LOVE OUTLAST ANGER !!!!!!
His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor, a lifetime. Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning. (PSALM 30:5)
Anger, being a powerful emotion, sometimes flares up quicker than our better judgment can head it off. We feel it rising up within us, leaving only a few seconds for us to choose whether or not to act on it. But once we recognize its appearance and we realize it wants to take over the situation, the wise man or woman restrains it. Anger may feel like lashing out from within us, but love won't let it take a breath. Even God's anger, though always holy and justified, is quickly put behind Him after serving its purpose. Our anger, too, though sometimes appropriate, must remain under love's control. Otherwise, it will always want to write the script for what happens next, rather than playing its rightful role under the direction, authority, and restraint of godly patience. If our love is to be like God's love, it must be slow to anger, ready to release, and quick to forgive.
LOVE IS GOD'S WORD !!!!!!
Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.
(PSALM 119:105)
For some people, the Bible seems just too big to understand. It's like an impossible challenge. But as a Christian, you're not left alone to try grasping the major themes and deep meanings of the Bible. The Holy Spirit, who now lives in your heart by way of salvation, is an illuminator of truth. "For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God" (1 CORINTHIANS 2:10). And because of His internal lamp, the Scriptures are now yours to read, absob, and live by. If this is not already a habit of yours, now is the time to begin reading a portion of the Bible every day. Ideally, read it together as husband and wife__in the morning, perhaps, or before bed. Be like the writer of Psalm 119, who could say, "I have sought You with all my heart; don't let me wander from Your commands. I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You" (PSALM 119:10__11).
LOVE IS CONSISTENTLY PATIENT !!!!!
Return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love. (JOEL 2:13)
God's patience is a major theme of Scripture. God revealed it to Moses and then consistently displayed it to His people. Nehemiah recalled it during a confession of the nation's sin (NEHEMAIH 9:17). David sought it for himself in seeking rescue from his enemies (PSALM 86:15), as well as forgiveness for his failings (PSALM 103:8). The prophets Joel, Jonah, and Nahum all experienced it firsthand. The apostle Paul likely had this attribute of God in mind when he began his description of love by saying, "Love is patient; love is kind" (1 CORINTHIANS 13:4). God's brand of patience__the patience He calls us toembody__is not an occasional thing. It is an ongoing, repetitive response that we keep doing, again and again. There may come a time when patience must act in judgment (NUMBERS 14:22__23), but it's a lot further down the line than most of us typically wait for. To be like God's is to be patient.
LOVE CAN BE CALLED ON !!!!!
"Please pardon the wrongdoing of this people in keeping with the greatness of Your faithful love." (NUMBERS 14:19)
In Numbers 13, Moses sent spies into Cannan. But instead of trusting God, they brought back a fearful report to the people. After days of rebellion, God was most displeased with the lack of faith these leaders revealed. They doubted His ability to give them the Promised Land. But Moses interceded for these distrusting people. And when he did, he appealed to God's loving patience in his intercession. Moses depended on the Lord's being "slow to anger and rich in faithful love, forgiving wrongdoing and rebellion" (NUMBERS 14:18). This was the solid-rock basis of his prayer. In much the same way, your patience love should be an attribute your mate is able to call on at any time from you, even when they have clearly been in the wrong and your anger is justified. How will you respond the next time they need your patience??
LOVE IS FORBEARING !!!!!!
"The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth." (EXODUS 34:6 - NASB)
God's people had always known Him as their Creator, their Provider, and the Ruler over all creation. But at a key moment in history__after God gave the law on Mount Sinai and after the golden calf incident that followed__God reveraled to Moses another facet of His nature: His forbearing patience. The scene in EXODUS 34, as seen through the somky mist of God's glory on the mountaintop, pictures just the two of them there. The Lord appeared in front of Moses, proclaiming this truth as He passed by. No, "He will not leave the guilty unpunished," but He is not a God who quickly flashes His anger, although it would still be righteous to do so. Our God is "slow to anger."
This is why patience is called for in your marriage__not just because your spouse benefits from it, but because it is God's nature to be "compassionate and gracious." When you are patient with youe spouse, you are being like your heavenly Father.
LOVE LISTENS !!!!!
