The apostle Paul writing in the seventh chapter of Corinthians  (v39) writes that a Christian’s marriage must only be in the Lord.   So what is a marriage in the Lord?

God Desires To Be At The Centre of Your Marriage

It’s easy to be swept away with romantic and sexual feelings that results in the rapid commitment of a guy and gal to each other.   And its so very easy for these rapidly made unions to dissolve almost as quickly as they started because God is not at the center.  It’s essential for a believer seeking a wife or husband to know what is the difference not only between love and infatuation, but more importantly that God can indeed bless their marriage union.  A Christian marriage is only truly valid and able to have God’s presence fill it if it is between two born again believers; a union between two ‘heirs together of the grace of life’, (2 Pet 3:7). 

The Trap of Being “Unequally Yoked” 

The scriptures teach quite emphatically that a Christian is commanded NOT to get tied into any partnerships with non-Christians where the Incompatibility between a righteous lifestyle and  ungodliness would cause friction.  This principle applies of course, very strongly to the marriage of a Christian with an unbeliever;  joining together with a sexual partner who is not in Christ.

2 Cor 6: 14 – Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

Some Additional Considerations Before Deciding To Marry

Even when both persons contemplating getting married are both Christians, rather than just” falling in love” a couple need to build on the foundation of their Christian marriage wisely, lovingly and purposefully.    Before they both ‘take the plunge’ its wise to know if they really are suited, or if the rush they are feeling is temporary infatuation.  They both need to consider their compatibility. This is essential for the success of the relationship since various psychological studies have demonstrated that the intense rush of excited happiness from infatuation only lasts about 18 months.   After this time, the dopamine body  chemical that give a feeling of blissful happiness dies.   It is only that which remains that a couple have spent time to build into their union that will determine the success or failure of the relationship.  Dr. Susan Heitler wrote in Psychology Today, “It’s easy to confuse loving the feeling of infatuation with the totally separate issue of how loving you are likely to feel toward that person after the infatuation has worn off.”

We live in a culture obsessed with romance. Sweet stories of sensual passion, quick commitments and affectionate promises surround us this time of year. And yet, even while we seem to worship love, its crumbling runs rampant as divorce rates skyrocket. The truth is that what we often see portrayed as true love in love movies and other media is actually just the heat of infatuation.

So how can you tell the difference between love and infatuation? Thankfully, you don’t have to be fooled by your brain chemistry. There are some helpful things to keep in mind at the beginning of any whirlwind romance, before you take the plunge into marriage. Here are some important questions to ask yourself:

Are Romantic Feelings the Only Bonds In Your Relationship?

Ask yourself the question, “Would you have made friends together if romantic feelings had never developed?  You need to have shared values and goals?  You need to be honest with yourself and evaluate what’s left of a deeply loving friendship if  romance fades.    A Christian couple after all need to put God’s kingdom first.

Do Your Friends and Family Like This Person?

Do the people who know you best agree feel good about your relationship?   It’s wise to consider the way the other person’s family and friends feel about your future union? It’s wise to maintain community and listen to the wisdom from those you trust is crucial.

Can You Truly Be Yourself With Your Intended?

In the early stages of a relationship, it’s natural to want to put your best foot forward. But if you’re still in performance mode (or if you suspect they are), give it some time. If you cannot truly be yourself with this person, do you really want to spend the rest of your life with them?

Has the Relationship Had Time to Grow and Develop?

It’s easy to want to jump into a lifelong commitment when you are wearing rose-colored glasses. Because we know that infatuation simply cannot last forever, one way to be sure you’re seeing clearly is to wait it out. Not only does this give you the opportunity to see the other person in a variety of circumstances, but the delaying of gratification is an important exercise for you both. Christian psychologists Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend wrote in Boundaries in Dating, “Love waits and respects, but lust must have what it wants now.”

How Do You Handle Conflict Together?

When you’re not feeling so happy, does your relationship still stand up? How you handle conflict as a team is an important indicator of whether your relationship can stand the test of time. When you fight (not if, but when), take note of how it is handled.

RETURN TO – HOME PAGE

Sensitivity to  your wife’s needs is of primary importance in your relationship. This page  and associated pages gives advice on meeting some of these needs.

Your Wife Needs To Be Affirmed

Everyone of us takes care of our self.  At least we do if we have healthy mind.  We are sensitive to the needs of our body for cleanliness, for nourishment and for health.  We have a built in awarenesses that cause us to take care of ourselves.  As  Christians we should take care of our wives because our precious spouses  are “One flesh”  with us;  Our Lord Jesus said…

Mark 10:7. 8– For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

.  Our lives are entwined;  we are of one flesh because God has joined us together.  There is a list in the following page giving us guidelines I’ve had we can be sensitive to our wives needs#

She Needs To Be Affirmed As a Woman

A man’s wife needs to know that she is “his woman”  and  she needs to be affirmed sexually about her attractiveness.  Affirming her sexually in the bedroom of course is part of this and a very strong part of it.   However,  affirming your wife sexually as your woman involve  much more than just taking her to bed.   Your wife’s confidence in herself as a woman must extend beyond the bedroom.  Not only in the bedroom but throughout all the day she should feel affirmed, loved and cherished.  She needs to have a continual sense with her that she is your woman and that use wanted and desired buy you.

 Many small affirmations
.
There are a multitude of ways we can affirm our wife throughout the day, but its so easy to neglect her .  A man who is a business man could be so totally immersed in his work that he’s thinking about his work whilst he dresses, while he shaves and while he is going out of the door to the car.   It’s so easy to leave the wife with a grunt in the morning when you are so busy as you head for the office or place of work.
But this is an example of an opportunity that can be missed to affirm your wife.  Before you reach the decor and walk out of the door this is an ideal time to kiss her attentively and tell her softly that she is loved by you.
Stop in the morning for a goodbye kiss.  Even hold her by the waist look into my eyes and tell her  something like, “you sure are something beautiful to come home to”.  It’ll be worth it!   She will be waiting for you all day and you’ll be maybe very pleasantly surprised buy your homecoming if you treat her tenderly and with affirmation of love in this way!

It’s a wonderful idea but once a day once every day you remind your wife in some little way that she is sexually appealing and attractive to you.  This will cause her to  really “bloom” because  a wife’s esteem affects everything.  
The way your wife sees herself as a person in her a sexuality and in  self-confidence will affect everything she does.  It will affect the way she keeps the home.  

It will affect the way the way she decorates the home.   It effects her influence in the community and the way she stands by you and supports you in public.  The way you affirm her will effect the way she dresses the children and the way she works in community.    It will have a ripple – on effect in many arenas, even  affecting the sympathetic way she listens to a friend in need over a  coffee.  It will even affect the way she pays compliments to check out girl when she goes shopping.
.

She Needs To Be Affirmed As Your Wife

How beautiful you are my darling/

Your spouse needs to know and be sure and secure in the certain and beautiful relationship given by God that she has with you as your wife.  She needs to know that her relationship with you is not only unique but God ordained.

 Song of Solomon 1:15 –  How beautiful you are, my darling, How beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves.

She needs to know this deep in her heart and spirit that the Lord  gave her to you as a precious  gift and help-meet.

A Wife’s Struggle with  Submission

In the book the Christian couple by Larry and Nordis Christenson, .the story unfolds concerning a young housewives struggle over being scriptually submissive to a husband.   The young wife struggled with the biblical submission principle. 

1 Pet 3:3 to 6 – Your beauty should not come from outward adornment such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes, but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.  For this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves. They put their hope in God and were subject to their husbands,

The true account unfolds of a young wife who had the mistaken opinion that being submissive and obedient to her husband according to would demean  her.   
One day after reading an article praising the virtue of being a submissive wife,  she related how that  when her  husband walked in the door that night,  for all the world she said, ” I wanted to raise the clenched fist of rebellion in his face”.  And yet at the same time she felt dissatisfied the way things were going in the  marriage, so more-or-less as an experiment she decided to try the ‘submissive thing.’

She began to listen more carefully to her husband.   She began to speak to him in phrases like, 
“sure honey” and “ok darling” in her vocabulary as she spoke with him.  She also tried to anticipate his preferences.  
One evening about a month later,  they were sharing a seat together in the kitchen over a turkey sandwich while the children what happened on TV    ……TO BE CONTINUED

Chapters In This Series:

• How To Love My Wife
• The Christian Honeymoon

Please feel free to contact me via THIS WEBSITE’S contact form.  I would be so pleased to hear from you.  Please also feel free to leave me with any advice and any of your own experiences as we develop these articles together.   I will consider including any experiences of how the Lord has helped your marriage in blogs on this website.    GO TO contact Form to contact me.

