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Marriage
by Helen Henry Marriage Marriage is the process by which two people who love each other make their relationship public, official, and permanent. It is the joining of two people in a bond that putatively lasts until death. Perhaps that's the problem. Perhaps most Christians don't realize that getting born again is just the starting point of a rich and deeply intimate life in union with God. And so they miss out on the very heart of what they've been given. They remain focused on themselves and the things of this world and lose the very purpose of their life! Christians believe that marriage is considered in its ideal according to the purpose of God. At the heart of God's design for marriage is companionship and intimacy. According to Genesis, marriage was instituted by God in the Garden of Eden. "The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man." Genesis 2:18-22 When God brought my husband Arthur to me, it was a process. God was preparing me. I wanted to be cleansed, I wanted to be the virtuous woman that God wanted me to be, so I asked God to help me. In my quiet times, I would cry out to God to purify my spirit, body and soul. I meant business with God. Almost every Friday of each week in September of 2008, I began taking the Esther Bath Fast which allowed me to be in the presence of the Lord as part of my cleansing. I believe when we enter a marriage, our soul and spirit should be centered and connected with God because God ordained marriage. Making Your Marriage work is very important. Togetherness helps so much in making your marriage work. If you find yourself struggling with challenges in your marriage, there are a few suggestions that may help: 1) Remember who brought you together. 2) Change the way you think. 3) Learn from others who have strong marriages. 4) Take time to talk to each other. 5) Invest in and bond with your spouse emotionally, spiritually, relationally, and sexually. I believe that successful couples have learned to resist holding grudges, bringing up the past and remembering that they married an imperfect person and so did their spouse. Wise couples have learned that you have to approach problems differently to get different results. Often, minor changes in approach, attitude and actions make the biggest difference in marriage. When things get tough and couples don't know what to do, they need to hang in there and be there for each other. Time has a way of helping couples work things out by providing opportunities to reduce stress and overcome challenges. Praying together is one of the most intimate things you can do as a couple. Not only is it an act of intimacy, but your combined prayers are the most powerful, and effective weapon the two of you have to fight the attacks of Satan. Eph 5:21-32: Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. My final remark is that within a marriage relationship the husband and wife are partners who are dedicated to one another. A bond of uncompromising devotion creates a healthy atmosphere for togetherness: studying God's Word, praying, and keeping Christ in the center of the marriage. Just as it takes two to make a marriage successful, it takes Christ to establish this great mystery call marriage. My Prayer is that every husband would begin to see his wife as a gift from God and that every woman would submit to her husband as to the Lord. In Jesus name, Amen By: Helen Cummings-Henry www.helench.org Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |