Series: What God Brings Together.
Lesson 3: Protecting Your Marriage We purchase insurance for our homes, cars, bodies and any other valuable we can think of. However, so few of us take the time to insure our marriages. The purpose of insurance is to protect your assets in the event of a casualty, accident, or malfunction. These circumstances most certainly can occur within a marriage, so why would you not take measures to insure it. Just as with tangible items, marriages can be overrun by the casualty of indiscretion, accidental neglect and total communication malfunction. Tonights lesson, Protecting Your Marriage, will assist you in building hedges which will help insure your marriage. 1. Meditation 1 Peter 5:8 "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" * This scripture makes things very clear. We are not immune to problems in our personal walk or together in marriage. We must approach our marriages just as we do our lives individually; a precious creation of the father, of which the enemy is envious and obsessed with destroying. Marriage is symbolic of Christ's love for the church; the devil strives night and day to separate us from him and his undying love. So why wouldn't this be the case in relation to marriages. The joining of man and woman by this holy act enrages the devil and gives him motivation to destroy it. It is imperative for us to build hedges about ourselves, to insure the continuity of our marriages. It is foolish to rely solely on our will power to sustain our unions, but wise to depend on God's unwavering strength and love.
1. Acknowledge the good in each-other.
-Acknowledge the tongue can be used as a weapon or instrument of love -Don't constantly voice the negative and never voice how positive actions make you feel. When your spouse does something that makes your day go smoother acknowledge it. Say thanks babe this really helped. Even for the simplest of things. If you are angry and your spouse does something nice don't simply ignore it, but acknowledge the act and be sincere.
2. Create a social network that is supportive of your marriage -Don't make a habit of associating with people who have a negative outlook of marriage. -It is ok to have single friends but don't understand there must be boundaries and limits to what you do with and share with them. - Be sure that the couples you are associating with hold marriage with the same regard as you and your spouse. - You can't be enticed if you don't provide the lust. 3. Keep an open door policy - communication is key a) Ephesians 4:15 Speak the truth in love -eliminate secrets (Promote Privacy not Secrecy) 4. Don't play the comparison game The grass may be greener on the other side, but is it the environment but is it growing from holy soil? Philipians 4:11 Whatever state I find myself in, I will make myself content. 5. Invest time at home 1 Solomon 1:6 -schedule time together -love your kids, but be in love with your spouse a) God was first and then he created man and woman forming marriage and then commanded the creation of family
The order of the home should be God Man -Woman Children
6. Discretion in Clothing 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 "For this is the will of God... that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.... and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in this matter. - We must be mindful of how we dress and portray ourselves to our fellow brother and sister. If you are married be mindful that your choice of clothing is first indicative of being a child of God, and secondly will not arouse inappropriate advances from others. 7. Don't underestimate the healing of positive touch -flirt with your spouse -make love frequently a) Dont make perfection a prerequisite of love making. -make intimacy the focus not self-sacrifice a) Romans 5:8 b) Matthew 5:16 when you focus a lot of attention on what you do or go without to make your spouse happy, this can come across as being boastful. James 4:16 "But as it is, you self-conceit. All such boasting is wrong. Self work: Marriage Challenge: Create a Marriage Insurance Policy Make a list of 12 things you can do to insure your marriage against Casualties, Accidents, and Malfunctions. Use this list as a monthly guide for the next 12 months to strengthen your relationship with your spouse. Start with your first task (preferably the one that you feel is the hardest to accomplish) in month one. Then add task two in month two, and so on.
