SUNDAYS WITH JOYCE

MARRIAGE

Happiness In marriage--Proverbs - Chapter 5:18-19

18. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19. A loving doe, a graceful deer--may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love.

Proverbs - Chapter 19:14.......14. Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

 

Marriage in Heaven--Matthew - Chapter 22:30.......30. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven

Purpose of Marriage--Genesis - Chapter 1:27-30........

27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Ephesians - Chapter 5:31-33

31. As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one."
32. This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.
33. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Genesis - Chapter 2:20-25

20. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
21. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.
22. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man."
24. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

 

Perfect Love--The First letter of John - Chapter 4 :7-12......

7. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12. No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

 

What is Love?--The First Letter of John - Chapter 4:18-19......18. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The man who fears is not made perfect in love.
19. We love because he first loved us.

 

First Corinthians - Chapter 13:4-8

4. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8. Love never fails.

 

Strong Families---Deuteronomy - Chapter 6:1-9......

1. These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,
2. so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I will give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.
3. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you.
4. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
5. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
6. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
7. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
8. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
9. Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates.
Ephesians - Chapter 4:25-32

25. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
26. In your anger do not sin; do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
27. and do not give the devil a foothold.
28. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.
29. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
30. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
32. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

First Thessalonians - Chapter 5:15

15. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

Ephesians - Chapter 6:16-18

16. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Hebrews - Chapter 13:5-6

5. Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never forsake you."
6. That is why we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper, so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?"

First Peter - Chapter 3:8-13.....

8. Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.
9. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
10. For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.
11. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.
12. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the lord is against those who do evil.

 

 

 

 

      Lately, I am always excited about what I will be inspired to talk about in these Sunday inspirations. As we know, the Bible talks about Marriage, as being spiritually, and romantically fulfilling.

I have been dreaming alot lately. About everything. My dreams have always been very vivid. This morning, I should say, because I got up writing, I had a series of dreams about marriage.

In one part of my dream, I was lost in this city, and out of nowhere, I was asked by this guy I have known from kindergarten, to marry him. He was very handsome in the dream, as he came to me, while I was in a department store, in front of sooo many people. He was dressed like a Prince, as he walked up to me, got down on one knee, pledged his everlasting love to me. I said yes, looking at everyone around me. Everyone in the crowd were wooing, and from that minute on, wherever I went, I was very respected, and people I didn't know would come up to me, congratulating me, and asking me about love.

The second dream, started like in the middle of the dream, with my first girlfriend. We had already been in a relationship, and she was coming back to me. We were looking about the house to see what things we had to fix, and what we had to buy to bring our home up to date. As we listed stuff, I wrote it down, and was telling her...let's go get it then

I feel in and out of both of these dreams, because there is more to the first one.

Anyway, when I woke up, I was lying in bed...half sleep, and half woke...and something spoke to me, and said "Will you marry me?' A calm came over me, and I likened it to the spirit of the Lord, saying, "I can make you happier than they can. I can give you all the love you want--real love. Marry me, and we can live happily ever after. I will never disappoint you, never leave you, never forsake you. I will honor you. I can fulfill all your dreams. Let me love you. "

I thought about all those proposals. The first, accepting a proposal by someone others approved of, and I think about the lost city, as people who don't even know me, but approved of what they were used to, and in that I was popular. I thought about the second dream, in that my heart and soul was connected to this person, and even though I did it for me, and there was a kind of darkness around me, I was happy, and it was where everything in me wanted to be...... and then, I thought about the ultimate proposal, from Jesus, asking me to marry Him. In His proposal, there was no doubt, no darkness around me, and it was only Him, and I present...and my soul said.... Yes. And I got up to write...

 

 

Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.

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Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.

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All married couples should learn the art of battle as they should learn the art of making love. Good battle is objective and honest--never vicious or cruel. Good battle is healthy and constructive, and brings to a marriage the principle of equal partnership.

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The friendship between a man and a woman which does not lead to marriage or desire for marriage may be a life long experience of the greatest value to themselves and to all their circle of acquaintance and of activity; but for this type of friendship both a rare man and a rare woman are needed. Perhaps it should be added that either the man or the woman thus deeply bound in lifelong friendship who seeks marriage must find a still rarer man or woman to wed, to make such a three cornered comradeship a permanent success.

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It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.

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One of the first things a relationship therapist learns is that couples argue to burn up energy that could be used for something else. In fact, arguments often serve the purpose of using up energy, so that the couple do not have to take the courageous, creative leap into an unknown they fear. Arguing serves the function of being a zone of familiarity into which you can retreat when you are afraid of making a creative breakthrough.