4. Marriage Devotional: Giving Love

Marriage Devotional: Giving Love

Author: Gary Chapman

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in 

honoring each other. (Romans 12:10)

    The desire for romantic love is deeply rooted in our psychological makeup. Almost every popular magazine has at least one article on keeping love alive. So why is it that so few couples seem to have found the secret to a lasting love after the wedding? I‵m convinced it‵s because we concentrate on "getting love" rather than "giving love."

    As long as you focus on what your spouse should be doing for you, you‵ll come across as condemning and critical. How about a different approaching that says, "What can I do to help you? How can I make your life easier? How can I be a better spouse?" In Romans 12, Paul writes that when we love each other, we should "take delight in honoring each other." Giving to the one we love does not have to be a chore; if our affection is genuine, giving and serving can be a joy. Giving love will keep your relationship alive.

    Father, help me to concentrate on giving love today. May I focus less on what my spouse can give me, and more on what I can give to him or her. Thanks for being the ultimate example of selfless, giving love.

3. A Quote from A. W. Tozer (5)

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2. Devotional: Wait on the Lord

Wait on the Lord

Author: C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

(Audio Link)

Wait on the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)

    It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still.

    There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption?

    No, but simply wait. Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the case before him; tell him your difficulty, and plead his promise of aid. But wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in him. Believe that if he keep you tarrying even till midnight, yet he will come at the right time.

    Wait in quiet patience, and accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart, without any self-will, into the hand of your covenant God, saying, “Now, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon thee alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for thee in the full conviction that thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.”

1. Hymn: The Love of God

Hymn: The Love of God

Author: Frederick M. Lehman (1868-1953)

(Vocal)

(Music)

(Sheet Music)

1. The love of God is greater far
    Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
    It goes beyond the highest star,
    And reaches to the lowest hell.
    The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
    God gave His Son to win;
    His erring child He reconciled,
    And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain:

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure–

The saints, and angels' song.

2. When hoary time shall pass away,
    And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall;
    When men who here refuse to pray,
    On rocks and hills and mountains call;
    God's love, so sure, shall still endure,
    All measureless and strong;
    Redeeming grace to Adam's race–
    The saints' and angels' song.

3. Could we with ink the ocean fill,
    And were the skies of parchment made;
    Were ev'ry stalk on earth a quill,
    And ev'ry man a scribe by trade;
    To write the love of God, above
    Would drain the ocean dry;
    Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
    Tho‵ stretched from sky to sky.

4. Marriage Devotional: The Fullness in Christ

Marriage Devotional: The Fullness in Christ

Author: H. Norman Wright

My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19, NASB).

    Some businesses today operate from a deficit position rather than a surplus. Some individuals and some marriages operate the same way. These people feel empty, isolated, lonely, inadequate, and helpless. Many people go through life with important needs unmet. Some go through marriage

in the same way.

    Aside from your physical needs, do you know what your basic needs are? You need: security; love and belonging (being wanted, cared about, listened to, accepted, understood); self-esteem (receiving attention, respect, significance, value); and fulfillment of your potential of giftedness.

    You and your spouse probably look to each other to meet some of these needs, and rightly so. But your partner cannot meet all your needs. God is the only one who can. He is the primary source for meeting your physical needs for food and shelter (Matthew 6:26,27). He meets your need for security and love (Romans 5:8; 8:35,38,39). God meets your need for significance or purpose (Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 1:21).

    The more you believe these verses, the more you will be able to fulfill your potential and giftedness. In reality, you don‵t ever have to operate from a deficit. Because of what God has done for you and said about you, you can respond to yourself, your partner, others, and to life itself out of a sense of fullness. You are not deficient when you know Christ. Neither is your partner. Experience His resources. Use them. Enjoy them. Express your fullness to your partner and to the world!

3. Devotional: Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

Author: H. Norman Wright

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord, Praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6).

    Praise the Lord! Have you ever said that out loud? Praise is not only a response to God but a step in seeing change happen in your life. When you praise God for what He has done, for who He is, and for what He will do in your life, you are released to be more dependent upon Him and less dependent on yourself.

