Category Archives: Marriage

YHWH’s Design for Marriage Includes Love and Passion

Song of Solomon is an interesting book in the Bible to be sure. It is focused on a passionate relationship between a bride and her groom. So many people mischaracterize YHWH’s position on sexual relations, claiming He just has a long list of “do nots”. Dismissing or getting angry at YHWH for that is like getting mad at someone who makes hair dryers for putting the label on it that says “keep away from water”. The warnings and boundaries are there for your protection. YHWH invented the gift of sexual relationship between a man and a woman. He gave it to us as part of the marriage relationship. He created us to feel passion and excitement, but it is intended only for marriage of one man and one woman. Yes, it is supposed to be enjoyed in marriage!

As you read Song of Solomon, realize that it was first written in a different time, place and culture. Do not get tripped up over some of the references (e.g. “like the tents of Kedar”), but seek to understand the excitement and passion they felt for one another… the love they felt for one another.

Another level to consider is that God compares our relationship with him to a bride and groom as well. Jesus is the groom and the church is the bride. We should think about how passionate we should be in our pursuit of Christ in how it compares to the example in Song of Solomon. I am referring to the passion and love, not the physical relationship… which in this perspective is not literal.

Song of Solomon 1

The Young Shulammite Bride and Jerusalem’s Daughters

      1The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.

      2“May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine.

      3“Your oils have a pleasing fragrance,
Your name is like purified oil;
Therefore the maidens love you.

      4“Draw me after you and let us run together!
The king has brought me into his chambers.”

“We will rejoice in you and be glad;
We will extol your love more than wine.
Rightly do they love you.”

      5“I am black but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
Like the tents of Kedar,
Like the curtains of Solomon.

      6“Do not stare at me because I am swarthy,
For the sun has burned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me caretaker of the vineyards,
But I have not taken care of my own vineyard.

      7“Tell me, O you whom my soul loves,
Where do you pasture your flock,
Where do you make it lie down at noon?
For why should I be like one who veils herself
Beside the flocks of your companions?”

Solomon, the Lover, Speaks

     8“If you yourself do not know,
Most beautiful among women,
Go forth on the trail of the flock
And pasture your young goats
By the tents of the shepherds.

      9“To me, my darling, you are like
My mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.

      10“Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
Your neck with strings of beads.”

      11“We will make for you ornaments of gold
With beads of silver.”

      12“While the king was at his table,
My perfume gave forth its fragrance.

      13“My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh
Which lies all night between my breasts.

      14“My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
In the vineyards of Engedi.”

      15“How beautiful you are, my darling,
How beautiful you are!
Your eyes are like doves.”

      16“How handsome you are, my beloved,
And so pleasant!
Indeed, our couch is luxuriant!

      17“The beams of our houses are cedars,
Our rafters, cypresses.

I feel it worthwhile to mention, that though Solomon was granted great wisdom by YHWH when He was young, He still made a significant mistake in embracing the concept of more than one wife and of concubines that was more common back then. It was a fail on his part and drew Him apart from YHWH as Solomon got older. We have the opportunity to learn from him what is good and reject the mistakes he made.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Practical Advice for a Strong Marriage

The marriage covenant is the most sacred covenant we enter with exception to our covenant with God. Our world today provides much distraction and false teaching about marriage.

Even amongst Christian communities and families there is often little or no Biblical teaching to help guide how we should select a spouse and prepare us to live a godly marriage.

The most important principle to focus on is that we should each try to grow closer to God, and by doing so we will also grow closer to each other.

Seeking a godly spouse:

  • Study the Bible to understand what character traits to develop in yourself and look for in a spouse.
  • Become the type of godly person that you want to find in a spouse. Continue maturing in your personal relationship with Jesus Christ and live as a godly example in your life.
  • Take your time in selecting your spouse. Ensure you know them well and share a similar depth of faith in Jesus Christ.
  • Pray for God to give you confirmation of whom you should marry and then make sure what you hear is from God by seeking godly counsel and comparing it to God’s word.

