spirit.
[00:23:06] You know, well, he did this to me.
[00:23:08] He did this to me and she did this to me.
[00:23:11] I want, I want, I want.
[00:23:13] If it's all about I want, check yourself before you wreck yourself,
[00:23:17] as my dear husband says.
[00:23:20] In marriage, if you are not ready to just basically crucify yourself,
[00:23:25] you're not ready for marriage.
[00:23:27] If you're not ready to lay your way down, and this is for, you know,
[00:23:32] any singles that are in here or send to be married.
[00:23:34] If you're not ready to lay your way down, you're not ready for marriage.
[00:23:40] Says, and he said to them all, if any man will come after me,
[00:23:45] let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me,
[00:23:49] Luke 9.23, deny him or herself daily.
[00:23:53] That's what marriage is.
[00:23:55] It looks fluffy and wonderful on TV, but it's really lots of denying yourself,
[00:24:01] if it's done correctly, and learning to prefer the other person.
[00:24:07] And then it's also a lot of forgiving, and it's not an option.
[00:24:12] But unfortunately, many marriages, forgiving is just not talking about it right now.
[00:24:18] It's talking about it in the next fight, but that's not forgiving.
[00:24:23] If you're talking about it in the next fight, then you didn't forgive.
[00:24:27] And some things take longer to get over, you know, than others,
[00:24:35] but it's all about forgiving.
[00:24:38] And we're told very plainly, and I don't know how some people twist this and say
[00:24:45] that this is not the way it is, but we're told very plainly
[00:24:48] that if you do not forgive, neither will your father, which is in heaven,
[00:24:55] forgive your trespass.
[00:24:57] That's just clear.
[00:24:59] And I mean, this goes for, you know, your parents who did you wrong,
[00:25:03] your sibling who did you wrong, your friend who did you wrong,
[00:25:07] and your spouse who does you wrong all the time in your eyes.
[00:25:10] You know, it is, it goes for that.
[00:25:12] You have to drop it.
[00:25:14] You can't keep carrying baggage all the time.
[00:25:17] You won't get far.
[00:25:19] I had an old pastor who used the illustration of a backpack full of boulders,
[00:25:24] rocks, big rocks, and he would forgive.
[00:25:27] So he would say, I'd forgive somebody and he'd drop it and put it down.
[00:25:31] And then he'd keep walking.
[00:25:32] He'd still have other baggage in there.
[00:25:33] But then he'd be like, oh, wait, you know what?
[00:25:35] They did that again.
[00:25:36] And he'd go back and pick it up and put it back in.
[00:25:39] That's not how it can't go that way.
[00:25:41] Not if you're truly forgiven.
[00:25:45] Like I said, we're supposed to prefer one another.
[00:25:49] Kindly affection to one another with brotherly love
[00:25:52] in honor of preferring one another, Romans 1210.
[00:25:57] This is what marriage really looks like.
[00:26:01] I mean, truly.
[00:26:05] It's that, oh, they took me all so bad, but I want well for them.
[00:26:11] You know?
[00:26:12] That's got to be your heart.
[00:26:14] You've got to love them and want well for them.
[00:26:18] He'll tell you.
[00:26:19] Anybody talks about him?
[00:26:20] Whoo, who's up on it?
[00:26:24] Don't mess with my husband.
[00:26:26] You know?
[00:26:27] I have to have that fire from Fire and Grace Church.
[00:26:31] Just rise up in me.
[00:26:32] It's like, oh, no, they didn't.
[00:26:35] Because I love him so much.
[00:26:38] I don't want to see him hurt.
[00:26:40] I don't want other people hurting him.
[00:26:43] You know, I want what's best for him.
[00:26:46] That's marriage.
[00:26:48] Even when he irritates me, I want what's best for him.
[00:26:56] And even when I irritate him, he loves me
[00:27:00] like Christ loves the church.
[00:27:02] You know?
[00:27:03] That's what it's about.
[00:27:05] So, and I'll tell you, here's a little tip.
[00:27:09] If you have a hard time, you know, we'll have a,
[00:27:13] what did you call it?
[00:27:15] Intense fellowship.
[00:27:18] Well, we'll have the intense fellowship.
[00:27:24] And you know, if I'm, a lot of times we're both wrong.
[00:27:29] You know?
[00:27:30] A lot of times it ends up, we're both wrong.
[00:27:33] But I'll be in there and I'll just, I can't stand it.
[00:27:36] I can't stand when we're not on the same page.
[00:27:40] And sometimes he'll be sitting in the office
[00:27:42] and I'll go in there.
[00:27:44] And you know what I do?
[00:27:46] Sometimes I don't even say I'm sorry.
[00:27:48] My way is I just go and I'll sit down in his lap
[00:27:52] and I'll put my head on his shoulder
[00:27:54] and then everything will melt.
[00:27:57] And then we can talk.
[00:27:58] Sometimes you don't even have to speak.
[00:28:00] Just make the effort.
