Couples for Christ Page

28/02/2024

Spiritual Warfare in Marriage

1. Recognize the reality of the spiritual world.

2. Identify the snake in your garden.

3. Deal with the snake accordingly.

4. Develop self-control instead of seeking to control the other person.

5. Don’t use “divorce” as an escape, even when it’s permissible.

6. Commit to being more obedient to the Lord than you are committed to your spouse.

7. Trust God for your needs as you obey God to meet the needs of your spouse.

Vlad Savchuk

21/12/2023

26/07/2023

MARRIAGE DEFINED

marriage | măr′ĭj

Marriage is not a noun, it’s a verb. It isn’t something you get once, then try to keep it. It is something you do continually. It is the way you choose to love and cherish your spouse every day.

Work at marriage every day. Be intentional.

22/07/2023

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 1 Peter 3:8 NIV

An Apology Clears the Air

Apologizing as soon as it’s needed helps move you toward repairing your connection.

An apology without change is just manipulation.

Forgiveness does not change the past, but it gives the future a chance.

It demonstrates goodwill toward your spouse (or really any other relationship). It shows that even though you wronged your spouse, you don’t want to keep doing it. Instead, you want to rebuild the connection.

Apologies demonstrate “unity of mind, sympathy,” and “a tender heart” and nurture the “we” over “me” oneness that makes a marriage thrive.

An apology requires humility.

Ephesians 4 speaks of living, “with all humility and gentleness…eager to maintain the unity,” which is what Paul says is “a manner worthy of the calling” of following Christ.

I don’t know about you, but I think I’d find it easier to walk with some humility rather than all humility! But the humility God calls us to is the same as what Jesus modeled for us.

Apologizing is more of an open conversation than a one-sided transaction.

Admit that you don’t want to remain at odds with your spouse.

Apologize for anything that God convicts you of. But also clarify with your spouse by humbly asking questions like, “what did I do that hurt you?” “what can I do to make it right?” or “what can I do differently in the future?”

This is how you can maintain the unity in your marriage. It requires ongoing effort.

To “maintain” anything requires us to put in work.

But this is the way of living God calls us to: humble confession before Him, which leads to laying down our defenses and living in grace and unity together, and loving one another by repairing our relational disconnects by apologizing well.

Referring back to 1 Peter 3:7, do any of these traits stand out as one that is hardest for you to walk in? “unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind”
What are some ways you can work to “maintain the unity” in your marriage?

Talk to your spouse about what makes a real, honest apology. What do you want apologies to look like in your marriage?

15/07/2023

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10 NIV

13/07/2023

“You shall not commit adultery. Exodus 20:14 NIV

S*x and marriage are two of God’s greatest gifts. Lust and adultery destroy both.

No relationship can be as intimate, sweet, life giving, and joy filled as the marital relationship, and no experience can be as intimate and powerful within that marriage relationship as s*x.

So, of course, the Devil and the world is going to go after s*x and marriage.

We should expect confusion, attack, misunderstanding, perversion, and pain—not because s*x and marriage are bad or not worth the trouble, but precisely because they are such good gifts.

Now every s*xually betrayed spouse will tell you that they never expected the betrayal, often times never saw it coming, ignorance is bliss and few realise that it was part of their relationship and marriage right from the start, their partners haven't been faithful to them a day in their marriage but once adultery is exposed and they look back they were reaping what their adulterous, often lustfilled, often addicted to po*******hy and a pr******te spirit spouse was sowing all along. Suspicion, deception, secrets and lies, distrust, disrespect, dishonesty, disobedience, disappointment, disregard for wedding vows, discontentment and the most hurtful s*xual disconnection while partners pursue self gratification instead of intimacy, strive and distress. And pain, always the pain.

And while many spouses, repent, and turn away from adultery and po*******hy, and s*x in marriage are restored, for many others both the image by image mental affairs and often physical affairs that follow ends in distruction of their most valued relationship through divorce.

And while the focus often falls to marriage, if you are single and caught up in lust, s*x addiction and po*******hy this too is adultery.

God’s best gifts are the ones most apt to be twisted and perverted by the world, the flesh, and the Devil.

The relationship between Christ and the church is a paradigm for the relationship between a husband and a wife. The mystery is that the union of Christ and the church finds expression in a man and a woman becoming one flesh in Christian marriage. God designed for a Christian husband and wife to come together in such a way that this union of Christ and the church can be symbolized.

But a man [woman]who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself [herself]. Proverbs 6:32 NIV

If today you are the s*xually betrayed spouse, it is important to seperate the sin from the person. Healing takes time. For both yourself and your partner recovering from, unfaithfulness, adultery and for some po*******hy addiction or even infidelity. Forgiveness is key, because once you forgive two are set free. If both partners is committed and repent and return s*x in marriage to God's guidance recovery and restoration is possible.

Flee from s*xual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins s*xually, sins against their own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18 NIV

If today you are the adulterous spouse, wife or husband, repent, and return purity to s*x and your marriage. God is sure to forgive you. It is much harder for a s*xually betrayed spouse to forgive an adulterous spouse for every third person brought into your marriage for s*x and fantasy.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Matthew 18:21‭-‬22 NIV

Seventy-seven times may not be alot if you start adding up your adulterous moments through the course of you marriage. So give your partner time to heal and recover from the pain caused by your adultery or po*******hy addiction.

Why is the s*xual union between husband and wife an integral component of marriage?

Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife [husband] of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her [him], though she [he] is your partner, the wife [husband]of your marriage covenant. Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife [husband] of your youth. Malachi 2:13‭-‬15 NIV

Spouses don't fall out of love or s*xual attraction. They fall out of commitment to forsake all others. If adultery or po*******hy is destroying your commitment to God and your spouse. Check your commitment.

22/03/2023

Husband, your wife is a woman with strong blood but a fragile heart. Avoid doing what can provoke her and tempt her to do what is not right.

-CouplesForCHRIST

25/01/2023