Growing a godly marriage relationship:

  • Study the Bible independently to continue your personal growth in relationship with God.
  • Maintain an active prayer life between yourself and God. It should be two way communication.
  • Spend time together with your spouse daily (or as often as you can to start) studying and applying the word of God to your lives
  • Spend time in prayer together with your spouse daily.
  • Invest in your marriage relationship before you have difficulty. Seek resources (e.g. books, conferences, online ministries, etc.) that can help you grow closer to your spouse over time. Do not wait until the relationship is struggling to work on improving it.
  • Seek out and partner with another godly married couple you respect and trust that know Jesus. You can serve as accountability and prayer partners for each other before God.

I have started a list of some good resources that provide practical help for growing in our marriage. You can find these on our website under the “Resources” tab under “Marriage” in the top header.

Focused Ministry

Books and Other Resources

  • For Men Only and For Women Only by Jeff and Shaunti Feldhahn reveal eye-opening truths and simple acts that will improve your relationship with your spouse.
  • The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman shows us how to keep our marriage relationship fresh and growing amid the demands and conflicts and just plain boredom of everyday life.
  • The Love Dare  personally leads you through daily devotionals, records your thoughts and experiences, and ends each day daring you to perform a simple act of love for your spouse.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ


Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

What Is Love?

What is love? This is a very old question with many answers. Context is important. We may “love pizza”, but that is different than when we say we “love our spouse”. Today, the world even steals the word “love” as a replacement for “sex”, which is completely incorrect. These are certainly not the same meaning. Greek, the language in which the New Testament was largely written, had multiple different words for different types of love. In English, we have one word and we must therefore pay close attention to context.

Many put a lot of time and focus into the highly marketed cultural holiday of Valentine’s Day. Candy makers will tell you that you must buy chocolates to show you love your spouse. Greeting card makers insist you must “care to send the very best” and thus spend $5 or more on a card, and send one to everyone you know. Flowers are a must, right? But now they even sell gold dipped flowers. Wow. Of course, not to be outdone, Jewelers insist that you are a buffoon if you don’t buy diamonds for that special someone in your life. Once company even suggests you should buy from them a new luxury car. We do well to remember that this is marketing intended to sell things and get our money. This is not how God tells us to show love to one another.

God calls us to show love to one another daily, not once a year, or on a few annual special occasions!

1 Corinthians 13

The Excellence of Love

      1If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

      4Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

      8Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

If you want to give a gift, and it is wisely within your budget to do so, go ahead. But don’t do so because you “have to” or are “expected to”.  These gifts mean little and will ultimately have a very limited impact if you do not show love the way God tells us to. Often times just giving gifts on designated marketing holidays comes to be expected and not appreciated as much. If you choose to give an expensive gift, don’t do it because it is Valentines Day. Consider intentionally giving it at some other time besides the widely marketed holidays for an even greater impact.

Warning… when you make changes in how you celebrate these marketing holidays, discuss it openly with your spouse ahead of time! Don’t surprise someone by not giving them something they already expect from years of habit.

When you are ready to truly grow in maturity, turn towards God’s definition of love and begin showing it today to those you love. No warning necessary. They will greatly appreciate how you treat them. However, you may consider sharing the scripture with your spouse and helping one another as you both make the effort to shift focus from the world’s definition of love to God’s.

You can also ask yourself, if I am celebrating love, would it not be right to celebrate loving God as well as loving one another? And to come in thanksgiving to Him for all the love He has shown, shows, and will show us? If we are to focus on love in the Biblical sense, Valentine’s Day just does not match up very well at all. If you explore the origins of this celebration you will find that once again the Catholic church embraced this festival, but it was based first on a pagan celebration. As followers of Christ, we are better off not letting these pagan holidays dictate how we show love for our spouse or loved ones. Instead, love people the way God teaches.

(World Religion News: Pagan origin of Valentines day)

One last parting thought… we can love YHWH and love others because He has first shown me love. Yeshua died for us to make a way for us to be forgiven our sins.

John 15:12-13

      12“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

The best way to show love for one another is through how we treat one another every day of the year.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ


Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Husband and Wife… Different Positions on the Same Team

Sports teams require a coach and multiple players each skilled and focused on playing their own position. Coaches are responsible for understanding the overall strategy and giving direction to their players on how to work together effectively as a team. Each player is chosen for their position based on their individual skills, which need to match the position they play. Even if some have the ability to play both positions well, they can only play one well at a time. When players work against the coach’s strategy or try to play someone else’s position, the team dynamics break down and teams fail to perform at their peak.

God is like our coach. A husband and wife each have a role to play to fulfill God’s strategy. It is best to understand what direction God is giving us rather than trying to do it our own way.

