Love and Marriage

 John 15:17  Love one another.
Such an easy task He has put before us.  It is easy for us to say "I Love You"  three words we utter without even giving them thought.  Often at the end of a phone call "Love ya, bye"  How often have we heard that?!  It becomes a little harder when we are asked to put some action with those words!  When I am loved, I want to feel it!  Even if I never hear those words, I want to feel them!  I want to feel them in my every day tasks.  Maybe that note left for me just to say I love you or to say have a happy blessed day.  I want to feel love because someone packed my lunch, or let me have the remote to the TV during their favorite showtime, or did an extra load of laundry when they were so tired but knew I was too. Love is when for no reason you give someone flowers, a kind word- an encouraging word, a foot rub, do the dishes, pick up the living room or even tuck you in at night with a cozy blanket and your favorite drink.  Love is when every morning and every night you lift someone up in prayer!  When you are burdened for someone that you cry their tears- thats LOVE!  the love of God.  Thats the kind of love I want.  And I won't settle!  God puts forth specific instructions for his people to follow.  Instructions for leaders of countries to battle one another.  Instructions such as the Ten Commandments for us to follow.  Love is no different!  He tells us how to love!  He tells us marriage is sacred.  It is special and as hard as it is for us to love our enemy, our neighbor- our marriage partner should be easy, RIGHT!?  But you can't say I love you with your mouth and not "love" with your heart.  God has burdened my heart with hurting marriages!  And I surely don't know why because Danny and I never had a "bad" time in our marriage.  But when I see a marriage that is not all that it can be with Christ as the center and the husband and wife sharing their everything with each other- it makes me cry.
We were blessed for 28 years- we were blessed.  And I am here to tell you if you are in a marriage that isn't inspired by God- you are settling for 2nd best.  All I can say is pray and pray hard!  A friend told me this week that Christ is #1 but after that its family and if the marriage is not up to snuff- the family suffers.  You suffer!  God has given you a most precious gift in your mate!  Please don't treat them like an after thought.  Next to serving God, you should want to serve your mate.  God actually commands it!
Ephesians 5:22
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord
1 Timothy 2:11
11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission
1 Corinthians 11:3
3 But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man,[a] and the head of Christ is God.
1 Corinthians 7:33
33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife—
Ecclesiastes 9:9
9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.
Colossians 3:17
17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
1 Corinthians 7:14
14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy
Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral
1 Corinthians 7:3
3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband

The most important and loving thing you can do for your mate in life is pray for them.  Pray they will have a heart like God.  And don't stop!  Pray everyday ALL day!  As if your life depends on it.  Because in this life we walk side by side with our mate, and that walk will be cold, lonely, and often painful and loveless without Christ walking in your midst!  I can honestly say when I walked that walk with Danny that Christ was always with us.  Even that last year and the last mile- He was there.  And when Danny went on to Heaven, Christ has stepped in and taken his place right by my side.  I no longer hold Dannys hand, but I have his heart, and I so want to share that with you.  So take Christ by the hand and pray for your mate, invite him to your marriage.  You will be surprised at the chalnges you see.  Let Christ fight for your marriage!  He wants to be on your side!

Ephesians 3:16
I pray that from his glorious unlimited resourses he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit.

Don't put your focus on "fixing" your marriage, focus on "fixing" yourself, serving your spouse, and fix that relationship with God!  He wants so much to be there with you!  Invite Him in!  I can't wait to see the results!