THE MESSAGE NOW
Vol. 2, No. 13 – Monday, 27th March, 2017
(Heb.13:16, 1 Cor.7:1-40, Eph.5:20-33)
IS IT STILL AS IT WAS IN YOUR COURTSHIP DAYS?
Against this edition of The Message Now, I strongly recommend not just a read but a spiritually-thoughtful read of the book written by Walter Trobisch titled, ‘I Married You’. Note: this recommendation is a must for everyone.
To the Most High God, the blessed father of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ of Nazareth who is the sure foundation over this Ministry, be glory, honour and praise forever. The wonderful deeds of the Eternal Most High are without count over Express Image Glory Ministries. I cannot but express my most profound appreciation to the Great I Am, the most blessed Eternal Reality for his care, mercy and kindness to my most amiable workers and partners in ministry too.
At about the closing moments of my final year in the University, a somewhat mild argument ensued between me and a close friend. The basis of our melodrama at the time was a statement from this good Christian friend and brother.
Quoting another classmate of ours, my Christian brother and friend softly argued that it is said that ‘love in any marriage never lasts for more than seven years’. What an atrocious criminal statement of the most uncommon echelon.
If love in marriage has expiry moment, then something is foundationally wrong with either the institution of marriage itself or with the institutor of marriage. But get it clear, nothing is wrong with the institutor of marriage. In my view, the absence of certain associates of love is the key reason.
The reality is that there are four associates of love which must necessarily conduce with love in order to give it its strength and dominion. If such associates as money, sex, communication and innovation or inventiveness are not given their rightful priority and place in marriage, then in deed and in truth, love in marriage has determinable moment.
The purpose of any Christian marriage is first and foremost for God’s own glory, for companionship, for communication and for continuity of life. As such, I contend further that if these four associates of love are out of the way, the very essence of marriage is defeated. Sex in marriage for instance is exceptionally vital.
Sex in marriage is GOOD. Its primary purposes are for procreation and for pleasure. Did you just read that with your very eyes? That sex in marriage is not just for procreation but is for pleasure. Stories abound from Christian couples on the misconception and misunderstanding of the purpose of sex in marriage.
Get it right dear brother and dear sister. Your holier than thou attitude and defrauding of yourselves of sex in marriage is nothing short of sin. Understand that you have driven God out of your home and marriage because of your attitude to sex.
It is to me most shockingly staggering and annoying to hear a Christian sister say to her husband: ‘because of what you have done to me, I am not going to allow you get in-bed with me’. What a shame! Dear Christian sister!
The greater shock is that on further research, one discovers that the bone of contention between them was simple disagreement without any serious ranchor. What do you really understand marriage to be? Is marriage not to you a spiritual union and not just a physical one? Sister! Do you not attach any value to your husband? Aha! if God is the institutor of marriage and indeed your own marriage, that deliberate denial of intimacy with your husband, what value or glory does it give to God? Sister! Have you not read 1 Cor.7:3-5?
It is unheard-off that there is abstinence from sexual intimacy in your marriage for more than a year now. I am sorry sirs and madams, you should have opted to be a Reverend father, Reverend sister or better still be in the place of Pope Francis. By now, we should all be paying yearly homage to you at the Vatican inside Rome.
Learn this mystery and understand the deep spiritual fact that sex in marriage is a form of worship which glorifies the Almighty. Understand that sex in happy marriage is one of the surest media to prayers being answered.
The question is this: what has happened to the romantic feelings in your courtship days? Did it ever graduate into genuine love in marriage? Be sincere, did you marry your husband for a purpose, out of sympathy or because it is better than nothing? Is your husband to you just a husband not a friend?
Whatever your responses are: there is now a solution from the Lord (to be continued next week).
Hymn: Take My Life And Let It Be
Pray now:
- Pray very hard for Christian marriages.
- Pray very hard for your marriage.
- O God, repair every broken flower vase of my marriage.
- O God, pour out fresh oil, wine and honey from heaven into my marriage.
- O dear father, let the dew of heaven fall upon my home for financial blessings and romance renewal (be not unholy holy, make sure you mention the word romance in God’s ears).
Pastor Mike