Ephesians 5:21-33

21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.

25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.[b] 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. 29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. 30 And we are members of his body.

31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”[c] 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Many stumble on God’s instructions for wives to submit to their husbands. Some think that this means the husband is accountable to no one and can demand anything. Others think it means that the wife is inferior to the husband. Far from it. Both husband and wife are equally important. The husband is accountable to God.

A husband is called to love his wife as Christ loves the church. There is no greater love than this. To lay down his life for her. God’s strategy works phenomenally well when both husband and wife obey God’s instruction. It works poorly  when husband and wife fail to work together as  a team or fail to follow God’s instructions.

Spend a few minutes in prayer to give God thanks for your spouse and for His design for marriage. Ask Him to grant you wisdom and understanding of His design marriage and how to apply it in your life.

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ


Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

God, Christ, Man, Woman… and the Christian order

1 Corinthians 11 is one of those scriptures which can create confusion and distraction. To begin, Paul lays out the order… God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of woman. This is the Christian order of authority in the home and society. For followers of Christ, there should be little controversy here, though today many wish to disrupt the order by reducing the role and authority of God, Christ, and man. Thus everyone is left to go their own way. The order is important… each household must have one lead. Those leaders must submit to Christ and Christ submits to the Father. Only then do we have unified families submitted to the Father going according the way God intended.

The part that gets confusing to many today involves the discussion of head covering. Head coverings for women in the context of the Corinthian church were a man made tradition that symbolized there submission and accountability to man. Men then did not wear a head covering because they were not accountable to man (e.g. not to a pope or other pastor) but rather directly accountable to Christ. My understanding for Paul’s discussion on this topic is that he was reinforcing the Christian order of authority, rather than commanding women to wear head coverings. Since there was a Corinthian custom regarding head coverings that symbolized this order and reminded people of it, he suggested the Corinthians should not fight or rebel against this tradition. It reinforced the proper order. In that cultural context, for a woman to reject the head covering would be akin to rejecting the Christian order.

Our culture has different customs, such as a wife taking on the last name of her husband when they marry. Similarly, for our culture, a woman should not resist submission to the authority of her husband, lest it create competition and infighting in their marriage, weakening it. Their can not be two head coaches for a team. There can not be two presidents to lead one nation or two governors to lead the same state. Similarly, a household can not flourish if there are two heads constantly competing with one another for authority.

If you want a more detailed study, one is available at Psalm119 ministries at 119Ministries.com.

1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Christian Order

      1Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

      2Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you. 3But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. 4Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. 5But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. 6For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. 7For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. 8For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; 9for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. 10Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God. 13Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, 15but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God.

Men, submit to Christ as He submitted to the Father. This is a tall task and not to be underestimated. If we do this, it certainly helps our wives to submit to us. Wives, submit to your husbands. Let us function as one team with one authority structure working in harmony. Of course, there are always exceptions… if your husband is asking you to do something immoral or against God the situation gets more complicated for that specific issue. However, don’t let the exceptions be an excuse for denying the fundamental order of authority God has established.

Spend some quiet time in prayer, asking God to provide clarity and listening to any prompting from the  Holy Spirit. Are you embracing the Christian order or resisting it? Men, are you submitted to Christ? Women, are you submitted to your husbands? All of us should ask if there are there any changes we need to make?

Shalom. May the grace and peace of our Lord, Yeshua, be with you. Devotion by John in service to Christ


Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Advice for a Follower of Christ Who Is Married to an Unbeliever

I appreciate how Paul clearly identifies when it is his opinion or recommendation rather than instruction directly from the Lord. He provides some specific suggestions for how a believer should handle themselves if they are married to an unbeliever. First, let us be clear that a believer should not marry an unbeliever. That is not what Paul is commenting on.

2 Corinthians 6:14-15

    14Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

However, if in marriage, one spouse converts and submits to Christ as Lord, and the other does not, they can find themselves in this situation.

1 Corinthians 7:12-15

      12But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. 14For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. 15Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. 16For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

Do not take this out of context to conclude that you should encourage your unbelieving spouse to leave. You should not. You should work at your marriage as unto God. You should try to keep your marriage together. That is the primary goal Paul speaks to first. Consider also 1 Peter 3:1-2.

1 Pet 3:1-2

   1In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, 2as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.

