Marriage

“THE SPIRIT OF MARRIAGE”
When God created man and woman and brought them together in marriage, He intended marriage to be the most wonderful communion on earth. That shocks most people, because most marriages anything but happy!
"To keep your marriage brimming / With love in the loving cup / Whenever you're wrong, admit it / Whenever you're right, shut up!"
 “Marriage is like watching a majorette twirl a baton, or a gymnast tumbling or a person eating with chopsticks. It looks easy until you try it.”
 One lady said, “The speaker at our woman's club was lecturing on marriage and asked the audience how many of us wanted to ‘mother’ our husbands. One member in the back row raised her hand.”
"You do want to mother your husband?" the speaker asked.
"Mother?" the woman echoed. "I thought you said smother."
 Once when Mark Twain was lecturing in Utah, a Mormon acquaintance argued with him on the subject of polygamy. After a long and rather heated debate, the Mormon finally said, "Can you find for me a single passage of Scripture which forbids polygamy?" "Certainly," replied Twain. "No man can serve two masters.”
SCRIPTURES:
Read the following scriptures over and over till they become familiar.
Ephesians 5: 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 2: 7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Genesis 2: 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
First Corinthians 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

The spirit of marriage was made by God to be ecstasy. The spirit of marriage was a spirit of joy and excitement that was intended, by God, to last for a life time, not just six weeks or six months or six years.
As a carnival with music and lights and cotton candy and rides are a great thrill to a child, marriage was ordained and created by God to be just as rapturous. What has happened?
According to the above Scripture and hundreds of other verses God reveals what makes a marriage wonderful. We begin by look at two main thoughts in the message. 1) Why did God make man? 2) Why did God make the woman?

Why did God make man? 
I know this is a question that many wives ask themselves a few months after marriage. Just, why did God make this man?
Now, why would most a woman ask a question like that? It may be due to the fact that most men don’t have the “spirit of marriage” that God intended for them.
Don’t get mad, men but most men in this world are egotistical, proud, arrogant, self-centered, and angry and, for some strange reason not even known to those men, they think they are God’s greatest gift on earth. Don’t stop reading! 
Most men think they have all the answers even though they don’t have any questions. And sadly, to be perfectly honest, most men don’t know why they were created by God.
So, why did God create man?
-God made man for Him self.
-God made man in his image so man would bring glory to Him. -God wanted man to act like Him and to love like Him.
-God made man to sacrifice like Him, serve like Him.
-He made man to show first to his mate how absolutely loving, patience, gentle, compassionate and forgiving God is.
-Man was made for God! Man was made for God’s fellowship.

1) Man was made in the image of God (Gen 1:27).
2) He was to place himself under Christ’s authority. First Corinthians 11:3, But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ;
3) That combination would bring glory to God (I Cor 11:7). For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God…
The First of two vital aspect of the “spirit of marriage” is to be submissive.
A - SUBMISSIVE: The spirit of man to God and in marriage must be a submissive spirit.
Man is to be submissive to God’s will and way. Only then can man bring glory to the Lord. When Christ came, He said, “I have not come to do my will but the will of the Father.”
When a man is submissive, yielded to, and surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, God will make him a spiritual leader.
A man submissive to God’s will and word will be loving, gentle, east to be talked to, forgiving, full of mercy and good fruits. Read what James said in James 3: 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
A man must be under the Lord’s authority, if he is to be the spiritual leader of his home.
God will give him a tender and affectionate spirit. God will give him discernment and leadership.
Now, one more vital aspect of man’s spirit in marriage is seen in the life of Christ.
B - SERVANT: Man is to be, like Christ, a servant.
Look at Philippians 2: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Jesus was equal with God and when He came into this world, He came in the form of a servant.
He set the example by a serving heart (John 13). It was Christ who took a towel and basin of water and washed the disciples feet the night before He was crucified.
It just seems that it should have been the other way around, had the disciples not been so proud, it might have been.
When Jesus completed this task he said to them in John 13: 15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Christ did not mean for us to have foot washings per say, but he meant for us to set the example in marriage in serving our mate.  In other words men, don’t expect your wife to treat you any different or talk to you any different that you treat and talk to them. 
Men, set the example for your wife.
If your wife loves you dearly and wants to play her role and serve you, you will have a wonderful marriage.
When marriage is a two way street it is great. When only one person is playing their role, it is difficult but manageable. But, when neither is submissive or serving, the war is on!
Men, make your wife feel like a queen and wives make your husband feel like a king.
***The biggest problem in marriage statistically proven is unkind words. Unkind words cut deep into one’s heart and soul.
Why did God make the woman?
Our next very important question is this, “Why did God make the woman? Dear ladies, I know this is the twenty-first century. I know what the philosophy of the world says about women, but I shall share with you what God says. I pray you will take this to heart.

In Genesis two, God saw that man was lonely. He causes a deep sleep to fall on Adam and then performed surgery. He took one of Adam’s ribs and made the woman and brought her to him.
Genesis 1:27 reminds us that the woman was made in the image of God as well as man. And it is vital that a woman be totally submissive first and foremost to the Lord and to His Word, just as the man.
God’s word reveals this to us in First Corinthians 11:7-9
7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
Let me bring out something very important here before I explain these verses. Many a woman has been trampled on by a man.
Many women have been deceived and treated wrongly. Many a woman has been mistreated, ridiculed, and condemned by an angry husband, or seen that life in their father and decided I won’t have any of this.
They have thus, built up a wall against the idea of being submissive to anyone, especially a man. For many women look at all men as proud, arrogant and egotistical, unkind and unloving.
If the woman had a dad or husband with a submissive and serving spirit she finds it much easier to have a “submissive and serving spirit.”
But, if a man is not under God’s authority and if he does not serve like Christ, the average woman will rebel against her husband, as the man has rebelled against God. 

Look at verse 7c-9. but the woman is the glory of the man. 8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. 9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
As the man was made for God, the woman was made for man. As the man plays his role and walks with God, he will live for God’s glory. He will want his life to honor the Lord. He will be loving, gentle, kind etc.
And so, a woman who will play her role and submit to God, will not mind playing her role, for she is treated royally by her husband.
If they, both, will put Jesus Christ first in their lives and live a life to please and serve Christ, their lives will become an ecstasy, a heaven and a paradise.

The spirit of marriage is a spirit of submissiveness and service.
Sure, there must be love, but love is demonstrated by one submitting to God and serving God.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:21, Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
I will challenge you to begin to work on those two thoughts if you want your marriage to bloom and blossom. Five things:
1 -Submit to God’s will. Learn your role and play it for God.
2 -Serve God. You serve God by obeying his commands.
3 -Don’t say an unkind word to your mate, no matter what.
4 -Don’t let Satan tell you lies about your mate. I called my mother today. She is 84. She said, Roland I’ve been trying to call you and you would not answer the phone. I said, “Mom, you may have the wrong number,” so I gave her the right number.
She said, “The devil told me you just didn’t want to talk to me. He told me you were to busy for me. He told me you didn’t love me” Men and women, don’t believe Satan lies!
5 - Do ten things each day that you would do if you really were in love. I know that if people do loving things, it will not be long before they experience the feelings that are often identified as being in love.
Love may not be in your marriage. Love is what one wills to do to make the other person happy and fulfilled. Often, we don't realize that what a person does will then influences what he feels.
In conclusion: The Spirit of marriage is one whereby both husband and wife submit to God and live a life to serve God. The way we serve God is in playing our God-given roles. Is it easy? No! But, the rewards when we meet our Lord shall be wonderful.