By: David and Nancy Goodman
Who sits in the invisible chairs you bring in your marriage?
Is it Parents, Grandparents, siblings, employers……….?
-God is the highest authority on marriage and family –
-Genesis 2.19. ‘Now the Lord had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.’
-How God mentors Adam. God wanted Adam to fill the gap in his life. He had no suitable mentor.
a. God’s command to lead.
-Gen 2:24 ‘That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.’
b. One flesh: Leave and Cleave.
-Matt 19: 4-6 ‘Haven’t you read’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. So they were no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.’
One flesh relationship is central. Cut strings with parents but bring them back. How do you work to respectively cut the strings and continually honour your father and mother?
- Leaving – is forsake, cutting the strings
- Cleaving – is hanging on to each other, sticking like glue, having one heart
c. God commands us to love our wives sacrificially.
-Understanding everything about them. What makes them tick. One sign of people cleaving is people grow towards each other. You take up each other’s strengths. If you are not growing, then your weaknesses are becoming magnified.
-We can battle if we identify the threats and battle in full armour. Everything needs to work together to glorify God. Become the world’s foremost authority on your spouse.
- What do you love?
- What do you like?
- What nurtures your heart, mind, soul?
- What makes you smile?
- What makes you laugh?
- What makes you cry?
- What depletes you?
- What is hard for you?
- What is easy for you?
-There are ways you can minister to your spouse that no one else can.
-Sins of the father flow into generations.