In Psalm 45 we have a beautiful psalm celebrating the royal wedding, we saw it as is an inspired prophetic song concerning Christ and his bride the church.    We previously looked  at marriage in the light of scripture and saw what a wonderful, pure and sacred thing married sexual love is between a husband and wife.   It is God’s beautiful gift.   Now I will discuss that very sacred time called the honeymoon when each newly wed couple explore each other and begin to know each other more tenderly and  intimately!   If you are a Christian, I trust you will read this in purity because these things are written with the hope they will be a blessing to newly married Christian couples.

Below is some practical advice on how to enjoy your honeymoon to the full.

Perhaps Wait Till Morning  – The wedding day can be such a busy time and at the end of the day both you and your love may be very tired. This time may be planned as the first and special time for sexual intimacy. Many brides like to “wait” until their wedding day for good reasons, but even if you have made love before your wedding night- you will want the fist time after marriage to be very memorable and special. On your wedding night you might consider waiting until the next morning for sexual intimacy.

Nothing is worse than feeling rushed, pressured or tired when you want to experience the delight of becoming or being one. A good nights sleep in each others arms may be the best thing to do. Then in the morning when you are fresh after the groom spreads flower petals on and around the bed you can both make love. Even if the decision is to be sexually intimate that night, it might be something worth discussing together now before the wedding day.

Husbands, Be A Slow Lover – Husbands, always remember that women love a “slow lover”.   Women love a man who is patient in bringing his wife to emotional and sexual arousal.  This is really a test for a man and when he is patient it shows his tenderness, love and consideration.   A man can be aroused quickly and reach orgasm in a few minutes while a woman normally needs much longer, typcally a minimum of 15 minutes.  Your bride may need slow carressess all over and kisses,  The husband should try and create an EMOTIONAL atmosphere that woos her heart.  Dim the lights, even sing to her; women love being sung to.  Tell her how beautiful she is.

Think baths and massages  –  A jaccuzzi tub or even a plain old-fashioned bath is a great place to relax and also to get to know each other and each others bodies.  Giving each other body massages all over with massage-oil will help you both to be relaxed in being naked together.  Showering and taking baths is a great way to feel intimate and get used to each other.  Please remember  jacuzzi sex may be so easy as you thought.  It might be good to have fun but if you have to move to the bed for the “main event”, that’s honestly okay. And likely a lot easier.

First Night At Home?

Everything is better if you relax.   Maybe the fist night can be spent at home where you both feel more natural, comfortable and there is no pressure.  If the first night is spent in your home you will feel more relaxed,   and in this relaxed atmosphere things happen as they’re going to happen more spontaneously and naturally.  And please don’t worry about unrealistic ” first night expectations”.   You have the rest of your life together and sex is going to improve as you get more familiar with each other and each others needs.  I said earlier that it might be a good idea to just rest in each others arms the first night after the wedding.  Just enjoy each other and let things happen as they happen.   Anyway, I say again – A great wedding tip is –  wait for the morning to have sex even if you spend the fist night in your own new home! You’ll often  be too tired after the long day of your wedding! 

RETURN TO  – CHAPTERS (HOME PAGE) ON HOW TO HAVE A FULFILLING MARRIAGE

RETURN TO  WEBSITE HOME PAGE – Jesus Christ is The Way The Truth and The Life

Every Christian marriage  today is filled with excited hope.  Like the 1940 Pioneers settlers who crossed the Mississippi River looking for the precious gold!  
They were entering into a new land going for precious treasure.  The way how to have a fulfilling marriage is to keep Jesus Christ at the centre.  With Jesus Christ at the center of a marriage – all these problems can not only be overcome, but by God’s help and grace – they can even be used as ” stepping stones” to success!

Reach A New Horizon

Those early pioneers were filled with hope in the expectation of new territory and exciting wonders and perhaps riches that they have never seen before. Entering marriage as a couple is a bit like being a Pioneer Crossing into new territory. A new land of new experiences is stretching out before you both. Although countless couples have gone on before you to enter into the new land of married life, it’s still for you both an unsettled and unexplored land  and a new horizon before you.  

Hold Tight Your Dreams

Any pioneers crossing into new Land are filled with two things. The first thing they are filled with his new hope and excitement about what lies in the future. However the pioneers always also experience difficulties.   As a newly married couple you  both need to hold tight your dreams because there will be challenges along the way.

Married couples are like that. They enter marriage with such hopes and dreams and excitement, and rightly so because a marriage with God at it’s center has the potential to be a very wonderful union with great and glorious potential. But as I said, there no doubt will be the challenging presence of difficulties of various kinds; these trials can make marriage stronger if endured with the correct attitude. However they can also destroy!