I think this largely applies to husbands who have wives who are disobedient to the word as well, in that the husbands should demonstrate the godly role of the husband as defined by God.  A key is that you still live for God and put Him first. I think that is the point Paul is making. If your unbelieving spouse insists on leaving because you follow and obey Yeshua, then you can not stop following just so they will stay.

The spouse who has submitted to Jesus as Lord is to live to a different standard than the non-believer. Marriage is to be holy before God. It is to be set apart and done His way. While it is Paul, and not God speaking in this passage, he certainly has a lot of credibility in how to live in a way that is pleasing to God. If you find yourself as a believer married to a non-believer, consider Paul’s words carefully and pray that the Father would help you have the wisdom, courage, and patience to endure the situation. Pray the Holy Spirit will fill you and guide you for it is difficult for any believer to face… so don’t face it alone.

Take some time and ask God to help you in this situation if it applies to you. If it applies to someone you know, please take time to pray for them. If it does not apply to you, you can also give thanks to God that you and your spouse are both pursuing Christ and ask Him to draw you even closer.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Sex Is a Gift in the Context of Marriage

The sexual drive in men and women is given by God as part of who we are. Paul commented specifically in this regard in 1 Corinthians 7. It is good for a man or woman to be single and focused on God rather than married if that is their personal gifting from God. It will allow them to serve Him in a more focused way. However, God makes each of us different. For many, the drive for sex is wonderful inside the gift of marriage, but if they try to remain single, that same gift will instead lead to great temptation and potentially to immoral behavior.

Inside marriage, we must use this gift well as a way of bonding with our spouse. Sex or withholding of sex is not to be used as a “weapon” to get one’s own way or win an argument. This is plainly wrong. Marriages are strongest when sex is used to serve and bond with one another.  Truly this helps two become one as God intends.

Once married, we should not divorce. It has always been God’s plan to have one man and one woman together in marriage. We are to choose carefully and prayerfully and then focus all our effort on serving each other and building / maintaining a strong marriage.

1 Corinthians 7:1-11

Teaching on Marriage

      1Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. 3The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6But this I say by way of concession, not of command. 7Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.

      8But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. 9But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

      10But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband 11(but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.

Take care not to overlook the Biblical view on sex drive. It can be a powerful bonding in strengthening a marriage. It is a gift from God and not something to be scorned or mocked. But it is also not something to be abused by using it outside of marriage.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Resources to Help Marriages

Periodically we post information intended to introduce our community to different parts of the website that they may find useful.  Links are provided for your convenience, or you can just visit the site directly at www.HearingFromJesus.org and look around on your own.

Today’s highlight is the section of our site that identifies a solid starting point for those that want to invest in improving their marriage. If you are experiencing difficulty in marriage, do not ignore it or accept it. Seek help in God and in His word. Even if there is no conflict in your marriage (that would be amazing), consider investing time anyway to continue building a solid foundation for the storms in life.  Even good marriages can benefit and more toward “great”. Think of it like an oil change for your car. You should not wait until the car has engine problems to change the oil!

I also strongly encourage you to actively prepare your children about expectations in marriage. Lead and prepare them for a godly marriage and how to relate rather than let the world lead them to believe in a “fairy tale” marriage where everything is always great and there are no conflicts, and everyone lives happily ever after.

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Marriage

The marriage covenant is the most sacred covenant we enter with the exception of our covenant with God. Our world today provides much distraction and false teaching about marriage.

Even amongst Christian communities and families, there is often little or no Biblical teaching to help guide how we should select a spouse and prepare us to live a godly marriage.

The most important principle to focus on is that we should each try to grow closer to God, and by doing so we will also grow closer to each other.

Seeking a godly spouse:

  • Study the Bible to understand what character traits to develop in yourself and look for in a spouse.
  • Become the godly example of a person that you want to find in a spouse. Continue maturing in your personal relationship with Jesus Christ and live as a godly example in your life.
  • Take your time in selecting your spouse. Ensure you know them well and share a similar depth of faith in Jesus Christ.
  • Pray for God to give you confirmation of whom you should marry and then make sure what you hear is from God by seeking godly counsel and comparing it to God’s word.

