To love her like Christ loves the church

We'll to begin, I guess this post is to married men but I suppose that if you aren't married then this is a bonu s to you so you will be able to start your marriage off the right way, God's way. 

As a married man of now three years, with three children, (one destroying my home, the other in my wife's belly and one in heaven), I can't act like the wise married man of 25+ years but I can share what wisdom the Lord brought me thus far. 

Learn to love her. Yes I said learn because it takes time to learn how much Christ loved His church. If you want to experience loving your wife the way He intended you must understand the love of a father. 

You see, when a man has a child and gets to hold in his arms something so precious, a treasure if you will, nothing makes you want to allow any harm to that little gift. You start caring above and beyond about safety, sympathy, care, and the love they desire from you. This is how our Father created your love to be for your wife. He created her perfectly and beautifully just for you, but like any father He desires that we treat His creation like He desires us to. A Father is scared of ever letting his beautiful little girl go into the hands of the wrong man so He earnestly prays and hopes that the right man will come along for her...this is how the Father treats his children too. However the interesting thing is He created the man too but it is up to the man to make the choice to love her respectfully and with a fiery passion that can only come from the intamacy the man has with the Lord. 

My wife Abigail has been put through the ringer with me and that's probably why I have this on my heart to share so that other men would learn a lesson from my mistakes. 

Put God first and then her directly next even before your children. You were given eternity by believing that Christ died for you on the cross...that was a gift out of grace and mercy. Then you were given HER. So if you think for a moment that maybe you don't have what you want In life, remember that you have been given the greatest gifts already. When man finds a wife he finds a good thing. 

Don't allow the world to tell you different and don't just take my words. Read what the scriptures have to say and let them be your guide. 

Always remember that she is your first ministry before anything else you do for the Lord. Don't allow what the modern day church has and continues to do by showing that there is no higher calling than to serve all your days in church ministry... I fell into that and many times thought my marriage would eventually fail. She comes first after your time with Christ...always! 

Is this hard to do? I shouldn't have to even tell you. But the most rewarding thing that you will gain from this is simply the love that was created for you to share by the Most High. 

Always,

Michael 

Sinking Sand

A reality that hopefully you won't have to go through is the feeling of sinking into the idolatry of man. If you indeed have a relationship with Jesus, and I mean "real"ationship, I pray that this will help you along the way of serving a living Creator and not an idea of one. It is very easy to fall into idolatry whether it is in material things, image, or a person. The hardest thing is realizing when you  have committed it, and changing because of it. Christ desires to be number one, not a close second to whatever you have placed so highly in your life. True we want to trust in people, sometimes we want to be dependent because of the fear that we cant experience God on the level we want to alone, but the TRUTH is, we don't ask. The scriptures very clearly say knock and the door will be opened to you, but the deeper look is spiritual, not so much material. Don't get me wrong if the Lord of Hosts blesses you because of your faithful service, then praise Yahweh, but the Lord wants relationship. Intimate, real, and pure relationship.

I myself have fallen into idolatry. I have made a man that I looked up to for years, who also has taught me and led me in my walk to Christ an idol that I sadly have placed in many respects even above my relationship with Jesus. I must say that it was very easy. I didn't think twice, in fact I never saw it coming. I thought that maybe I was walking closer to the Lord because of my devoted heart to learn from this man. The truth is, I have never been so far away from the Lord. I haven't given my heart to that first true love that is Jesus.

The point of this post is simply this. Don't let your fear of what man may think of you become more important than what God thinks of you. Your fear should be in the Lord who created you. Your relationship with Him matters more than any relationship on this earth. And yes if your married, more than your wife. The Bible says to love your wife like Christ loves the church, but nowhere does it say that God comes second. Not one place.

If you are struggling with this same trial in your life. I pray that this will help you sit back and take a close look at your relationship with Jesus. Your relationship with Him is "everything".

Sincerely,
Michael