Understand this: everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. (JAMES 1:19)
The way you communicate to your spouse will reflect the condition of your heart. If you are angry because of your unmet expectations or their hurtful words, you will tend to respond harshly. But this is where love takes time to patiently listen and to give the other person consideration, even if it is undeserved. It takes true resolve, but that's where love must become your motivation. Few of us listen patiently, and none of us do it naturally. But a wise man or woman will pursue it as an essential ingredient to their marriage relationship. Patience is a good starting point to demonstrate true love. It may be more of a process, but it is a resolution worth adopting. Think of it as a marathon, not just a spirit. You can set a new tone in your communication by committing to patiently listen. Don't interrupt. Don't talk over them. Make sure they've said everything they need to say before you choose to respond. And when you do, let love lead.
LOVE RESPONDS WISELY !!!!!
A hot-tempered man stirs up conflict, but a man slow to anger calms strife. (PROVERBS 15:18)
Patience is where love meets wisdom. As sure as a lack of it will turn your home into a war zone, the practice of patience will foster peace and quiet. Responding with wisdom is something every marriage needs if you want your relationship to stay healthy. Patience helps you give your spouse permission to be human. It understands that everyone fails. When a mistake is made, it chooses to give them more time than they deserve to correct it. Patience gives you the ability to hold on during the tough times in your relationship rather than bailing out under the pressurs. It is the gift another chance, the promise that you will wait this one out for as long as it takes. It turns out that few people are as hard to live with as an impatient person. Can your spouse count on having a patient wife or husband to live with?
LOVE IS SLOW TO ANGER
A patient person shows great understanding, but a quick-tempered one promotes foolishness.
(PROVERBS 14:29)
If your spouse offends you, do you quickly retaliate or do you stay under control?? Do you find that anger is your emotional default when treated unfairly?? If so, you are spreading poison rather than medicine. No one likes to be around an impatient person. Impatience causes you to overreact in angry, foolish, and regrettable ways. The irony of anger toward a wrongful action is that it spawns new wrongs of its own. Anger almost never makes things better. It usually generates additional problems. But patience stops problems in their tracks. It allows you to take a breath and clear the air. It acts with wisdom and doesn't rush to judgment, choosing instead to listen to what the other person is saying. Patience stands in the doorway, where anger is clawing to burst in, and waits to see the whole picture before passing judgment.
LOVE IS PATIENT !!!!!!
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
(EPHESIANS 4:2 - NIV)
No one likes the fact that life requires patience. But the more you learn to love, the greater your capacity will be to demonstrate patience towards others. In fact, patience is one of the attributes that best defines what love is. When you choose to be patient, you responed in a positive way to a negative situation. You are slow to anger, choosing to have a long fuse instead of a quick temper. Rather than being restless and demanding, love helps you settle down and begin extending mercy to those around you. Patience brings an internal calm during an external storm. It is the choice to control your emotions rather than allowing your emotions to control you, and it shows discretion instead of returning evil for evil. "Bearing with one another in love" should become a motto you carry into every day and every potential altercation with your mate.
(HOW MANY OF YOU PRAY FOR PATIENTS??????)
TO HAVE PATIENT IT SEEMS IT IS HARD TO HAVE AT TIMES!!!!!!
LOVE PREPARES US FOR HEAVEN !!!!!!
I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
(REVELATION 21:2)
There will come a time when love and its many remarkable attibutes will no longer take an effort to maintain. Instead, love will flow so naturally from us, it will be the only thing we consider doing. It will be like Jesus love__freely given and totally selfless. Till then, marriage is one of our main instructors on how love is supposed to be given and received. It teaches us how to defer to another, giving ourselves completely without reservation. It teaches us how to love someone without basing our affections on how hard they're working to please us. Day after day, we should learn more about our relatioship with God by seeing it portrayed in our dealings with each other. Marriage is not just an analogy He came up with to try describing His love for us. The marriage of Christ with His bride, the church, is life's ultimate story. By participating in it here, we get glimpses of it there.
LOVE GLORIFIES GOD !!!!
This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.
(EPHEIANS 5:32)
At its heart, marriage is more than a man and a woman falling in love and spending life together. God has many priceless purpose for marriage. He created it to eliminate loneliness through companionship, multiply our effectiveness through teamwork, and mature us into Christlikeness. He designed marriage to guard our purity through sexual fulfillment, grow families through procreation, and bring about the enjoyment of walking in love and oneness. But God's ultimate purpose for marriage is a hidden mystery that is greater than all of those combined.