Communication Problems in a Marriage

This shattering of hopes and dreams need not happen but it is so sad that often a marriages hope shrivels up under the face of difficulties and trials that come.  Such difficulties in marriage sometimes break down what could be such a glorious union and destroy the fresh new hope that the couple had at the start of their relationship.  Communication problems in a marriage can bring discouragement and dismay may even quench the fire of love.

Christian Marriage Counseling

Difficulties may take the form of arguments and sharp disagreements between husband and wife. There might also be also problems in the bedroom.  This can occur  when it comes to difficulties in understanding  each other’s sexual needs.  Sometimes trouble lie in difficulties in finances.  Difficulties can take many forms but these can quench, smother and Crush the hope that the newly wed couple had at the start.  Such problems sometimes drive Christian couples to seek Christian Marriage Counseling.

But as we will see in articles to come, with Jesus Christ at the center of a marriage – all these problems can not only be overcome, but by God’s help and grace – they can even be used as ” stepping stones” to a wonderful marriage union.

Chapters In This Series:

• How To Love Your Wife
• What Is a Marriage In The Lord
• Sensitivity To Her Needs
• How To Love My Wife
• The Christian Honeymoon

Please feel free to contact me via THIS WEBSITE’S contact form.  I would be so pleased to hear from you.  Please also feel free to leave me with any advice and any of your own experiences as we develop these articles together.   I will consider including any experiences of how the Lord has helped your marriage in blogs on this website.    GO TO – contact  Marcus at Bible Truths Revealed – to contact me.

TO  – COMPLETE LIST OF SITE BLOGS

TO – CHRISTIAN BOOK AND RESOURCES STORE

TO – WEBSITE HOME PAGE

Messenger (Evangelist ) Marcus ‘ breaks open; the verse in the New Testament that tells us how God loved the world so much that He gave HIS only begotten Son Jesus. This verse is probably the most well known verse. in scripture. One verse of the bible can hold so much truth and blessing and this verse is no exception. It has much to tell us of God’s nature and unique attributes.

A Profound Scripture

Today I want to talk about a profound scripture. It is probably the best known verse in the Bible. Yes, it is John 3:16. There is much wonderful truth in that scripture. Today we are going to look at that scripture, in more depth. The first thing we are going to do is ask a question. I guess most children ask their parents this question

Who And What Is God To Me

Yes,  I guess most children ask their parents this question: Who and what is God to me? Who made God? In a manner of speaking, God is unknowable and far beyond your comprehension. However, God has revealed himself to us in his word and when we are Children of God and filled with the Holy Spirit, the Lord will reveal many things about him to us. In the Scriptures, God reveals himself as the Eternal God.

Isa 57:15 –  For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

The One Inhabiting Eternity

That means our God never ever had a beginning because He actually dwells in eternity. He existed eternity past and will exist in eternity future. Actually we could say that God exists in the past, present and future simultaneously, because he is “out of time” and is eternal. The fact that God is eternal also means that God will never have an end. All of us, (every human being) and every animal had a beginning and we surely will have an end. For example, I myself was born about 81 years ago, and my mother gave birth to me and gave me life. I definitely had a start. All of you who are listening to the sound of my voice had a beginning. But God does not need to be given life because he not only inhabits eternity and is self-sufficient, but he also has life in himself and is the only source of life.

In Him We Have Our Being

Listen to the truth of the wonder of the self-existent God. In Him we have our very being.   This gracious God is the source of all life and blessing as recorded in acts chapter 17.   Paul is addressing the philosophers of the pagan city of Athens ……….


Acts 17: 24 to 29 – What you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you. God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. 25Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

and continuing at verse 28 ………..

. 28‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ 29Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

. 28‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ 29Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

Eternal Life Is In Christ

The Lord Jesus told us as recorded  in the Gospel of John Chapter 5 verse 26,  “as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.  
So Amen!  Our wonderful saviour has life in himself and he never had to be given life by anyone or anything. He is in reality full of eternal life, and also ALL THE FULNESS of the Godhead.

Col 2:9, 10 – in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. 10And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

RETURN TO – HOME PAGE

John 3 16 is probably the most well known verse in the bible
– “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”

This is a truly wonderful verse that is full of such dynamic truth. In this sermon, Messenger Marcus “opens up” this verse in a God inspired new way.

HEADING 1

Our saviour Jesus Christ, after His resurrection gave the church one supreme task. What was the great commission?

Jesus Takes Us High

In Matthew’s gospel chapter 8 we read in the Word of God that after HIS resurrection our Lord Jesus met his disciples on a mountain that he had previously appointed them to meet Him.

