A Stronger Marriage Starts With God

Marriage is such a beautiful thing, and it means so much to God. Marriage was one of the first things God gave to man. Marriage honors God. The first miracle that Jesus performed took place at a wedding. Marriage is a symbol of God's love for man and Christ's love of the church. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;" Ephesians 5:25. All throughout the scripture, we see many references to God and marriage.

He created the man and the woman for each other. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" Genesis 2:24. God created marriage, and He is the one we need to rely on to build and maintain a successful marriage.

You cannot have a stronger marriage without God. It is impossible to build a marriage without him. If you are a believer in Christ, you can't get far in your marriage without God. I can assure you that most couples tolerate each other but are not enjoying each other. They are not fulfilled in their marriage because they are not living a fulfilled life. A lot of couples are asking of marriage what it was not made to give. Most couples think that marriage will cure their loneliness and find out that marriage exposes it. Sex does not make your marriage better, it is a temporary fit. However, if you don't work on the problem after a night of lovemaking, your problem will be waiting for you.

Your Vertical relationship

Your vertical relationship is critical to building and maintaining a successful life and marriage. What is your vertical relationship? Your vertical relationship is God to man and man to God. To build a successful marriage, this is the area that you need to pay the most attention to. Most couples forget about God right after they get married. They tend to leave him at the altar. Please do not do that. You need Him in your life. Your relationship with God should be the most important relationship that you have built.

Horizontal Relationship

When you build a stronger vertical relationship (God to man, man to God), you will have a better horizontal relationship (Man to man) or husband and wife relationship. A stronger marriage starts with God and then with you.

In one of our online courses, "How To Check The Pulse of Your Marriage," my wife and I teach how critical your spiritual relationship with God is in relation to a successful marriage. We teach that if you want a better marriage, there must be a better you. To become a better person, you can't do it in your flesh. You have to do it in your spirit. You have to build yourself up from the inside out, not from the outside in.

"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" Galatians 5:16

If you want to stay faithful in your marriage, walk in the spirit. If you're going to love your wife with pure, sincere love, walk in the spirit. If you want to honor, submit, and respect your husband as unto the Lord, walk in the spirit.

There is an emptiness in us that only God can fill.

Nothing else can satisfy that need. That is why so many marriages are failing. Stop asking of your marriage, what only God can give.

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

Keep putting God first. Keep working on yourself. Keep striving to become a better you.