Saturday, February 14, 2015

Your Covenant Sustains Your Marriage!


On the day you married your husband, you promised to love him 'until death do you part.' Do you remember? Whether you have been married for six months like Steven and Emily, or 34 years like Ken and me, or 61 years like my Mom and Dad, you must stay faithful to your vows; a whole generation and more is affected by your commitment or lack of commitment to your vows! "The covenant sustains the marriage, not the love," John Piper recently stated. Begin a godly generation with you and your husband by keeping your covenant, just as Christ keeps His covenant with His bride, the Church.

In order to have a marriage that lasts a lifetime and is built on the covenant you made, you must determine to never use the word divorce or think it. It must not be in your vocabulary. Determine that you are going to do everything in your power to keep your marriage together forever. The best way to do this is to work on yourself and becoming a godly help meet to your husband.

Secondly, don't ever speak negatively about your husband. Ruth Bell Graham advised wives to "tell your mate the positive, and tell God the negative." Remind yourself that NO man has ever crawled out from under his wife's criticism to become a better man, as Debi Pearl wrote. Instead of criticizing your husband, pray for him and dwell on what you love about him. You did choose to marry him and there were qualities that attracted you to him, remember?

Thirdly, read good marriage books and blogs that encourage you in your role as help meet to your husband. Most days I write something on my Facebook page to encourage women in their lives, mostly in their marriages. We need to be reminded to walk as Jesus walked, love as He loved, forgive as He forgave and serve as He served. It's so easy to forget unless we are daily reminded and in His Word. So many things in our society are intended to pull us away from our husbands, make us dissatisfied and break our covenant to them. We live in a society of vow breakers. This is a spiritual battle, women. Fight the enemy of our souls with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God and prayer.

Finally, be joyful! The joy of the Lord is your strength. Joy draws others, especially your husband, to you. Believe in the power of God and the protection of His armor {Ephesians 6:10-18}. Pray daily for your husband and the things he struggles with. Believe God and His promises. Don't depend on your ability to change your husband. Depend upon God. Have faith. Be a vow keeper and commit to loving him all the days of your life.

 What therefore God hath joined together, 
let not man put asunder.

Comments (9)

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Lori

Great post!, and a very timely one for Valentines day
Blessings to you as always
Helen UK
"Don't ever speak negatively about your husband" - this has played a huge role in making my marriage better and teaching meatience and self-control. I no longer criticize my husband, in public or in private, and it's made such a difference! Not saying that he doesn't let me express my thoughts and ideas, because he very much does. But I know now he gets the respect and love from me that he deserves, and he's very loving in return. I've really been blessed. Sometimes I wonder why God would give someone like me such a good man to love, help, raise a family with and serve The Lord with. Thinking of how I used to be non-submissive and stubborn, I cringe. God's mercy and forgiveness are beyond my understanding.

Happy Valentine's Day to you and Ken! Thank you for your wisdom that you share and for helping me be a more Godly wife and mother.
Thank you for this beautiful post, Lori. It is so simple, yet so easy to forget the precious vows that we speak before God, our families and friends on the wedding day. Thank you for the reminder. My husband is my best friend and our marriage is a stronghold with Christ at the center. Your blog helps with it's uncompromising truth. Thanks again for the post and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
this is a beautiful post in deed. I love loving my husband, we have a great marriage, check out my blog sometime I write marriage related posts.
Beautiful post. The John Piper quote is right on as well as the Ruth Bell Graham one.
Lots of truths here. I especially like the point about not criticizing him. Sometimes women think we're instructing/directing, but men don't see it as instructive, to them, it feels destructive, disrespectful - those feelings can tear apart a man and a marriage faster than you can say jack rabbit. There are times to disagree, but very rare. I've learned more about my husband by learning when to say nothing at all. Another great marriage book is The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace.
Beautiful and so true! I love every one of those points. I would also add to talk to Godly women for advice when needed. I belong to a married women's Bible study group where we read a marriage book built on the Bible and discuss how to apply it to our marriages. The support I gain from these ladies is invaluable. Just knowing I can text any one of them and have them pray over my marriage or husband or issue I'm facing is truly special and a gift from God.
The vow will carry you when the feelings don't!
Yes, the covenant sustains the marriage, and most people covenant or vow, to love, so the love will be sustained if you keep the covenant in full.

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