Our Heavenly Father gives us the opportunity to come before him to share our hearts concerning matters of life that are troubling to us. Although he knows us through and through, he still listens to our hearts. Do you give your spouse the same space for expression?
There is a lot you stand to gain by listening and being open to your spouse’s heartfelt words. For starters, it may open the door to more communication possibilities whereby you both feel safe in sharing your hearts. When you and your spouse are open, it keeps you both from arriving at conclusions before you hear one another’s heart. One thing that can shut down communication is speculation and prejudgment before listening to all of the information. This kind of thing happens frequently amongst married couples.
Are there times when you allow your mind to drift into a place of labeling your spouse a certain way without first getting an understanding? This creates emotional and communicative walls to form thus removing the possibility for a clear understanding. There is nothing more harmful to your intimacy than to defiantly and openly disregard one another out of heated or bitter exchanges.
It is important that you take ownership for your part and in contributing to any marital discord that you may be experiencing. In addition to taking ownership it is important to consider the lurking attempts of evil forces to keep you and your spouse divided. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).
God gives clear reasoning as to who is opposing your marriage. He starts the above passage off by letting you know who the actual enemies are. These forces of evil are hoping that you will blame one another during disagreements, so they can influence your minds toward unhealthy views. These evil forces want your communication to cease! They want you both to be distant, cold, and insensitive toward one another. Try taking your hearts to God and seek to use effective communication in your relationship.
