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How
does Jesus feel about His bride?
Is
it time for a marriage retreat?
Our
survey indicates that one in two married couples need or want to go on a
marriage retreat. What is a
retreat? Webster says, "a
period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study, and instruction under
a director or an act or process of withdrawing especially from what is
difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable."
Why
do so many need to go on one? I
believe we let unimportant tasks or things gain priority over what is important.
I know it is easy for me to focus on my want-to-dos instead of my
need-to-dos. I know that I had
rather talk about business than about how my wife feels when things aren't
right.
We
went to a 12 week marriage enrichment seminar this year.
What an eye-opener it was for me!
I
thought things were all fine. I
found out that we were emotionally retarded.
We couldn't really express exactly how we felt.
We learned that we had stuffed our feelings into an emotional cup.
We learned that when we do this, sooner or later this cup fills up and
then overflows, causing a mess. We
learned that there are only two choices: (1)
we could share our feelings or (2) we could stuff our feelings.
We
are learning that needs must be shared. We
found out our spouse can't meet our need without knowing exactly what that real
need is and how to meet that need.
We found out that we are imperfect people and that imperfect people hurt each other. We are learning that what we do about it when it happens is most important. We are learning that our most important communication is confession. (1) Don't offer excuses. (2) Put a period at the end of our confession. (3) To say, "I was wrong" rather than "I'm sorry"
We were taught that confession plus forgiveness (not based on feelings,
sorrowful about our sin with sincerity) equals healing.
Proverbs 28:13 is so true. He
who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them
finds mercy. James 5:16 says therefore confess your sins to each other and
pray for each other so that you may be healed.
We
saw and found out that this was hard to do.
We saw about half of the class quit when it came time to exercise this
with our spouse.
How does Jesus feel when we don't communicate with Him? How does He feel when we don't invest the time to understand Him? Would you close the door on a spouse who refused to talk to you and constantly followed after another?
Thank God His mercies are without end. What does it mean to love God with all our heart and all our soul, and with all our mind? Is it time for us to go on a retreat with the Lord?
Would
you think He would want us to lay every other thing or person down for a while
and spend some quality time with Him? Do
you think He wants a bride that really knows Him?
How can we truly know a person without that quality time with them? The answer is we can't.
I found that our 3 day marriage retreat helped my wife and I to know each other better. I see that we need to do another real soon. I sense the Lord saying the same thing to us and to me now.
He is saying, "Come unto me all you who are weary and I'll give you
rest." Taste and see that the
Lord is good.
I
believe that when we can come to the place of valuing our time with our God and
our spouse above every other thing, life burst forth.
We
sure recommend that married couples invest the time to go on a special marriage
retreat. We recommend that you
leave the phone, the job, the hobbies, the stuff, and get away and talk to each
other.
How
much more do we need to do so with the Lord?
Do we really know Him and what He wants for us on a daily basis?
The love of God and man must be realized in our hearts before we can do
the works of the Lord.
His earthly picture of his covenant with us is marriage. Oh, how I need to work on mine so that God is glorified by His plan. There is nothing on earth stronger than a man and wife operating as one.
There is nothing stronger in the universe than Jesus and His bride operating as one. May the bride get prepared.
Al Bass
as published in the 1997 Love America Back
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