Dear waiting singles bachelor and spinster, manipulation is real, don't fall for it.
One thing that I have discovered recently is that when God has great plans for your life, the devil is also not sleeping. You need to be very careful, patient, and prayerful to avoid becoming its victim.
Manipulation is the process of planning out usually with subtle skill, deceit, or care so that your choice of who to marry is influenced by the manipulator, to their own advantage.
A manipulator would influence you emotionally to do their bidding. They will tell you, "Marry this person," or "This is the person I want you to marry," please be careful.
The devil also manipulates through the agency of his representatives disguised as men or women of God, or some spiritual fathers or mothers, or counselors.
Be careful of making anyone an assistant to God in your life.
How can I escape being a victim of manipulation?
1) Be spiritually sensitive: Becoming spiritually alert is not by going to church or praying once in a while, it is by having a functional prayer altar and becoming so addicted to the word of God that you study and meditate in it as commanded.
The fact remains that you are going to fall into satanic manipulation when you make marital decisions during the prayerless season of your life.
If the iron is blunt, then you do well to sharpen it. If your spirit man can't clearly discern God's voice above the storms of passion and the murmurs of self-will, it's advisable to sharpen up your inner man.
Take time to develop your prayer life, pray always, and don't faint. Spend quality time with God, not just when you need Him urgently.
2) Don't let anyone influence your choice of whom to marry. Whether a good decision or bad is what you end up making, you will face the consequences. Don't let anyone influence you on who to marry.
You might be told she has money, he's working in a bank, he or she is romantic, he's nice, she's humble, and so on; until you clearly hear God, don't make any move.
Be it a man of God, prophet, or seer, let no one be the final influence on who you marry, or else you'll discover later in marriage that you have married the wrong person.
It's better to be very slow and get it right than to hurriedly make decisions, and regret it afterwards.
3) Don't get so involved with anyone that you would accept anything they tell you, hook, line, and comprehend without accepting it.
Similarly to point 2, don't make anyone in your life infallible, the only person that can't make an error is God.
Do you know that some men or women of God are not in their best state spiritually to guide you?
A man of God is first a man before the grace of God comes upon his life.
No marriage counselor or relationship coach knows it all or understands God's will for you. The crux of this matter is to never make anyone an idol in your life that you worship or treasure their counsel above that of God and His word.
4) Never be in haste or under pressure to get married. One of the greatest strategies that make singles manipulated is when they see themselves as getting old or too late to be married.
If it would cost you more than a month to propose or accept a proposal, while prayerfully seeking His face for direction, please do, and take your time.
A genuine brother won't hurry you to accept his proposal, and a sincere sister won't delay your proposal for ages.
5) Invoke the mercy of God. I have come to believe that those who marry right do not do so because they can pray or fast very well, it's a token of God's mercy.
Let God take away His mercy, they'll miss it just as a person misses his or her last opportunity in life.
Inasmuch as you would pray, don't fail to invoke His mercy so that when every other thing seems to be right or perfect, His mercy will prevail and you will see clearly.
Dear reader, manipulation is real. One major reason why serious and firebrand brothers and sisters miss it in their choice of who to marry is that they became a victim of satanic deception and manipulation.
Deception and manipulation go side by side, and Satan is often the instigator. He provoked David and made him number the children of Israel. Subtly, the old prophet deceived the young prophet while thinking it was the will of God for him to do his bidding.
Don't make any decisions when you are confused or uncertain. Let no one rush you!
Do not forget that the angel of darkness also transforms into an angel of light to deceive the saints. Prayerfully test all spirits.
Test all "God says," vet all dreams and revelations prayerfully and with time. If you don't understand your dreams or vision, spend time with the Holy Spirit to guide you through its understanding.
Not all men or women of God have the spiritual intelligence to accurately interpret your revelations.
I pray for every single trusting God on who to marry, and for myself that the mercy of God will exempt us from becoming a victim of manipulation in life and in marriage in Jesus's name.