[00:28:02] Just make that step of humbling yourself
[00:28:07] and getting through it.
[00:28:10] Because what good are you if you're not
[00:28:12] talking to each other?
[00:28:13] That's not a very good marriage.
[00:28:16] So you know, it boils down to what our roles are, which,
[00:28:20] I mean, you know, all this y'all went over.
[00:28:24] And this is the scary verse for a lot of women,
[00:28:28] as Dean says, the scary verses.
[00:28:31] Wives submit.
[00:28:32] And that means obey and yield to your husband, right?
[00:28:37] And we don't like that.
[00:28:39] Because like you say, in America we don't obey anything.
[00:28:43] Everybody thinks rebellion is cool.
[00:28:47] But rebellion is the sin of witchcraft.
[00:28:50] So just saying.
[00:28:53] So that's what our duty is.
[00:28:55] So if you check yourself against the scripture
[00:28:58] as you're going through life, are you forgiving?
[00:29:01] Are you submitting?
[00:29:03] And it doesn't mean that I don't ever get my way.
[00:29:06] I mean, we counsel together.
[00:29:08] We talk together.
[00:29:09] We make decisions together.
[00:29:11] But I am submitted.
[00:29:13] And you know why I can be submitted?
[00:29:15] Because I trust God.
[00:29:17] You know, even if he's making a decision that I disagree with,
[00:29:21] I trust God.
[00:29:22] It's between him and God at that point.
[00:29:24] And I know that even if it is something that, well, maybe
[00:29:28] we shouldn't have done that, God's going to step in.
[00:29:31] He's got us.
[00:29:32] So I don't have to force my will on my husband
[00:29:36] and on our family, because I trust God.
[00:29:40] And that's what that boils down to for women,
[00:29:43] is being able to trust God completely.
[00:29:46] And then, of course, you have the husbands love your wives.
[00:29:51] Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church
[00:29:55] and gave himself for it.
[00:29:57] And I won't read all this.
[00:29:59] We had it in the other teaching.
[00:30:01] But that's what it boils down to for men.
[00:30:05] When you're having issues, men check yourself.
[00:30:09] Are you loving your life as Christ loved the church
[00:30:11] and gave himself for us?
[00:30:15] Because that's a pretty tall order.
[00:30:17] You do have a pretty tall order there.
[00:30:19] That's huge.
[00:30:20] I admit it.
[00:30:26] Likewise, husbands dwell with them according to knowledge,
[00:30:29] giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel,
[00:30:34] and as being heirs together of the grace of life,
[00:30:36] that your prayers not be hindered,
[00:30:40] that your prayers not be hindered.
[00:30:42] This is spiritual.
[00:30:44] This is spiritual.
[00:30:45] A lot of people think it's just a battle of the wits or whatever.
[00:30:49] No, this is spiritual.
[00:30:51] This affects everything.
[00:30:53] And that honor there means to value, esteem, especially
[00:30:57] of the highest degree thing prized or precious.
[00:31:02] Is that how you view your wife?
[00:31:06] I had a thing when we first got together.
[00:31:10] It was the look.
[00:31:12] One of my favorite things was this old five-hour crazy pride
[00:31:17] and prejudice thing.
[00:31:19] And in that, Mr. Darcy gave the look to the one he loved.
[00:31:25] And when we got together, and even now, I get the look.
[00:31:30] You know what?
[00:31:31] That makes me feel prized.
[00:31:34] It makes me feel precious.
[00:31:39] So if we're not doing these things,
[00:31:41] then we're not lining up with the word of God.
[00:31:43] And so we each need to correct our path.
[00:31:48] I tell when I counsel women, when I counsel wives,
[00:31:52] my advice is get yourself right with the Lord
[00:31:56] and let the Lord deal with your husband,
[00:31:58] because that's not your job.
[00:32:00] Same thing for men.
[00:32:01] If you're both getting yourself where you're supposed to be,
[00:32:04] if you're both drawing near to the Lord,
[00:32:07] you're going to be in the same area.
[00:32:11] That's your job, is to draw near to the Lord.
[00:32:14] And obey his word.
[00:32:15] If you're not, I just threw this one in here for a reminder.
[00:32:23] Women, if you're not being submissive,
[00:32:27] it says the sin of witchcraft, it's rebellion.
[00:32:30] And if either one of you are being stubborn,
[00:32:34] it says the iniquity and idolatry.
[00:32:41] That's what you're bringing into your marriage.
[00:32:42] It's not cool, and I don't care what they put on TV
[00:32:46] about girl power and all that stuff.
[00:32:51] Don't buy into it.
[00:32:52] Buy into the word.
[00:32:54] Keep this stuff out of your life and out of your marriage
[00:32:57] and out of your home, because guess what?
[00:32:59] If you allow this in the head and in the wife,
[00:33:03] it's going to be in the children, too.
[00:33:05] So clean from head up.
[00:33:08] Head down.
