
Marriage – God’s Purpose and Plan
Session 1 – Episode 1: Genesis 2 tells us that God did not want the man to be alone and He created for him a companion, in the man’s image, his equal and yet they were not the same.
Marriage is a lifelong adventure of growing together through every age and stage of life. The happiest couples are those who commit to learning skills that help them weather difficult seasons and deal confidently with relationship challenges.
If you are ready to invest in your marriage and intentionally move towards oneness, we invite you to take part in this weekly devotional.
With this podcast, we help you understand God’s blueprint for marriage so you can create a legacy of greatness.
Every marriage is either moving towards greater oneness or drifting towards isolation. Maintaining oneness is a critical issue in marriage.
There are threats that can, and often do destroy oneness in marriage.
Issues that before marriage were no problem, can become threats to oneness.
Difficult adjustments threaten our oneness
The first adjustment we will consider is Contrasting backgrounds
We grow up in homes with different value systems. On our first night in our first apartment as we got ready to get into bed, I sat on the bed to get my shoes off …I heard my husband say “One doesn’t sit on a bed.” Well that was news to me. I was allowed to sit on my bed growing up, my husband on the other hand was taught it was a no-no. We could fortunately sort that one out – we now both sit on our bed!
· Vocational pressures can bring about a slow drifting apart.
· Even religion can become an issue
· And then we differ on how we spend money – my husband says I am a magician – I make our money disappear.
Another adjustment that can cause problems is that we have differing expectations about marriage: we could e.g differ on the roles of men and a women in marriage.
We could differ in how we show affection and love. We can have vastly different expectations on sexual performance.
When couples fail to make necessary adjustments to move towards oneness, isolation will be the result.
Session 1 – Episode 1: Genesis 2 tells us that God did not want the man to be alone and He created for him a companion, in the man’s image, his equal and yet they were not the same.
Session 1 – Episode 2: The Bible tells us that God then created many animals and birds and He presented them to the man. As God’s custodian Adam named them all, but we read in verse 20; ‘ …not one of them was a suitable companion to help him’.
Session 1 – Episode 3: In the story of creation (Genesis 2), God created the man first, He made him steward and custodian over creation, and this happened even before the woman was created!
Session 1 – Episode 4: It was never God’s intention for a women to be inferior to a man, yes – He created her differently but as equal to the man.