Growing a godly marriage relationship:

  • Study the Bible independently to continue your personal growth in your relationship with God.
  • Maintain an active prayer life between yourself and God. It should be two-way communication.
  • Spend time together with your spouse daily (or as often as you can) studying and applying the word of God to your lives
  • Spend time in prayer together with your spouse daily.
  • Invest in your marriage relationship before you have difficulty. Seek resources (e.g. books, conferences, online ministries, etc.) that can help you grow closer to your spouse over time. Do not wait until the relationship is struggling to work on improving it.
  • Seek out and partner with another godly married couple you respect and trust that knows Jesus. You can serve as accountability and prayer partners for each other before God.

I have started a list of some good resources that provide practical help for growing in our marriage. Is there a resource you have found that helped you? Please share with us from the Contact Us page.

Find more support under our Ministries section of the site, under the Focused Ministries – Marriage page.

Books and Other Resources

  • Solid Rock Marriage Restoration provides insights based on biblical truth and practical application to help Christians ages 25-55 restore and revitalize their marriage.  Join the Facebook group.
  • For Men Only and For Women Only by Jeff and Shaunti Feldhahn reveal eye-opening truths and simple acts that will improve your relationship with your spouse.
  • The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman shows us how to keep our marriage relationship fresh and growing amid the demands and conflicts and just plain boredom of everyday life.
  • The Love Dare personally leads you through daily devotionals, records your thoughts and experiences, and ends each day daring you to perform a simple act of love for your spouse.
  • TimeWarpWife.com  was born from a real-life example of a marriage that could have ended in a wreck, but through grace has blossomed into a ministry serving God.
  • Also consider reviewing other articles previously posted regarding marriage from our category “marriage”.

Take a few minutes today to pray about your marriage and/or marriages of others close to you, that they would be blessed and strong and joyful. Let each marriage bring glory to Yahweh!

Shalom

Devotion by John in service to Christ


Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Closing Thoughts for Marriage Bible Study

This is the final part of a 9-part series I am sharing from Bible.org (Link to Foundation 8: Intimacy in Marriage).

Walking through this series with your spouse or future spouse will bring you closer together in understanding one another and God’s intent for marriage.

—Link to Bible.org: 9. Closing Thoughts for Marriage Bible Study | Bible.org

—Link to PDF: 9. Closing Thoughts _ Bible.org

Congratulations on finishing Building Foundations for a Godly Marriage curriculum! I would like to leave you with a few closing thoughts. In Deuteronomy 24:5, God called for soldiers to not go to war during their first year of marriage. He said:

If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.

In this, a clear principle is established showing how important the first year of marriage is. Statistics support this; one of the highest years of divorce is the first year. Everything will be new, and in this year, you will build habits that will sustain or hurt you for the rest of your marriage. Therefore, it is important to be very intentional within your first year.

As shared earlier in the book, one marriage guru said that couples should not watch any TV within the first year of marriage to focus on one another. Though this may be an overstatement, the basic principle behind this statement is true. Couples need to develop a pattern of focus within the first year that will continue throughout the marriage.

For example, in my first year of marriage, my wife and I decided that she would not work full-time and I stopped pursuing further education, so we could focus on one another. Plus, we had a brief courtship, so getting to know one another was even more important for us.

Couples should be very careful about taking on extra tasks in the first year that will keep them away from one another. They should spend as much quality time together as possible, building a foundation for a long and healthy marriage.

Another principle that I will leave you with is the importance of having a mentor or a mentor couple. Think of a strong Christian married couple who would serve as good mentors. You could meet together once a month, pray together, do a Bible study together, or simply secure the right to call them for godly advice and invite them to check in on you throughout the marriage.

There is support for this in Paul’s call for older women to mentor younger women. In Titus 2:3-5, Paul says this:

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

For a new job, we go through training. How much more do we need continual training in marriage? You will find mentorship invaluable for your future, and one day you will pass on the wisdom you gained to another couple. May God richly bless and strengthen your marriage.

I invite you to pray with me:

Father, thank You for Your word that leads and guides us. Thank You for leaders who help to share Your word such as the man who authored this marriage series. I pray You would give wisdom, love, kindness, compassion, and selflessness to Your people in the area of marriage.  May Christian marriages bloom and flourish joyfully and be set apart and holy, clearly distinguished from those relationships based on the ways of men and culture around us. May it bring joy to Your people and glory to Your name. Amen. 

 Shalom

Devotion by John in service to Christ

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