Main Text: Amos 6:1-2
Memory:
Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, And trust in Mount Samaria,…(Amos 6:1)

The battle of ease is the kind of battle that is personally waged against your marriage ignorantly by you yourself when you feel that you have ‘arrived’. This battle is self-inflicted and so it is a difficult battle since you may not even be aware that you are the one waging the war against your home.
As human beings, we often manage success with carelessness. When God has blessed us, we have the feeling that the success is due to our wisdom and therefore often become proud and ungovernable and start going after what we should not really pursue. We often fail to realize that our success is by the mercy of God. Many who kept their homes through the period of lack, often fail when success comes. You may not know a man that is faithful to God and his marriage vows until success comes. A man who appeared to love his wife during the period that he is struggling may start seeing the faults that were not visible to him when God blesses him with a good car and considerable income. A woman may also ignorantly cause her home a lot of damage when success comes. The battle of ease must be fought and won so that the story of your marital life that started well will end well.
How To Win The Battle Of Ease
• Have a mentor that your spouse can report you to because the battle of ease creates an illusion of invincibility around you which makes you to feel too important for anyone to talk to.
• Humble yourself as it will help you to win the battle of ease.
• Be grateful to God; many that are better than you have ended up with bitter stories.
• Make up your mind that you will always be open to the counsel of your spouse.
• Put God first and be prayerful.
• Be careful of the friends you keep.
• Make up your mind that when success comes, you will remain faithful to God and to your marital vows.

Discussion Points With Your Spouse
* Is there any way that the above message is referring to either of you?
* Just in case there is need to do so, is there any one you respect, to whom your spouse may report you and you will do what he or she asked you to do unquestionably?

PRAYER
Father, at any level of prosperity that you may take me to, let me remain humble so that I will not lose the battle of ease in Jesus’ name.
(For further reading; Deut.8:11-18)

QUOTABLE QUOTE
YOU MAY NEVER KNOW A MAN THAT IS FAITHFUL TO HIS MARITAL VOWS UNTIL GOD BLESSES HIM WITH MONEY; NOR A WOMAN THAT IS SUBMISSIVE UNTIL SHE ASSUMES POWER.- Dr. Mike Oluniyi

Main Text:1Tim.6-7
Memory:
Now godliness with contentment is great gain. (1Tim.6:6)

The battle of contentment is all about being contented with your spouse. Marriage creates a world of reality around you, the characteristics of which is peculiar to your own family alone. You will be doing your home a lot of good if you recognize these realities because if you fail to do so, it will be detrimental to the success of your home. The features of other families are different from your own. When you look at what God or circumstances have packaged into another family, that family may appear to be more blessed than your own. Covetousness often comes in naturally as you look at your family and conclude that God has not been fair to you. It is a real battle to prevent yourself and/or your spouse from unnecessary pressures that result from trying to catch up, take possession or bring down others.
There are several reasons why you may need to fight and win the battle of contentment. Some of them are:
– Lack of contentment will make you to be blind to the good features of your marriage.
– If you are not contented with your spouse, you can’t enjoy your family.
– When you are not contented with your family, it will make the home environment to be filled with uncertainty and fear of the next thing that might happen.
– You will see nothing wrong in being cruel and violent against your spouse because you are already obsessed with another person.
– Lack of contentment may expose your life and that of your family members to a lot of dangers.
– It may lead you to doing things that a child of God would not have done.
– It is very difficult for a covetous person to maintain good relationship with God as a result of ungrateful heart.

In other to win the battle of contentment, you may need to note the following:
• Always look at your spouse as the best thing that can ever happen to you.
* Be grateful to God about the circumstances of your family.
• Remember that your spouse, if possessed by another person, would be celebrated despite all the shortcomings you might have discovered in him or her.
• Remember always that one of the most expensive ventures in life is divorce. One may not know how expensive it is until he goes into it.

Discussion Points With Your Spouse
* Look at something in your spouse that makes him or her the best gift that God has ever given you.
* What do you feel should have been mentioned above as one of the reasons why you must win the battle of contentment.

PRAYER
My father and my God, I receive the grace to win the battle of contentment in my home. Let my spouse remain always attractive to me in Jesus’ name.

QUOTABLE QUOTE
IF YOU ARE NOT CONTENTED WITH YOUR SPOUSE, IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE YOU DRIFT AWAY FROM HOME. – Dr. Mike Oluniyi

Main Text: Rom.12:18-19
Memory:
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.(Rom.12:18)

When there is a conflict and it is not properly managed, it grows deeper and deeper until it eventually becomes unmanageable. The effects are numerous but the problem with most couples in conflict is that they don’t really take time to consider its potential effect on their lives, members of their family and the society at large. The more the conflict deteriorates, the more damaging the effects are, not only on the couple but on others especially their children. Some of the effects are:
Loss of peace
Wasted resources
Loneliness
Unfulfilled life
Negative effect on children
Spiritual paralysis
Mental and physical torture which may lead to high blood pressure and untimely death
Divorce
Extramarital affairs

In other word, the effects of unresolved conflict are devastating on the physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of the husband and the wife. It may eventually lead to separation or divorce.
Perhaps the most important thing to know about the effect of marital conflict is that its effect is beyond the parties involved. It affects the children, the church and the society at large. For instance, a woman who is not at peace with her husband will very likely visit her frustration on whoever comes her way.

Another thing to note is that the more you allow the conflict to linger, the more damaging the effects may be on the home and those that are connected to the family.

