Pre -Marriage Intro. There is Hope in the LORD

The call came to me on the emergency pager- married for only months the young wife with the tone of anxiety and exasperation said, "He gave His life to Christ, just before we were married but now....?"
Pornography
Hip Hop culture friends
Selfishness
And the justification...
BUT... I go to church on Sunday and that's enough !

The papers had been filed but she felt the LORD wanted her to wait.... ANY Hope Pastor?

To take back my line from a famous political candidate "you betcha!"

Being married for 26 years to my wife - I explained- we all have problems and fights - but we have the Lord.
When my wife married me I was not a Christian -Boy, did I make her life difficult!
Even after coming to Christ I had to GROW UP!

There is hope in the LORD
in the awesome power of prayer and submission to HIS will.
Submission to His will
I took the young wife, to 1 Peter 3 a difficult passage for those who are married to non believers. Non the less, a call to obedience to Christ and a plan for winning the unsaved husband.
The Power of Prayer
I encouraged her to ask God to change her heart about praying for her husband.
The key to prayer is, to pray for God's will for God's Glory - I told her to pray HIS way and HIS will for her husband, not just to pray for an easier life with a "Christian husband."

I can hear the voices of some women saying, "If he is into porn then divorce him."
Sure, on the tech side of the Greek word Porn-ea (Matthew 19 sexual immorality)- she could divorce, but what had God spoken to her! to stay in the marriage........ and hold on to that hope!
Marriage counseling is on their Horizon - as he is open for help.

It's not just the men...
This has also been a year when I have heard of young women who looked solid in Christ from the outside - BUT, they went outside their marriage to find what they thought were greener pastures.

That's what leads me to this blog- I believe there is a way to prevent much of this heartache, by dealing with major issues -before the marriage... with premarital counsel from God's Word. Once married the issues and problems have a way of multiplying (by what seems to be a factor of 10!). Deal with issues now! Grow up in HIM!

The Outline of C's for Premarital Counseling

The outline we will discuss is simple - yet profound because it is based in God's WORD.
I routinely take young couples through this outline and have seen major breakthroughs in their walk with the LORD. These breakthroughs lead to improved relationships - and from what I have observed great marriages

The outline we will be following in future blogs...

Christ: Where is He in my life? - Have I a relationship with HIM? -Is He #1? Am I a disciple?

Commitment: What does commitment mean? Am I commit-ed to Christ? Do I live for HIM? - Do I know HIS commitment to me? Am I a commit -ed person/ to relationships in my life? Will I be commit- ed to my spouse?


Caring: What is love?What love is not? Do I know God's love? Do I love my brothers? Do I know how to love? Do I love my spouse to be?

Communication: Do I communicate like a Christian? What does that mean? Do I communicate with GOD? Am I hearing HIS DIRECTION FOR MY LIFE? How do I communicate with others? How do I communicate with my future spouse? What does bad communication look like?

Conflict: How does God want us to deal with conflict? Is conflict always bad? What are the origins of conflict? How do I deal with conflict? How does this affect my future spouse?

So here we grow............
Ephesians 4:15-16
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
NIV


In Christ
Peter