Monthly Message
Marriage was God's Idea
REV. GORDON WILLIAMS, FEBRUARY 2010
Almost every time I counsel a couple who are planning to get married, they ask the same question I hear over and over again, "Is there a guarantee our marriage will not end up in a divorce?"
More and more, couples who come to get married, know people, (ie. parents, friends, acquaintances, strangers), whose marriages all started with love and good intentions and wanting a marriage that lasts "as long as we both shall live." Sadly, the casualty rates today are nearly the same for Christians as it is for non-Christian marriages.
This is why many couples live together before they get married, because they think they can find out if their love will last. Without a "Marriage Covenant" which gives stability and security in the relationship, God can not bless a relationship in the same way as He would if a couple had made a covenant before Him. When God is not involved, a marriage is open to failure and divorce.
Many times people who have been living together, come to ask for marriage counseling. I inform them that marriage counseling only works for people who have been married. But, I am happy to say that there is a guarantee that a couple can have a successful marriage which will not end in a divorce and where the honeymoon doesn't have to end!
, in order to have a long lasting and exciting relationship in which love does not disappear but increases and grows,
The key is a personal relationship with Jesus, empowered by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Since marriage is God's idea (Ephesians 5:31), Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit are required, so one's love for the other continually grows and is renewed.
The results are quite fascinating. When enhanced by God's agape love (Rom. 5:5) a couple's relationship will grow in such a manner, that when they look back, they can see that their love had grown so much more than when they first started. And with the Holy Spirit's help, forgiveness is possible, and the ability to forget the hurts, and struggles allowing a couple to build on their dreams.
Marriage becomes a place of ministry and a preparation for Eternal Life. A Christian family (Jn. 3: 3, 5, 7) becomes a place where each member: father, mother and children minister using the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 12: 6 - 8; 1 Cor. 12: 8 - 10) and pray "in the Spirit about everything? (Eph. 6: 18). There is a "New Testament Model for Marriage? that has been lost and excluded any relationship with our Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Any marriage relationship in which the couple?s love for each other has been lost, the love and marriage can be restored to a better relationship than they had to begin with (1 Cor. 13: 4 - 8). Our homes are supposed to be places of ministry where every family member does ministry resulting in "Signs, Wonders and Miracles?. St. Valentine?s Day is a reminder that married love is revolutionized by God?s agape love. Valentine was a priest who ignored the Roman law that prohibited Christians to marry but to live in an unmarried state of fornication (Gal. 5: 19).He secretly married Christians (Matt. 19: 4 - 6) and was martyred because he chose to "obey God rather than men? (Acts 5: 29). Let?s do the same and "let?s have a greater harvest again in 2010".
This is the reason why we have just completed a book for people who are looking for a marriage partner, engaged or married couples so they can have marriages "made in heaven?. In such marriages, problems and hurts turn into the fuel of love that does not diminish over the years but continues to grow. Our new book is entitled, "The Forgotten Key To Christian Marriage.?
Yours in Jesus,
Rev. Gordon Williams