    It's easy to praise God for what He has done because you can reflect back and identify something tangible. But what about the future? How difficult is it for you to praise God for what He is going to do? Such praise opens your life to some possibilities you may never have considered. By praising God, you not only become a risk-taker, but you become more aware of what He wants for you. This may be an uncomfortable idea for you. It may mean that you learn to praise God in an unpleasant job situation or during times of financial difficulty. It may mean praising God in spite of that taxing personal relationship in your marriage or family life. Perhaps you are troubled and perplexed about some situation in your life. This is exactly the time God wants you to praise Him.

    Lloyd John Ogilvie has an interesting thought along this line: "Consistent praise over a period of time conditions us to receive what the Lord has been waiting patiently to reveal to us or release for us." Praising God is a response to His love, His goodness, His faithfulness, and His unbelievable concern for each one of us. When you praise God, you recognize His sovereignty. When you praise God, you transfer from trusting yourself to trusting Him.

    What have you praised God for today? Take a few moments to reflect upon several things you have praised God for in the past and what you can praise Him for in the future. Share your praises with each other and then praise Him together.

2. A Quote from C. H. Spurgeon (5)

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1. Hymn: How Great Thou Art

Hymn: How Great Thou Art

Author: Carl G. Boberg (1859-1940)

(Vocal)

(Music)

(Sheet Music)

1. O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder
    consider all the works thy hands hath made,
    I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
    thy pow‵r throughout the universe displayed.

Refrain:

Then sings my soul, my Savior-God, to thee:

How great thou art! How great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior-God, to thee:

How great thou art! How great thou art!

2. And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
    sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
    that on the cross my burden gladly bearing
    he bled and died to take away my sin.

3. When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
    and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
    Then I shall bow in humble adoration
    and there proclaim: My God, how great thou art!

3. Marriage Devotional: Marriage, Commitment for Life

Marriage Devotional: Marriage, Commitment for Life

Author: Warren W. Wiersbe (1929-2019)

    It is God's will that the marriage union be permanent, a lifetime commitment. There is no place in Christian marriage for a “trial marriage”, nor is there any room for the “escape-hatch” attitude: “If the marriage doesn't work, we can always get a divorce”.

    For this reason, marriage must be built on something sturdier than good looks, money, romantic excitement, and social acceptance. There must be Christian commitment, character, and maturity. There must be a willingness to grow, to learn from each other, to forgive and forget, to minister to one another. The kind of love Paul described in 1 Corinthians 13 is what is needed to cement two lives together.

    God has put “walls” around marriage, not to make it a prison, but to make it a safe fortress. The person who considers marriage a prison should not get married. When two people are lovingly and joyfully committed to each other - and to their Lord - the experience of marriage is one of enrichment and enlargement. They grow together and discover the richness of serving the Lord as a team in their home and church.

Read: Mark 10:2-12; Luke 16:18; Romans 7:1-3.

Action assignment: Ask God to help you toward a greater grasp of the biblical view of marriage and not let your philosophy be tainted by the modern, worldly view.

2. Devotional: The Never-Failing God

The Never-Failing God

Author: Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5)

    What line does my thought take? Does it turn to what God says or to what I fear? Am I learning to say not what God says, but to say something after I have heard what He says? "He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."

    "I will in no wise fail thee"—not for all my sin and selfishness and stubbornness and waywardness. Have I really let God say to me that He will never fail me? If I have listened to this say-so of God’s, then let me listen again.

    "Neither will I in any wise forsake thee." Sometimes it is not difficulty that makes me think God will forsake me, but drudgery. There is no Hill Difficulty to climb, no vision given, nothing wonderful or beautiful, just the commonplace day in and day out—can I hear God’s say-so in these things?

    We have the idea that God is going to do some exceptional thing, that He is preparing and fitting us for some extraordinary thing by and by, but as we go on in grace we find that God is glorifying Himself here and now, in the present minute. If we have God’s say-so behind us, the most amazing strength comes, and we learn to sing in the ordinary days and ways.