Encounter Marriage Weekend (this is a link to the website) ………… That is where my Bride and I went this weekend. From 6:00 Friday evening until 12:00 AM Sunday Morning. It was good and there were awesome teachings. There were very good moments that I will never forget for the rest of my life. There were some moments that were painful or you could say wounding. There are many times that we may get a word from the Lord and it wounds us because it is truth. Hosea 6:1-3 "Come; let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds. In just a short time he will restore us, so that we may live in his presence. Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring."NLT James says that if we draw near to Him He will draw near to us. So Saturday, Kelly and I drew near to Him as a couple and He revealed Himself to us and it was good. What we realized as we set in that broken down trolley was the trolley represented our marriage. We had not been seeking the Lord as a couple but as individuals. That will not work in a marriage. The trolley represented what a marriage will be become if you do not work together as a couple. It will be become broken and become a trolley sitting in a junk yard rusting away. Many times you have to get to a broken place before you can get fixed. I sat in that trolley with my bride for 3.5 hours without getting up. It was one of our longest and for me the most in depth conversation we have had in 9.5 years. Thank you Jesus. The other main point that the Lord showed us is this; since we both serve in the Ministry of Fellowship of the Sword for the last six years ……. We poured all of our spare time into the ministry and nothing into our marriage and our marriage has suffered. James 1:26-27 If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person's religious service is worthless (futile, barren). This is the person who ministers outside of his home but does not minister to his family. External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world. AMP This is what happens when you don't. You make your spouse and children widows and orphans in your own home.
So in the same breath these two scriptures are about Honor. Honor your spouse and your children first and then what you do outside of your home will be honorable.
Thank you Jesus for bringing us to a place of brokenness so we can be restored.
