Battlement - Fortress - Stronghold - Garrison - Citadel - Rampart
What do you visualize when you hear these words?
When I hear these words, I think of something precious and protected. What we value, we protect. To protect something there must be an element of strength. Part of encouragement is adding strength…
Fortify
To strengthen.
To add to…
To increase in effectiveness.
How strong are you? I’m not talking your ability to bench-press 300 pounds. I’m referring to your ability to be consistent, and wise, and optimistic and truth-filled, etc. Do you have all the strength you need when dealing with your “life”? I’m sure there are times when you have all you can handle… or more than you can handle…
If you don’t have all you need – how can you strengthen your spouse?
Where do you start?
Start with a good foundation.
Sometimes a house is built on a ‘footing’ style foundation. Footings go down into the soil about 3 or so feet (or a meter if you measure stuff using metric). Mostly it’s just below the frost line, so the earth when it freezes can’t shift the foundation.
When we lived in Texas, our house had a different kind of foundation – nothing went into the ground – the entire 2-story house was supported by a thick slab of concrete.
The other kind of foundation is engineered deep into the ground with driven piles, drilled shafts, and earth stabilized columns, often consisting of steel, or reinforced concrete. The home we built in Canada (or rather, our Builder… built) had a foundation dug deep into the ground.
My point? Just like a house, your faith must be built upon something strong so it won’t collapse.
Everything starts with a foundation. To encourage your husband or wife –
Build a strong FAITH foundation.
A cornerstone is known to be the first stone set in a masonry foundation. It determines the position of the entire structure – and all the other stones are set in reference to this stone.
And what is the cornerstone of a strong, living, growing, thriving faith foundation?
Jesus.
(1Peter 2:6)
To add strength to your spouse and to increase your spouse’s effectiveness first you must build your own foundation of faith.
Fortify with Faith
Take the time to:
- Read the Bible. This is daunting to some. I’ve talked with lots of people who don’t understand the words – are confused to the meaning- have no Biblical knowledge and can’t understand the references – so they just don’t read the Bible. It sits on the shelf gathering dust. If this is you – IT’S OK! My suggestion? Buy a kids Bible. Anytime I need to research a complicated topic I go to the library and check out a stack of kids reference books – they hold the essentials and give me a foundation to begin to understand what I need to know. A good Children’s Bible will get you started.
- Sing – or listen to hymns/worship music. The words in old hymns are amazing. These were written by faith-filled people – many times in circumstances that stretch my comprehension. Immerse yourself in the music that worships God.
- Spend time with faith-filled people. Now hear me – I didn’t say perfect people -I’m referring to Christians who practice their faith. Practice. (This implies they will be actively making mistakes, and continuing to rely on Jesus’ sacrifice to wipe away their sins.) Where will you find these Christians? They’ll gather together – usually on a Sunday. Pray – ask God – to direct you to where He wants you to go and who He wants you to spend time with…
Fortify yourself first – that strength will then spread to your spouse.
What other ways do you add to your faith foundation?
But how often do we translate this verse
When your spouse comes home to you – do they feel safe?
Growing the love in our marriages takes 
He is the husband of Nancy. His name is Ronald.
When our kids were small, they became very excited when Daddy walked in the door. Because we home-schooled, we were able to shape our lives to fit into Robert’s schedule. There were times when he needed to travel and we went along. Other times, the kids and I would have breakfast with him because we knew he had client meetings till late in the evening. But when Rob walked in the door, it was an event.
Now the kids are grown and gone. It’s just Robert, our 13 year old German Shepherd and me.
