Crippled Marriage

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Tonya Allen

By Tonya Allen

Do you remember the crippled man that was healed at the Beautiful Gate of the temple? The third chapter of Acts, verses 1-16, is a lesson we have often studied in Sunday School and Bible Study. Have we ever taken a moment and reflected on how we can apply this miracle to our marriages?

This story has charged us to go forth and be a witness for the good news. Go and tell the world how Christ healed a man that had been crippled since birth. We have also heard preachers and teachers use this same text to show how we are often surprised when God performs a miracle. In verse 12, Peter admonishes the people for being surprised and verse 13 reminds us that we are dealing with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The same God that delivered our ancestors can also deliver us. Let’s take a look at the crippled man. He needed people to carry him to the temple every day. Some of us are in marriages where we feel like we are carrying the entire relationship; the extra weight is pressing us down and causing us to feel overwhelmed and in despair.

Never forget that Jesus is more than capable. He can heal our crippled marriages just like he healed the crippled man. We need to emulate Peter and open our mouths and use our words to speak a healing in our marriages. We are married to imperfect men and women. God is looking for those who have learned to walk in moment-by-moment dependence on the Holy Spirit. In verse 6, Peter told the crippled man, ‘by the Power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, stand up and walk.”

We need to speak into our marriages, stand boldly and command by the Power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, marriage stand up and walk! Marriages follow Christ! Lord lift my marriage off of my shoulders and put them on yours. You can carry the load! Let our marriage be empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit.

We must believe God for something better for our lives. The lame beggar only expected a passerby to take pity and give him a few coins. He never expected anything better because not only was his body crippled, his mind was crippled too. We have to stop accepting our marriages with a crippled mindset.

Jesus’ disciples offered the lame man miraculous healing in both his body and his mind. You too can move forward regardless of what you face in your marriage when you fix your hope on Jesus. Regardless of how your marriage may have started there is always a turn-around point. Just like in football. The first half of the football game is never the whole story. There are four quarters in the game. Many a team that was losing in the first half winds up winning the game in the end. What changed?

The mindset changed. The team saw hope. There was some type of shifting. Maybe the coach gave them an inspiring speech, or maybe the coach yelled at them. The only thing that matters is that they saw hope and their mindset changed. So if the story of your marriage, up to this point, is one of loss, defeat, regret and disappointment, and is crippled you have to change your mindset. God can reverse the things that make it appear as though your marriage is over. Tony Evans said it best, “I know someone is reading this and thinking, “But you don’t know the mess I’m in.” To that I say – then you need to fully know the one, true God … because He has a plan, despite the level of the mess, to give you both a future and a hope. While only He knows when you will arrive at that future, you can claim your God-given right to hope now.”

Your crippled marriages are healed! Stand up and walk!

Prayer:
Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we stand before you crippled and broken. Heal our marriages, restore our love, give us the strength we need to “stand up and walk”! Help us to come to terms with inadequacies, fears, and failures. We are no longer content being cripples or having a crippled marriage. Strengthen us in Jesus name, Amen.

Tonya Allen

Tonya can be reached at [email protected]. Tonya and her husband Robert were Married Couples Ministry leaders for 16 years at Freewill Missionary Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama.

All rights reserved, Gumptown Magazine. Copyright 2021.

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