Oct 23 2023 From Thought to Action: Chapter 16
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Before we begin, remember…making disciples can be as easy as reading a chapter of The Four Priorities and discussing it with someone else. This blog series is designed to supplement your journey. Feel free to take what you need and leave the rest! And remember, please share this post with your disciple so they can subscribe, too!
KEY QUOTES from Chapter 16:Making Your Marriage Sizzle (Part 2)
Making your marriage sizzle requires:
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- Commitment – God views marriage as a life-long commitment
- Communication – 6 ways words get lost in the fog
- Caring
- Mutual acceptance and respect
- When mutual understanding and respect become core values in the home, faithfulness becomes as natural as breathing.
- Mutual responsibility
- Concerted Initiative
- Unconditional love
- Unconditional love doesn’t require one to become the doormat of the other. On the contrary, true love seeks the highest, greatest good of another, which may call for firm boundaries and a demand for sinful behavior to end.
- Courtship
- Courtship is the fire that makes a marriage sizzle. But courtship must be the product of caring. After all, courtship without caring is manipulation… Caring, in turn, depends upon effective communication.
- Superficial Knowledge = Superficial Care. Intimate Knowledge = Deep Care.
Caring and courtship have little meaning apart from an unconditionally committed marriage kept strong through good communication.
REFLECT: The four ways to make your marriage sizzle are: commitment, communication, caring, and courtship. If you had to put them in order of what you think is the most important to least important, does it match with the order your spouse does?
Which “sizzle” are you the best at? Which do you need to grow in?
PRAY: We have a tendency to overcomplicate things – especially our prayers! One way to simplify your prayer life is to pick two phrases or truths from scripture and attach them to your breath pattern. As you inhale, internally say the 1st phrase. As you exhale, say the 2nd phrase. This is from 1 Peter 4:8,
INHALE: Love each other deeply
EXHALE: love covers a multitude of sins
MEMORIZE: Take this week to memorize Malachi 2:15-16 with your household. Write it on a sticky note to place on your car dashboard, your bathroom mirror, or wherever you will view it often.
Malachi 2:15-16 “Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. “For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”
WORSHIP: Listen to this song called Unconditional by Rend Collective.
TABLE TALK: What do you love about each other? List at least one thing for every person at the table.
TEACH/PLAY: Use this resource for how to explain marriage to your kids.
What determines a great marriage?
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- Think about this…Who is your Master? Is it God? Or are you trying to be your own master? The master of your life will determine the mission of your life and the quality of your marriage.
- How are you going to invest your lives your individually and together? Your goal in life is to be like Christ (Romans 8:29). The depth of your relationship with Christ will determine the depth of your relationship with one another.
- Love is a commitment. It is constructive behavior – doing what’s best for your spouse at any given moment regardless of how you feel about them at any given moment.
- Ask for forgiveness and forgive often.
- Marriage is God’s instrument to help you become all that God wants to be. You should also strive to help your spouse become all that God wants them to be.
- God has given you to each other as a gift. Treat each other as gifts from God.
That’s it for Chapter 16!
Now…go! And make disciples!