IN SPITE OF THE FACT----
that most couples on their wedding day, look forwards to a long life together, yet divorces continue to increase, and some marriages are in divorce court, even before all the ceremonial bills have been paid!
In spite of their high hopes and dreams, when new parents bring home their first child, from the hospital, some 70% of parents told Ann Landers they would NOT have children if they had to do it all over again! Based on 10,000 parents, who answered her poll question.
Are we not all shocked at a break-up of a home, parental abuse, even children abusing their parents, poor child care, and the disrespect between family members and the seemingly total lack of meaning full communications, that's not at the shouting levels!
Marriage Councilors, Pastors and educators as well as psychologists all try to to offer possessive solutions to the family's problems, but all their advice is founded, and rightly so, on the Bible's Principles. After all, EVERY Principle mentioned in the word of God, whether specifically directed to the family, (such as the Golden rule), can and should be applied to the family unit!
Note: in my own family, and myself, what I see as one big problem is self, and extend the word to selfishness, as the greatest single family problem!......
Ephesians 5:25 " Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; "
NOTE: The Church? That's all the collective believers! Yes it speaks to Husbands, but how can it not pertain to the wives? Is not love a two-way event, or should be? My wife and me have been ONE FLESH for soon to be 55 years! I love her more today than when we said "I do!"
SO, WHERE DID MARRIAGE ORIGINATE?
The first RECORDED marriage was in The Garden of EDEN...
Genesis 2:18 "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."
Genesis 2:24 "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
Note: ONE FLESH?-----
John 17:22 "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:"
Note: Just as Jesus The God-Man, and The Father-God are of ONE purpose, so also must a Husband and his Spouse be of ONE purpose, to strengthen the family UNIT, and to both teach and raise their children!
NOTE: It for this reason and purpose that same sex is God's NO- NO! Because they can not by themselves reproduce themselves, therefore IF ALL humans followed the Homosexual lifestyle, humans would soon become extinct, thus against Nature itself! YET they also are God's children, and deserve our love and respect, but not for what they do, as with each one of us!
Genesis 2:23-24 "And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
Ephesians 5:21-33 "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband."
NOTE: "Submitting self one to another..IN REVERENCE OF GOD! Marriage is God's institution, and none should attempt to alter it, beside how can men alter God's laws, in total reality? But look what else is given----
2 Corinthians 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"
Note: "Falling in love" usually takes time, but the falling in lust is very quick, but that fire soon becomes ashes! In other words both people need to share the same faith, and this truth has been shown to work the best time after time! The Union between a believer and a non-believer nearly always results in great stress and more unhappiness on both partners, who try to compromise on one's principles and disagreements on how their children should be raised. It become one more can of gasoline tossed in the fire.
God's plan for marriage is a home, that's stable and a permanent foundation that society can build upon--
Matthew 5:31-32 " It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery."
Plus:[ Matt. 19:9; Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18.]
Note: Yes there have been divorces in our faith, and YES, both have waited to for the other ex to marry fist so they themselves were not guilty of fornication, or so they think!
Mark 10:9 "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder"
Note: If your relationship has turned sour, ask in prayer for God to HEAL YOU, because marriage is a 50-50 deal, so each is half of the problem right? Remember when you the Husband first began courting her? Well do SO AGAIN!, a fire to keep burning needs new fuel, begin courting each other all over again! You are both still the same persons, when you POPPED THE QUESTION, hoping she would say YES, right?
So get some flowers and ASK HER AGAIN--- ON YOUR KNEES! Who is willing to allow pride to stand in the way of happiness?
Now, unless of sexual infidelity, adultery,----
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 "And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife."
Note: None is expected to remain in a marriage, that puts one in danger of life or health, this is what a desperation is for, to try to force the other party to fly-right!
INVITE JESUS CHRIST TO BE THE THIRD MEMBER.
"in order that I might become closer to my spouse, bring me Father-God, close to You, than my Spouse. In order that I may love You more, and my spouse than anything in the world. So that nothing can come between us and may YOU dwell there close with us every single moment. In order that we may be always together, as one flesh, take us with YOU to the place of solitude. And when we find ourselves side-by-side, O Lord, may it be upon Your loving breast. Amen'
NOTE: If YOU are serious about your marriage, pray this prayer, and write it out for your spouse, and have him/her pray it with you together, or each in private! But be honest, as God can read your thoughts and heart/mind!
PARENTS AND CHILDREN.
The Bible emphasizes the importance of parents, teaching their children to know the Lord and understand His commandments-----
Deuteronomy 6:5-9 " And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."
Note: Frontlets---- the old Hebrew custom, of a thread from their head-gear ending a small ball of yarn that rested on the forehead above and between the eyes, as a constant reminder of God's Laws.
Ephesians 6:4 "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."
Note: OK, all Fathers, who have not so taught your children, or those who have had no involvement with them, and at Judgment, Christ asks you what kind of a father were you to your children? What will you have so say?
As the child learns to trust their earthly father, the children will learn to love and confide in God as their Heavenly Father!
Matthew 23:9 "And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven."
Ephesians 6:1 " Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right."
NOTE: is it possible to honor one who has no honor? YES but it's very difficult yet child must.
.Exodus 20:12 "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee."
NOTE: The 5th Commandment, and the ONLY one with a promise, of long life!
Thus as both the Parents and their children open up their hearts to the Holy Spirit, harmony and love shall prevail in the home. The increasingly closer relationships one to another and to God through Christ, will they be a testament to the love and powers of God in the final Gospel and human unity that Christ prayed for-----
John 17:23 "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."
Malachi 4:5-6 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
Thank Y O U for your time
Questions? Comments? John at www.servant@frontier.com
Want More? Visit your Seventh-day Adventist church any Saturday/Sabbath at 9-10 AM. You just may find what you need to fill that empty spot in your heart, Jesus!
Other sites: wwwAFTV.org www.BLBN.org www.amazingdiscoveries.org all have streaming video.
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