It’s March and spring is in the air. When I think of spring, I think of new beginnings and of new things being . Do you know what else is new? Our first Edmonton Marriage Conference – praise the living God! While we have hosted Couples’ weekend getaway events in the past, this is our first all-day conference. Our faith is that it will be a spiritually rewarding time for the couples attending.
The theme of our conference is ‘A Love Like No Other’. We believe that in these last days God is partnering with us to restore our to their rightful place. In Genesis, the book of beginnings, God began with the family and in the last days’ wrap up, the family will be restored to God’s original place – Eden, the place of delight. We are doing our part to see marriages restored to health and to see good marriages become great marriages. The institution of marriage as God ordained it has faced significant opposition, especially in recent years. We have seen increasing rates of divorce, infidelity, cohabitation, relationships, same-sex relationships and many (even believers) are in marriages where both parties are unhappy but have stayed together for convenience.
Others have embraced the counterfeit offered by the world’s system – living together and playing house - while secretly yearning for the commitment of covenant. Marriage is failing even amongst Christians; why is that? The answer is simple -because we are conducting marriage by the dictates of the world rather than following the blueprint of, He who authored marriage.
Michelangelo said, “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.”
In letting the world tell us how to run our marriages we have set our aim too low and we have unfortunately achieved our mark. God not only ordained marriage but He has spelt out in His Word with clarity how marriage should be conducted.
In Ephesians 5 He spells out the roles in marriage and concludes with the commandment that the man and his wife should submit to one another in the affairs of life. That takes a heart of humility and of service. When a woman submits to her husband in obedience to God’s Word, respects her husband and encourages and helps her husband to become all God called him to be; her submission brings about multiplied strength. Amos says, “can two walk together except they are agreed?”. And the bible also says, that two shall put 10,000 to flight.
When a man loves, cherishes and nourishes his wife like Christ does the Church, he has become a sacrificial husband. A husband who partners with God to draw out his wife’s giftings so she can fulfill God’s plan for her life. Who will not love, honor and submit to such a man who obeys God?
And let’s not forget, the third party in marriage – God. He should be in the center of our marriages. He wants to be in the center of our marriages. He did not author marriage to only be left out of it. Every relationship we have as Christians should be sustained from the outflow of our daily vibrant fellowship with God. Ecclesiastes says that a threefold cord is not easily broken – God, man, and woman.
According to one preacher, when God is at the center of your marriage, you have a 100% chance of success. God in the center means that you understand that God brought you together for multiplied strength and kingdom purposes.
I encourage you to get to know the author of marriage, His intentions for your marriage and reach on for a great marriage.
Yours in His service,
Ayodola & the W2NM Team