God masterfully orchestrated marriage to reveal the beauty of His glory. In fact, each of His purposes for marriage reveals a charateristic of God in eternity. Our oneness and compionship reflect His union in the Trinity. Our purity honors His holiness. Our procreation reflects Him as Creator of life. Our love is founded in the truth that God is love. And our love provides a living portrait of the gospel__Christ's unconditional love for His people, His church, His bride (REVELATION 21:9). Your marriage is a mystery revealing His majesty.
LOVE CAUSES GROWTH !!!
Husbands, love your wives, just as also Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, to make her holy. (EPHESIANS 5:25__26)
Marriage was intended to help us mature. A wife can be God's instrument to help make a man out of the boy she married. A strong man will help mature and polish his wife by his positive influence and loving interaction with her. Good friends and mentors sharpen you when you are around them. Part of marrige's purpose is to help us refine and strengthen each other. Your spouse is given a front row seat for viewing your rough edges that don't resemble Christ. When your spouse exposes a flaw or weakness in your character, your first reaction should be to listen and learn. You should receive it as heavenly sandpaper, buffing you into a more complete Christlike image.
Your mate stands before you like a mirror, reflecting and exposing who you are. He or she is positioned like no one else to reveal areas in your life where correction is warranted. Allow God to use this person to make you more like Jesus, even as He works through you to cause growth in their life as well. You and your spouse should both bloom into Christlikeness from being with each other.
LOVE IS FUN !!!!!!!
Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life. (ECCLESIASTES 9:9)
Marriage was designed to bring delight. The Bible says a man should rejoice in his wife and be "eexhilarated always with her love" (PROVERBS 5:19 - NASB). It says he should seek "how he may please his wife," and she should seek "how he may please his wife," and she should seek "how she may please her husband" (1 CORINTHIANS 7:33__34). God intends marriage to be pleasurable for both of you in countless ways.
So while marital love goes much deeper than emotions, God created it to be rich with feeling. He made sexual interaction not merely a fruitful experience but a pleasurable one. Even though marriage is a oneness that requires hard work, we must not let it lose its sense of joy. God wants the smile on your spouse's face to bring a smile to yours.
Being with the person you love the most was never meant to dissolve into mere duty and obligation. So take pleasure in what God has begun and continues to grow in you. You were not born to bicker, but to bask in joy together. It's one of God's key places where life united in Him becomes abundant.
LOVE INSPIRES PURITY !!!
Because of immoralities, each man is to have own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. (1 CORINTHIANS 7:2 - NASB)
God designed marriage to keep us sexually pure. The One who conceived the beauty of sexuality also ordained marriage as His perfect way for us to enjoy His gift to the fullest. God desires for us to have the rich blessings of His best. He created a context for sexuality that always promotes love, honors purity, guards safety, and rewards lifelong commitment. Sex is God's holy wedding gift to seal and bless the covenant a husband and wife have made. Those who seek to satisfy their sexual desires outside of His design fall into the poisonous trap of sinning against their own body, their spouse, and God.
If cultures honored God's holy design, sexually transmitted diseases and unwed pregnancies would cease. Marriage is God's ideal solution to sexual immorality. As you fully meet your spouse's needs, you're helping them walk in purity. But purity is much more than just avoiding affairs. It extends to keeping your eyes, viewing habits, and emotional attachments honoring to God. This brings a joyful peace to your marriage that only purity can offer.
LOVE UNITES FAMILIES !!!
"May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel". . . . Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.
RUTH 4:11__13 NIV
Marriage connects entire families. Your relationship is not only a union between you and your mate, but also a bridge builder between you and a new set of parents, siblings, grandparents, and cousins__all who may possess little in common with you except for the kinship your marriage creates. But consider that this bond has the potential to bring the best of the fellowship, counsel, support, and love from both families into yours. This connection also calls forth from you depths of understanding, sacrifice, and forgiveness on a most personal level to them. This is an ongoing opportunity for you to practice Christian love and an edifying influence toward in-laws and extended families. Even when friction occurs, love demands that you continually seek to support and share life with these individuals who are part of your spouse's history, DNA, and heartbeat.
LOVE BUILDS FAMILIES !!!
