After ten years of successful marriage we have decided to list our thoughts on what we
believe are the key components to a blessed marriage.
How do you know if the Spirit of Peace is the match-maker of your relationship?
1) You should be in agreement on most things without having to compel the other partner through persuasion or manipulation. If the Spirit of Jesus is your match-maker, then by default, peace will be upon your relationship and will endure ‘til death do you part with very little effort. After all... He is the Prince of Peace.
2) Your partner will have the desire and the ability to understand your dreams and encourage you to accomplish what God has placed in your heart to fulfill. The Spirit will present you a lover who will actually hold both spiritual and material keys you will need to unlock your own potential. Therefore, your partner will enhance your life and help you to see your life path more clearly than you did without each other. Often, your potential is enhanced by their presence in the process.
3) You will gladly desire to share your life with your partner-including both your time and material wealth. You will perceive the value of your mate greater than any other earthly gifts God has given you. The relationship between the two of you should be held with the greatest esteem; creating routines and values for your home and family. Your joint creations will be influenced by your upbringing and input from friends, but should not be governed by their desires and demands for your new life. Without hesitation, if required, you would trade in all that you have, even your own life to save the life of your mate (Remind you of anyone? Perhaps what Jesus did for His bride-the church).
4) The Divine will cause you to love your mate with the eyes of a good mother. A good mother loves her children and holds them dearly regardless as to their condition. Good mothers will be there when others have turned their back, will visit their children in the hospital when they are sick, and will comfort them when they have done wrong and are imprisoned. One of the deepest levels of love available is truly that of a good mother. The Divine will give you the ability to love your mate unconditionally like the good mother loves her children. The love of a good mother remains constant throughout the life of her child regardless as to his/her age and surpasses rationality.
5) Another key trait of Divine Matrimony is that your love for each other will be rooted in the bed of desire and not from will alone. Ultimately, your desire always prevails over your willpower. Desire and will have one thing in common; they are the strongest forces of power available in the universe. However, desire is irrational and cannot be explained, so it is difficult to tame; while will is predictable/planned in advance, rational, and carried out with reason. Therefore, will can be undone through logic and with much greater ease than desire. Will has a logical and linear progression-often with a start and end. On the other hand, desire has no apparent beginning or ending, no reason for why it exists, and cannot be proven or explained, only experienced through a deep knowing. As different as these forces may be, you cannot have one without the other. An individual who starts to love someone through reason or will alone is sure to lose zeal for their loved one over time. For desire is disciplined by will, and will is held strong by desire. The combination of the two is what keeps marriage fresh, romantic, adventurous, passion-filled, loving, and faithful. The pairing of these forces allow each partner to easily and successfully remain true to the vows promised to God and one another.
These attributes are what we believe to be gifts of the Spirit. Do not doubt your relationship should you lack any of these elements. Instead, know they are possible and that God will grant them to you if you let Him have His will in your life.
Written by:
Martin & Kayla Briggs
KMBriggs
July 2009
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