Isaiah 9:6 // Summer of Scripture

Welcome to Summer of Scripture on the Naked marriage podcast. For 66 days in a row, we are releasing a daily devotional episode for your marriage. And over these 66 days, we're going to pull out one scripture from each of the 66 books of the Bible and talk about how it applies to your marriage. So if you listen to every single one of these episodes, you're going to have a comprehensive understanding of God's plan for your marriage. We encourage you to listen to everyone. Let's dive into today's scripture. Hey, friends, welcome to day 23 of Summer of Scripture. We are in the book of Isaiah today, and Isaiah was a great prophet, and a lot of his prophecies had to do with the coming Messiah. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, God, through the prophet Isaiah, was letting us know what we should look for in this Savior who was going to come to earth. And Jesus would be the fulfillment of all these. One of the most famous is from Isaiah 9, 6, which is our verse today. It says, for a child is born to us, a son is given to us, the government will rest on his shoulders, and he will be called wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And it's a beautiful reminder that Jesus wants to be and is all of those things to you. He is your wonderful counselor, your mighty God, your everlasting Father, and your Prince of Peace. And so today we just want to talk about those four aspects of who Jesus is to us and what that means for our marriage.

I love Isaiah. I mean, I love it because it does have all this prophecy about the Messiah. And I think too, I love how you broke it down into those kind of four facets of who Jesus is. And Jesus is even much more than that. But I do think as it relates to marriage, knowing that Jesus is our wonderful counselor, I mean, I think that so many times in marriage we're maybe quick to maybe look to other things to help us and slow to go to Jesus. And I don't know why we do that as Christians. There's a lot of. There's T shirts about this, there's memes about this, but it's like, pray first, go to the source, go to the wonderful counselor first. But so many times we don't do that and we just kind of get lost in whatever we're dealing with. And so I think if anything, we can learn that God is. Jesus is our wonderful counselor, and he's always there for us and we need to go to him with whatever we're facing. And I think Too, especially if we're having issue with our spouse. There is so much power in just going to Jesus through prayer and just saying, listen, help me to have, you know, a softer heart towards my spouse. Help me to have better words that aren't cutting but that are kind, that can resonate with my spouse's heart, Lord, and, you know, please move in our situation, like, move in our situation. Help us to live a life that is pleasing to you and help us to be more like you. Like, help us to be more like Jesus. And I think that when we, when we use that like that, the power of prayer and going to our wonderful counselor as, as the norm when we're facing issues, and really just not even only when we're facing issues, but just on the daily, then I'm telling you, whatever we face in marriage, we're going to get through it. Like, we're going to get through it because we have, we're, we're, we're making sure that our foundation is, is the Lord, you know, and not anything else.

Yeah, it has to be the Lord. I mean, Jesus is our wonderful counselor. Jesus is the word. The Bible is the word of God, the word of Jesus come to life. And so people ask us, what's the best marriage book? And I think they're expecting us to say one of our books, oh, the Naked Marriage or, you know, or Naked and Healthy. But the best marriage book is the Bible. It is your counsel. It is your foundation for all parts of life. And so when you need guidance, turn to it. Turn to Jesus. Turn to his word as your wonderful counselor. He will never steer you wrong. He's also our everlasting father. And I think there's so much comfort in that, that whether or not you had a great father, you have a great father here on earth. Jesus is that perfect father to us. He's the one who never lets us down. He's the one who always makes the right choice. He never leaves us or forsakes us. And he's there to catch us when we fall. He's there to guide us. He's there to correct us. He's there to direct us. And so allow him to be that for you and allow his loving fatherly tenderness and guidance and even the discipline that he gives when we need to be corrected to be what steers you on the right path and what sets the example for you as a mother or a father for how you should relate to your kids.

It's so true. You know, I just think that maybe somebody listening right now or Watching is like, this is all things that I believe. Like, they're like, yes, you are literally preaching to the choir. I'm a believer. I know he's my wonderful counselor. I know he's my everlasting father. But, you know, maybe their spouse isn't quite there. Like, maybe they would call themselves a Christian, but really, it's just, like, in name and not really in practice. What would you say to that person?

Wow. You know, that's. That's good. I would say what we have to do is live out by example what faith should be and to the people in our own lives. And we don't. We don't preach at our spouse. You know, we don't hit them over the head with the Bible. It's not our job to correct everything they're doing wrong. I would say start with praising the things they're doing right. You know, when they do join you in prayer, when they do go to church with you to just thank them for that, say, thank you for coming to church with me today. Or, you know, thank you for, you know, this thing that you did that was such a pure act of faith. You were so honest in that moment and made me feel so close to you. You were so full of integrity in that moment, and that made me feel so connected to you. Praise those things. But then through your example, I would say, let them know what you're learning from Jesus. Share with them what you're learning through your own study of the Bible. Say, I was reading the scripture today and it really spoke to me, and I thought I'd encourage you with it. Or I've been praying for this, and then this happened. Invite them into your own walk with the Lord and hopefully that'll bring them closer to the Lord.

I love that I'm reminded of the simplicity of that. We just saw, not too long ago, the Jesus Revolution movie. And you guys, if you have not seen this movie, I know that it's out now, streaming, and I just. You've got to see it. Like, I feel like we took our boys to it. But one thing that struck me about this movie is, if you don't know, it took place during the time. I think it was the 60s, correct?

Early 70s.

Early 70s, yeah. And just this in California, in a place where, you know, there really weren't a lot of churches and there really weren't a lot of believers, but kind of through this effort of opening the church up to anyone who wanted to come and learn about Jesus, because that's exactly how Jesus, when he was Here on Earth. He was like, anyone who wants to come, come. And that's how it was. And you see these hippies, you see people from all walks of life coming to hear about Jesus. And some of the moments where we got to kind of see this person to person. There was such simplicity in how they shared the gospel. And it wasn't, you know, it wasn't complicated. They didn't use Christianese. They didn't even know it. Like, these were new Christians, just so excited and on fire for the Lord. And I think that sometimes the longer that we're Christian, we complicate this. And I think here we have people in our own home. Maybe it's your spouse who is maybe a lukewarm believer, or your children, or maybe somebody's not yet a believer. I think that we don't need to complicate this. We just need to show them the love of Christ, because that's what I saw in that movie. And these are people very unchurched. You know, many on drugs, are coming off of drugs and just really sordid backgrounds. And you see them recognize. They see Jesus in someone who is loving them like Christ, and they want what they have, and they see the peace that they have. And so I think that that's what we do as spouses and as moms and dads and just kind of showing the love of Christ and, you know, just like Jesus did for the woman at the well. I mean, just being, you know, just seeing her as she is and loving her, but also saying, like, there's a better way, you know? But I think that not coming from a place of judgment, but a place of love, like letting love, the love of Christ, lead us is huge.

It is so huge. And a great movie, a great story.

So good.

So, guys, let Jesus be all those things for you. Your wonderful counselor, your everlasting father, your mighty God. Mighty God, meaning He is stronger than anything you face. He's always there. He's bigger than whatever's stressing you out. So turn to him, and he is your prince of peace. He wants to bring peace to you in the midst of whatever struggle you're facing. And we hope that this just reminder of who Jesus is will just take root in your heart today as you and your spouse are going about your day to remind you that Jesus is with you in it, and he is with you and he is for you, and he will never leave you. He will never forsake you. I hope that encouraged you guys today. Join us tomorrow for day 24. We'll be in the book of Jeremiah, and we will see you then.