God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it." (GENESIS 1:28)
God lovingly created and highly honors the institution of family__both physically and spiritually. He has uniquely designed marriage with all the elements for adding and multiplying families. One of His great purpose of marriage is the leaving and cleaving that forms a new family unit, forged by the union of a man and woman from two different homes. Marriage is also the God-ordained environment to multiply and produce life through the bearing and raising of children. Married love comes with built-in construction and expansion plans, initiated by the One who desires for us to give Him "godly offspring" through our love for one another (MALACHI 2:15). This new family you've originated in marriage is not simply a foundational building block of society. Your union and your children are a testimony to the living God, who continues to add and multiply His blessings on earthly families that will expand His heavenly family.
LOVE MULTIPLIES ITSELF !!!!!!
Two are better than one, because they have a good return fot their work. . . .Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.
(ECCLESIASTES 4:9, 12)
Marriage is not as simple as one plus one. Because marriage is a God-ordained design that reflects His boundless nature, the union of a husband and wife produces much more than the sum of its parts. We don't merely add to one another's life; we multiply one another's effectiveness. A person hopping on one leg cannot get very far, very fast. But two legs joining together become that action of running__making you faster and taking your farther. Two wings don't merely create balance; they enable the other to fly. What's generated by shared momentum creates an exponential increase in what's accomplished. A husband and wife working together offer a solid defense for their families against the influence of a godless culture.
Likewise, a man and wife praying together form a spiritual bond as God joins them in single-minded purpose (MATTHEW 18:19__20). By uniting in His name and agreeing in prayer, their intercession goes to another level. That's when one united with one has won.
LOVE EXTENDS HELP !!!!
"I will make him a helper suitable for him."
GENESIS 2:18 _ NASB
Let's be honest__men need help. They try to function alone, but consistently fall short. God assigned Adam to a specific work, but knew he needed a helper to succed. A wife's title as "helper" to her husband is a high compliment, not a criticism. In fact, God Himself is referred to as our Helper (PSALM 124:8). Jesus called His Spirit a Helper. A husband who has a wife willing to help him fulfill God's assignments for his life has a priceless treasure.
Marriage is one God's unique ways of showing both men and woman that we're not all-sufficient in ourselves. We both need our spouse and cannot fulfill God's plans for us without their help. This is why a single mother or father struggles so desperately__though often courageously__to be what their children need. Each role is dependent on the other's help, and it becomes impossible (without God's provision) for one person to perform both jobs alone. God made it that way. He intended for you to assist your spouse as a primary purpose in your marriage. It even meets a need in you to know that you are needed.
LOVE BRINGS COMPLETENESS !!!!
"A man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh."
In the finale of God's creation, He made the first marriage by taking one man, removing part of him, and fashioning another person. Then, in the mystery of matrimony, two could come together and become one. Adam, though complete with God alone, found his God-given needs met even more fully with Eve, his complement, in life. This is true in your marriage. The Lord knew before you were born that you would one day marry your mate. And His design of your gender differences and uniqueness, God intentionally created needs in both of you that the other would be exclusively designed to help meet. The devil's desire is to use your distinctiveness to push your apart__to operate independently__as though what your spouse brings to you is unnecessary. But marriage has made you "one flesh." Now neither of you should live without the other. Though distinct in personality and ability, you have been designed to experience oneness in your diversity. You are no longer just you. You are so intimately combined with your mate that together you are to live as one complete person.
LOVE OFFERS COMPANIONSHIP !!!!!!
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for man to be alone." (GENESIS 2:18)
The reeated phrase during the Creation account is: "It was good." Water, sky, plants and animals__everything God made was declared by the Creator Himself to be "good." But when God gazed on His perfect creation, He saw one thing that was "not good"__the man was alone. Adam deeply needed companionship. God's loving solution was the creation of a lifelong, intimate relationship: marriage. Truly, "a man who finds a wife finds a good thing" (PROVERBS 18:22).
Among the truths we learn from the Trinity is that God, though One, maintains constant fellowship within the three Persons of the Godhead. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit enjoy one another in unbroken companionship. None is ever alone. This mysterious communion is also intended in marriage. Between a husband and wife, God offers the most intimate companionship a person can know with another individual on Earth. You have the opportunity and responsibility each day to eliminate the sense of loneliness inherent in your spouse. It is not good enough to live together but remain emotionally distant Loneliness should be absent. Love builds bridges between lonely hearts to make you close companions for life.
LOVE WALKS WITH GOD !!!!!!!
