John chapter 4 records Jesus, just out from the town of Sychar, telling His disciples, after they urged Him to eat, that His food – this secret food they didn’t know about – was to do the work the Father sent Him to do.
That story has long intrigued me. So much so that I asked God to let me experience this satisfaction from doing God’s work, this work that’s so satisfying that it relieved Jesus of the need for physical food.
God didn’t answer my prayer the way I expected, but He did answer it in a different way. Actually, I guess He combined that prayer with another prayer I had prayed many times before.
To clarify, the prayer I’d prayed many times was: God, please help me to get all the rest my body and mind need in fewer hours of sleep. (My body was requiring 8 hours per night and I wanted to be more efficient.)
The more recent prayer was: Lord, please help me experience gaining sustenance from doing Your work, to the degree that I need less food.
God responded to me in this way. He has allowed me to get by on less sleep (I need only 4 to 5 hours now.), because my energy comes from the excitement of accomplishing the things He puts in my heart to do.
This has been the case over the past four years, when I began giving my primary ministry energy to writing.
In 2022, I published Brilliant Faith; in 2025, I published Interwoven Love; this year I’ll publish my first novel, Unaffordable Loss.
Call me crazy, but I see a correlation between those prayers and the energy I’ve been getting from excitement about God’s work.
Now this is a blog space designated to marriage and family subjects (and this blog’s title is The Marriage Feast).
Jesus told a parable about a man whose son was getting married and he threw him this big party, a wedding feast. He wanted everyone to be there so all were invited. That story is found in Matthew 22.
The wedding feast I’m talking about, though, is the sustenance for life that a husband and wife can gain by doing God’s work.
I believe a married couple can be infused with energy by doing the work God has called them to do.
I know each couple has specific, unique work God envisions for them, and I encourage couples to seek Him for that work. But let’s also consider what He calls all married couples, in general to do in their marriage.
In its simplest phraseology, He calls us to love one another the way He loves His spouse, the church.
Maybe you’re skeptical; maybe you aren’t; either way, dare to try loving like Jesus loves (with patience, kindness, selflessness, active grace and proactive mercy), and see if your energy, motivation, excitement and need for physical food and/or rest don’t change. I predict that you’ll be more effective as a loving spouse and more efficient as a servant of God.
I believe the benefit will be this: we’ll make our spouse’s life better while we require less.
So, please. Do the work of God in your marriage, and watch the changes that come about in your life.