Mat 28: 16 to 20 – Meanwhile, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had designated. 17When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19Therefore go and make disciplesd of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Our Lord longs to ………

Jesus Wonderful Presence

TEXT 2

Let’s have Faith

text 3

The Word of Power

Before the coming of Christ to earth born of the virgin Mary there were ‘misteries.’ Glorious truths that were hidden and veiled before Jesus came to earth that were unveiled and made clear at His coming. The unveiled misteries included Christ himself , who the scriptures declare as The Mystery of God in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, (Colossians 2:2). This glorious Christ is spoken of by the Apostle Paul as being the ‘ The hope of glory.’ Paul writes …..

Colossians 1:25 thru 27 – I  became its servant by the commission God gave me to fully proclaim to you the word of God, the mystery that was hidden for ages and generations but is now revealed to His saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ, himself the great mystery, unveiled many wonderful truths to His precious bride, the church. Here, Messenger Marcus preaches a prophetic sermon to a gathered congregation in a house church in Frettenham UK.

THE MYSTERY NOW UNVEILED

RETURN TO – HOME PAGE

Messenger Marcus gives an in-depth Hebrews 1 Commentary Video with supporting scripture text illustrations

Hebrews 1 Exposition

This supporting text article is currently being written.

RETURN TO – HOME PAGE

In Psalm 45 we have a beautiful psalm celebrating the royal wedding.  It is an inspired prophetic song concerning Christ and his bride the church:  After looking at marriage in the light of scripture, I will discuss that very sacred time called the honeymoon when each newly wed couple explore each other! 

Psalm 45: 10 to 16 – Listen to me, O royal daughter; take to heart what I say. Forget your people and your family far away.  For your royal husband delights in your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord. The princess of Tyre will shower you with gifts. The wealthy will beg your favor.  The bride, a princess, looks glorious in her golden gown.  In her beautiful robes, she is led to the king, accompanied by her bridesmaids.  What a joyful and enthusiastic procession as they enter the king’s palace!

As each Christian couple enter into marriage they need to realize that Christian marriage is a beautiful, pure, sacred thing. It is
actually a “picture” of Christ and the Church.

In Ephesians chapter 5, the apostle Paul presents the church as the Bride of Christ.
Its not often realised even in the Christian church that the husband and wife in every marriage are a “figure” or type of Christ and the church.  In every  marriage the bride is not the REAL bride; the real bride is the church of Jesus Christ. In every marriage the husband is not REAL husband; the groom is a type of the real husband, who is the Lord Jesus Christ lover, washer and protector and life of His bride the church.

Since marriage is a picture of the most sacred eternal bond, it needs to treasured and kept in purity. The writer of Hebrews wrote in chapter 13, verse 4 – Let marriage be held in honor among all, and (let) the bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge

A Deep profound Truth

The reality of the church as Christ’s bride is very deep and profound. The church comes out of Christ just as Eve came out of Adam
(Gen. 2:21-22).  The first marriage was in the garden of Eden between Adam and Eve.  God put Adam into a deep sleep and then brought forth the beautiful bride, Eve. When Adam awoke he must have been so captivated by the most pure and beautiful vision of loveliness before him that e could imagine. In the same way, the Lord Jesus was put into the “sleep” of death. John chapter 19 tels us ( v34) that after our Lord died on  calvary’s cross, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water. The apostle John made specific mention of this (1 John 5:6) that not only blood came forth but blood and water also.

The blood that flowed speaks of our redemption, but the water that flowed speaks of washing by his words:
Both the blood and water came out of the Lord’s pierced side: blood and water. Blood redemption, to deal with sins (John1:29; Heb.
9:22) and  for the purchasing of the church (Acts 20:28).  Water is for imparting life, for the washing and the producing of the church (Eph. 5:29-30). The Lord’s death, on the negative side, takes away our sins, and on the positive side, imparts life into us.

When our Lord Jesus awoke ( in resurrection) from the “sleep” of death, He to like Adam was captivated by the most pure and beautiful vision of loveliness before him that He could imagine, The Church, His bride.  So we see that Just as Eve came from the side of Adam to be his bride, even so the church was birthed out of the pierced side of Jesus to be the Bride of Christ.

The Church ( coming out of Christ) has the same life and nature as Christ.   Many Christians know that husband and wife are a type of Christ and the church. However, our hearts need to see the wonder of this revelation in order that our being and our life, and marriages may be changed by it.

For every bride and groom then, the honeymoon is a pure, lovely, God ordained tender time.

GO TO – ADVICE ON YOUR HONEYMOON