"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Good disciples of Christ also tend to make good spouses. Your role as husband or wife is greatly enhanced by being a faithful and growing Christian. People who are not pursuing an intimate relationship with God are significantly limited, left to rely on their own feelings, thoughts, and efforts. When we refuse to obey Christ's commands, our spouses are left to deal with the fallout. Only those living in fellowship with Christ are able to access His toolbox for marriage. His Word will nourish you spiritually and equip you for every good work. His counsel can guide your decisions with divine wisdom. Rather than your spouse having to depend on their own influenc to change you, they know the Holy Spirit is already busy working on you and maturing you from the inside out. It's romantic for a woman to see her strong husbans humbling himself before God. It's inspiring for a man to see his wife living with deep conviction and passion. Walking with God is better than a thousand marriage books or counseling sessions.
LOVE KEEPS GOD'S COMMANDS !!!!!!
"The one who has My commands and keep them is the one who loves me." (JOHN 14:21)
Loving God is a wholehearted, lifelong adventure. It's not a part-time job or Sunday-only affair but a comlete devotion of ourselves to seeking and treasuring who God is. Every thought, value, and action can become another way to say "I love You" to God. And loving Him is the perfect why behind what we do. It begins by confessing our faith in His Son Jesus (1 JOHN 4:15; 5:1), and then is fueled by an on going obedience to Him__in everything (JOHN 14:21). But our love makes following Him a relational delight rather than a religious chore (1 JOHN 5:13). And as we daily abandon sin and do what He says, the peace and joy we derive makes us love Him even more. God's Word says we also love Him through the ways we treat, serve, and love others (1 JOHN 3:17; 4:11__21). So every conversation and interaction in your marriage is a new opportunity to bless your spouse and to demonstrate your love for God as well. Ultimately, how you love and respect your mate reveals every day the sincerity of your love and respect for God.
LOVE IS MOST WHEN GOD IS FIRST !!!!!!!
By this we know that we love the children of god, when we love God and observe is commandment. (1 JOHN 5:1__2 - NASB)
Keeping God first blesses your marriage more than any other practice. Everything in life takes on new value and meaning when it becomes an instrument for you to live out your love for God. Rather than placing yourself at the center of your relatioship, all your energies and assest should be tools for worshipping Him. A husband might think his marriage would suffer from making God his greatest delight. On the contrary, it will flourish as he draws closer to the ONE who created marriage and loves his wife infinitely more than he does. God understands more than anyone what your marriage needs. As you abide in Christ's love, the love you have for your spouse will increase in the overflow. Drinking HIS love in daily and expressing it back to HIM fulfills you in ways your spouse cannot. This enables you to cherish your bride or groom like never before. The closer you get to HIM, the more you will be like HIM, think like HIM, and passionately love your mate like HE does.
LOVE IS BEST WHEN GOD IS FIRST !
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart." (MATTHEW 22:37 - NASB)
Loving your spouse more than love God is a form of idolatry. Far too many marriages suffer from this inversion. It places a created thing higher than the Creator. God should always be first and primary object of our affection. He created us to love Him, and something unexplainably beautiful happens when we direct all of who we are at delighting in all of who He is. It is proper worship of the ONE who is worthy. If love is the greatest thing you can do, then loving with all you are is the greatest expression you could ever make. Furthermore, if God is the greatest object of love, then awaken to the priceless purpose you have been given. You are wired, commanded, and invited to do the greatest thing in the greatest way for the greatest ONE. There is no higher calling. Yours is the most important over all of creation because you have been made in HIS image and are uniquely designed to express love in ways the rest of nature cannot. Embrace this eternal privilege. Let every breath be an opportunity to learn how to better love the GOD who first loved you.
LOVE IS FERTILE SOIL !!!!! that you bring rooted and grounded in love (EPHESIANS 3:17 - NASB) When we plant a living seed into healthy soil, we expect it to blossom. And just as flowers in a greenhouse are supplied with an ideal environment for growth, so a home filled with love provides the ideal atmosphere for people to bloom. We know that children who grow up in loving families tend to sleep deeper, stand taller, and venture farther than those who are never secure in their parents love. Likewise, when you provide safe, loving soil for your spouse to grow in, they will be more likely to flourish with confidence, knowing they are valued and secure. What happens when someone is loved over the years? Their needs are met, dreams encouraged, opinions heard, and successes praised. They're assured of your patience and forgiveness when they fail, and free to express themselves honestly without fear of your judgment. They'll even weather intense seasons of disappointment with the stability your love supplies. Admit it__we'd all love to be loved like that.
