2026-07-03
Amos 3:3 NLT
Here are three things you should be clear about before you commit to a lifetime relationship in marriage:
(1) Does your partner have a strong relationship with Christ? “Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?” (Amos 3:3 NLT). To stay together, you must walk in step and in the same direction.
(2) Is your partner growing spiritually? “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18 NIV). If you are not growing together, you will eventually grow apart. Looks may bring you together, but a shared faith and values will keep you together for the long haul.
(3) What kind of family background does your partner have? God can help us overcome our handicaps caused by family dysfunction. But you need to know what you are dealing with before you vow to love one another “For better or for worse.” Paul wrote: “Carry each other’s burdens… this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2 NIV).
But you need to know upfront what those burdens are before committing to a lifetime of helping to share them. Do you know about your partner’s past relationships? “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV). But that doesn’t mean you can cover up the past or lie about it. Mutual transparency is the name of the game! When you know the whole truth about one another, the past loses its power to sabotage your present and your future. No spouse is perfect, but don’t settle for less than God’s best.
Soul food: 1 Sam 27-31; Matt 24:15-25; Ps 102:12-17; Pro 17:7-10
2025-10-27
Ephesians 5:25 NLT
There is an old story where a chief executive officer and his wife are traveling, and they stop to get gas. The CEO goes inside, and when he comes out, he notices his wife talking to the service station attendant. He asks her why; it turns out that she knew the attendant and used to date him. Feeling smug, he says, “I’ll bet you’re thinking you’re glad you married me, a CEO, and not a service station attendant.” She said, “No, I’m thinking if I’d married him, he would be a CEO and you would be a service station attendant.”
Before God created Eve and brought her to Adam, He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him” (Genesis 2:18 NLT). Stop and think about the many ways in which your wife complements, completes, helps, and is just right for you. You say, “My wife already knows that I love her.” Perhaps, but she loves to hear you say it, and you could never say it too often. Say it with flowers from time to time.
Pay attention to the little things she does to make your life better and compliment her. When she talks, give her 100 percent of your attention, and let her know that her thoughts and feelings matter to you. Have a weekly date. As the years add wrinkles and extra pounds, treasure her and the life you have built together.
Paul sets the standard for husbands, and it’s a high standard: “Husbands… love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her” (Ephesians 5:25 NLT).
Soul food: 1 John 3:11-5:21; John 7:25-44; Ps 104:27-35; Prov 24:29
2025-08-14
1 Peter 3:7 AMP
To have a successful marriage, you must understand that your mate is not only physically different from you but mentally and emotionally different too. Let’s say a problem arises at breakfast. After work, he has forgotten it; he compartmentalized it to focus on work. For him, it’s over, but not necessarily for her. She may have rehearsed and processed it while multitasking during day. It hasn’t disappeared; it’s unfinished business. After work, he comes home, and there is tension. He thinks, “What’s the problem?” She thinks, “How could he possibly forget?” He is thinking, “Surely she’s not still thinking about that incident from this morning?”
This is a good moment to introduce the Bible verse, “Live… in an understanding way.” Understanding brings happiness. A man’s brain functions in a compartmentalized way. He moves from family, to work, to recreation, with each compartment separate from the other. But in a woman’s brain the compartments are connected. While he is working, she is thinking about the kids, the argument at breakfast, and planning dinner simultaneously. So this morning’s incident is still in her mind.
By understanding these differences, she can give him time to get back into the “family compartment” before raising the issue. And he can realize she is not being unreasonable, she just needs closure so she can feel good about the relationship again. In marriage, some things must be resolved while other things must be processed, forgiven, and forgotten. And if your goal is to live in harmony, you must understand this principle.
Soul food: Judg 16:1-19:15; Matt 18:1-9; Ps 119:89-96; Pro 18:1-5
2025-05-25
1 Corinthians 13:7 NLT
An unknown author wrote these poignant words: “Their wedding picture mocked them from the table, these two whose minds no longer touched each other. They lived with such a heavy barricade between them that neither battering ram of words nor artilleries of touch could break it down. Somewhere, between the oldest child’s first tooth and the youngest daughter’s graduation, they lost each other.
Throughout the years each slowly unravelled that tangled ball of string called self, and as they tugged at stubborn knots, each hid his searching from the other. Sometimes she cried at night and begged the whispering darkness to tell her who she was. He lay beside her, snoring like a hibernating bear, unaware of her winter… She took a course on modern art, trying to find herself in colours splashed upon a canvas, complaining to the other women about men who are insensitive. He climbed into a tomb called ‘The Office,’ wrapped his mind in a shroud of paper figures, and buried himself in customers.
Slowly, the wall between them rose, cemented by the mortar of indifference. One day, reaching out to each other, they found a barrier they could not penetrate, and recoiling from the coldness of the stone, each retreated from the stranger on the other side.
For when love dies, it is not in a moment of angry battle, not when fiery bodies lose their heat. It lies panting, exhausted, expiring at the bottom of a wall it could not scale.” So, the word for you today is – don’t let a wall build up between you.
Soul food: Exo 20:15; Exo 22:1-4; Prov 6:30-31; Luke 19:1-10
2025-02-17
Matthew 19:6 NKJV
This may come as a surprise to you, but the main purpose of marriage is not to produce children. Couples who cannot give birth are as married as couples who can. Jesus said, “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (v. 5 NKJV). When God looks at a parent and child, He sees two. When God looks at a brother and sister, He sees two. But when God looks at a husband and wife, He sees one. “Joined together” means “to be glued to.”
Do you ever feel like you’re stuck with the person you married? Well, you are! Marrying and becoming one flesh is not what two people do for each other, but what God does for them. Marriage is not a relationship joined together by culture, or the law, or sex, or even love. Marriage is what God joins together. And the good news is, when God joins you together, He can keep you together.
Today the most popular reason for issuing a divorce decree is “irreconcilable differences.” But Jesus went to the heart of the matter – which is the matter of the heart. “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so” (v. 8 NKJV). God can soften your hearts toward one another, and He can open your hearts toward one another. You say, “But I’ve tried everything, and nothing works.” Try God! He can change the heart of your spouse and give you a new future together.
Soul food: Gen 42-43; Luke 10:25-37; Ps 33:1-12; Prov 5:7-14
