Prayer, Bible Study, Encounters, Worship, Praise, Fellowship/ Discipleship Groups, Service and Witness.
Prayer: Every marriage survives or dies on communication. Prayer is the way we communicate with God and “Encounter” Him.
We need to pray individually and as a couple. Remember when we pray together as a couple it’s like putting a hedge of protection around your marriage.
If you can’t communicate with God you will never be able to effectively communicate with each other.
We need to be to be open, vulnerable and transparent with our spouse in our prayers and in every day life.
Bible Study: By studying the word we learn so much about God and his principles. And what he expects from us.
Fellowship/ Marriage Discipleship Groups: When you get involved in marriage discipleship group you form deep bonds with fellow believers, make friends that will help you get through tough times, they will lift you up and hold you accountable.
(Go into testimonial video of people involved in MDG)
Praise and Worship: If you are not worshiping God you are probably worshiping something else. Take time to reflect on your life and see if God is the center of your life.
Like hobbies, TV, Work, Self- embarrassment, pride, being uncomfortable
Praising him in song is a great way to get into the presence of God.
Service: We definitely Encounter God through our service. There is nothing more humbling than when you are used by God to do his work. You feel so good that God chose you a no body to reach out to someone in need.
Most of the time you feel like you get more out of it then they do because you feel like WOW! God found me worthy enough to use me for HIS glory!
Witness: We are all called to spread Gods word and to disciple others. That is His Great Commission.
That means we need to be telling friend, family, neighbors and others that who are not believers about HIM. We are to plant the seed by sharing our testimony and His word.
We must be a light to other believers as well. We can witness as we serve, fellowship and interact in the body of Christ.
You might say “Well I’m just not that way or spiritual. Let me remind you of the disciples that Jesus chose himself. They were just ordinary people just like you and me who had one thing in common and that was to follow the greatest man who ever walked this earth.
Mathew 7:24-27
“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
In this verse Jesus is telling us how important it is to build your spiritual house on a solid foundation. And that we must be obedient to him and his word.
So many of us in our marriage especially in the beginning never anticipate the storms that we will go through. We only think of the good things. But when we are not prepared spiritually when a storm hits you get overwhelmed and usually the first thing to go is your relationship with God. We start blaming him for things or wonder why he isn’t helping us. We feel abandoned. But that’s just not the case.
In 2001 Helene and I had an opportunity to test not only our faith, but also the strength of our relationship.
After 911 our business went from one extreme to the other. It was like the television industry came to a halt. We were just very tight in the beginning but a few months into it we were in more then tight, we were flat broke. We literally had to stretch our meals and limit the milk. The little work that did come in wasn’t enough to eat or pay bills, let alone buy the gas to drive the 26 mile round trip it is from our home to church twice a week. We literally had nothing!!
There were times Helene would come upstairs into my office and see me with my face in my hands crying out to God. I was desperate. Then there were times Helene would be so down because she opened the refrigerator or the pantry and couldn’t come up with yet another creative, inexpensive still healthy dinner to cook for the kids.
It was so amazing how having so little can bless you so much. It was at my weakest times that Helene carried me and at her weakest that I carried her. We know that was when the Lord was carrying both of us. We never fought, not even the little things. There was a comforting peace that stayed hovering over our home. Sure we had those bad days, but Helene and I kept our eyes on God and each other. We never prayed so much together or apart. We spent so much time on our knees that we had calluses! We pulled together and sought God more then we had ever in our lives.
We honored the Lord by tithing on what little money did come in. We never once thought about not tithing. We knew God was working by the peace in our home and the love Helene and I were sharing. So we wanted to be faithful with little so that the Lord would trust us with much. We promised each other and God we would praise Him through all things, maybe not for all things, but definitely through all things. Not only did God restore our finances He multiplied them! Even more importantly He multiplied our walk with Him and our marriage. We honestly believe because we chose to “Encounter” God everyday no matter what we were going through He sustained us, blessed us and elevated us in all areas of our lives.
Remember: Obedient, growing followers of Christ make great marriage partners.
Thanks for posting another amazing week. ummm so where is the video?
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