Also, when there is conflict at home, your ability to make decisions that are based on the considered opinion and agreement between the two of you is seriously hampered. Your business decisions and other decisions will be of higher quality if you and your spouse are in agreement, taking joint decisions. Hear this scripture:

…One shall chase a thousand but two shall put ten thousand to flight…(Deut.32:30)

Consequently, when you are in conflict with your spouse, you are denying yourself of that power of agreement that God has put between husband and wife. You will be chasing a thousand instead of putting ten thousand to flight.

Finally, when there is conflict with your spouse, you run the risk of unanswered prayers. There is awesome spiritual power and potency in marital unity.

Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. (1Pet.3:7)

As a conclusion, let it be known that the effect of conflicts can be devastating on you, your spouse, children, society and your relationship with God. For this reason, though conflicts are inevitable in marital relationships, you must do everything possible to nip it in the bud before it grows and becomes something that will destroy vital relationships in your life.

Discussion Points With Your Spouse
* As you reflect, what are the factors that has helped you in managing conflicts in your home.
* What are some of the effects you notice whenever there is conflict between you and your spouse?

PRAYER
Father I receive the grace to overcome every obstacle to peace in my home in Jesus’ name.

QUOTABLE QUOTE
CONFLICT DEGENERATES BECAUSE MOST COUPLES DON’T KNOW THE POTENTIAL DAMAGING EFFECTS IT MAY HAVE ON THEIR HOME. Dr. Mike Oluniyi.

Main Text: Rom. 12:17-18
Memory:
If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.(Rom.12:18)

When conflict is at the bedroom level, couples who are wise and who understand the implications of unresolved conflict will do everything within their power to positively manage and resolve the conflict before it grows deeper and more complicated. When conflicts are not resolved early, you will start remembering some of the bad things that your spouse has done to you in the past. When that comes in, you may start thinking that there will be a need for you to retaliate or you may just start hating your spouse for being such a wicked person.
Secondly, the longer the conflict is allowed, the more the chances for you to start having feelings of independence, which makes you to feel that you can do without your spouse. If you always wait for him to return from work before you eat together, you may decide to stop waiting for him before eating. When you depend on each other for some activities, they become a source of connection between the two of you.
Thirdly, the longer the conflict is allowed to stay, the greater the chance that you will tell the wrong person who may give you the inappropriate advice that will complicate matters further. The solution to a similar conflict in your friend’s home may not work in your own situation. You and your spouse are the only ones with the perfect knowledge of what is going on in your home.
Finally, the longer the conflict, the greater the tendency for each one of you to consciously or unconsciously create obstacles that will make it more difficult for simple resolution.
Conflicts therefore move from one level to the other when not properly managed and resolved early. The issue of management of marital conflicts is so important that there are so many homes that have ended up with divorce just because the husband or wife managed a simple matter wrongly and allowed it to blow out of proportion.

Any of the above is bad management! The way you handle your reactions when there is an issue with your spouse is important because it goes a long way to determine how long or how complicated the conflict will become.

Discussion Points With Your Spouse
* Is there any one of the above that may be identified with you?
* Sometimes we take our spouses for granted boasting that nothing can happen? Discuss how true it is that nothing can really happen.

PRAYER
My father and God, may I not be deceived into taking decisions that will harm my home in Jesus’ name.

QUOTABLE QUOTE
THE LONGER A CONFLICT STAYS WITHOUT RESOLUTION, THE GREATER ITS POTENTIAL TO DESTROY YOUR HOME. – Dr. Mike Oluniyi

Pride/ Inability To Apologize
In marital conflict, pride make matters to degenerate. The wife may insist that the husband must apologize to her. The husband on the other hand may feel that since the Bible says that he is the head of the home, the wife must bow in all situations. Though there are cases where the wife is the culprit in the issue of pride, men are more guilty of it.
One of the easiest things to do for someone whose home is dear to is tendering apology. In fact, you must be ready to apologize even when you are right. Pride and the inability to apologize will only make conflicts to degenerate in your home if you don’t overcome them. There are also many who will neither apologize nor accept apology from their spouse.

Involving Third Party
Matters are better settled between couples without the third party. However close the person you have reported is to you, he or she does not understand the issues in your home to the level which you and your spouse understand it.
Another reason why a third party may make matters to degenerate is that most people when advising others have a stereotyped model of how things should be which is based on their own personal experiences. We often forget that no two couples are the same. The circumstances surrounding your home are quite different from the couple next door.
The only exception is probably your experienced pastor who may use the word of God to guide you, an experienced Christian couple or marriage counsellor who because of experience and extensive learning in the area of marriage is able to guide you towards the solution which will still be within your scope as a couple. It should always only be the last resort.

Denial
One of the most common negative conflict management strategies is denial. This is a situation in which due to the conflict between you and your spouse, you deny him or her what should naturally be available. One of the most common areas of denial is sex. Women especially believe that one of the most potent instruments they have is sex denial. Men also may deny their spouse of finance when they are in conflict. Denial is a negative marital conflict management strategy because it may lead to other problems.

Other sources of conflict degeneration include:

Impatience.
Time heals most wound. There are a lot of conflicts that mellow down with passage of time.

Violence.
Violence in terms of hash words and physical abuse is also another negative conflict management strategy.

In conclusion, conflict has the tendency to degenerate if you use any of the above negative strategies above to manage your misunderstandings. Whenever you refuse the Holy Spirit to help you put your home above your own personal considerations, you are likely to make conflict to degenerate.

Discussion Points With Your Spouse
*Have you identified the factor that makes conflict to degenerate from one level to the other in your home?

PRAYER
Lord I receive grace to be wise to prevent conflicts from degenerating in my home.

QUOTABLE QUOTE
CONFLICT HAS THE TENDENCY TO DEGENERATE IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE DETERMINATION TO QUENCH THE FIRE IGNITED. – Dr. Mike Oluniyi