[00:33:09] Sorry, head down.
[00:33:10] Ha ha ha ha.
[00:33:12] Whatever.
[00:33:14] I'm horrible with directions.
[00:33:16] I use my GPS all the time and still get lost.
[00:33:20] Right, Jordan?
[00:33:22] Jordan's been on trips with us, campaign trips.
[00:33:25] He's like, we're going to do a U-turn at some point in time.
[00:33:30] So I read this in a book a long time ago.
[00:33:35] And just the phrase, there was more to it.
[00:33:37] But this phrase, it always stuck with me.
[00:33:40] And it's how I try to live life.
[00:33:44] Life is a choosing.
[00:33:46] You just have to make those decisions.
[00:33:49] The more you do it, the easier it is to choose these things.
[00:33:53] The easier it is to choose to prefer your spouse
[00:33:56] over yourself, the easier it is to, well, to deny yourself
[00:34:00] always comes with a price.
[00:34:03] But if you want to end up being this battle-ready couple,
[00:34:09] that's really cool with their guns and stuff.
[00:34:13] If you're wanting to be part of the remnant,
[00:34:17] and that's what the Lord really impressed on me
[00:34:21] whenever I was reading and praying and looking up
[00:34:23] scripture is, we're getting them to the end times.
[00:34:27] And there's a remnant.
[00:34:28] There are people who are going to be doing exploits.
[00:34:31] There are churches and groups that
[00:34:34] are going to rise up and shine God's glory.
[00:34:38] And if you want to be part of that,
[00:34:41] you have to get it right in your home.
[00:34:43] That's the first place that means revival is your home.
[00:34:51] And I had earlier the Sun Tzu quote,
[00:34:55] I made one for the art of marriage instead
[00:34:59] of the art of war.
[00:35:00] If you know God, know your spouse, know yourself,
[00:35:03] and know the enemy, you may not fear
[00:35:05] the result of 100 battles.
[00:35:07] These are the things you have to do.
[00:35:11] And the reason that the enemy is coming so strong
[00:35:14] on families to destroy families, to destroy marriages.
[00:35:19] I mean, he hates all people in general.
[00:35:22] We're created in the image of God,
[00:35:23] but there's power in agreement.
[00:35:29] It says, if two of you shall agree on earth
[00:35:33] as touching anything that they shall ask,
[00:35:36] it shall be done for them of my Father, which is in heaven.
[00:35:42] So that's talking about in general.
[00:35:45] They and I can get together and pray and agree,
[00:35:48] and there's power in that when we're in unity.
[00:35:51] How much more when a married couple gets on the same page?
[00:35:57] And then how much more when that married couple brings
[00:36:00] their children into that same page?
[00:36:03] You've got a power, just power going on there.
[00:36:08] And that's what the Lord intends.
[00:36:09] He intends each of you, each couple, to have his power
[00:36:15] and then bring it into the fellowship of the church.
[00:36:19] And then, I mean, it would spread really, really fast
[00:36:24] if we actually lived it and did it.
[00:36:26] Get it right in our marriage and get it right in the church.
[00:36:30] We have a hard time getting it right in the church, too,
[00:36:32] for sure.
[00:36:33] But Psalm 133 says, behold, how good and how pleasant it
[00:36:41] is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
[00:36:45] It is like the precious ointment upon the head
[00:36:47] that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard,
[00:36:51] that went down to the skirts of his garment
[00:36:54] as the dew of Herman and as the dew
[00:36:57] that descended upon the mountains of Zion.
[00:37:00] For there, the Lord commanded the blessing, even life
[00:37:05] forevermore.
[00:37:08] That's where the blessing is.
[00:37:10] Unity.
[00:37:12] His anointing, his anointing flows when there's unity.
[00:37:19] His oil is poured out.
[00:37:20] His glory is poured out.
[00:37:22] And that is one of the reasons why
[00:37:24] it is such a battle to get on the same page with your spouse.
[00:37:29] You might can do it for a little bit,
[00:37:30] and then you seem to fall into a rut.
[00:37:34] Like, get back up.
[00:37:35] Keep fighting.
[00:37:37] Keep putting down the world.
[00:37:39] Put down the phones.
[00:37:39] Put down the distractions.
[00:37:41] Put down everything that's keeping you
[00:37:43] from God and your spouse.
[00:37:46] And draw closer to him, and draw closer to your spouse.
[00:37:52] And I have one bonus line, because I'm
[00:37:55] going to finish up now.
[00:37:58] I have this bonus line.
[00:38:00] Just a reminder, guys, who still findeth a wife,
[00:38:04] findeth a good thing, and obtaineth savor of the Lord.
[00:38:17] And now, that's my new nickname for him.
[00:38:19] Good thing.
[00:38:20] Or GTO, good thing, Odell.
[00:38:23] Oh, I like that.
[00:38:24] GTO, wow, that was awesome.
[00:38:26] Can we give him another hand, you guys?
[00:38:29] Wow.