The Author of Marriage

If we can start building our case in God’s Court and truly look for ways to change ourselves for God’s glory then we can begin to build our marriage on a solid foundation. As we begin building we need to open the lines of communication and start talking about how to build a better marriage. One way to begin this process is to agree with God before each other that you each have your struggles. The struggles you have every day is your battle and you need to talk with your spouse about your battle plan.

Most of us live our lives by planning. Some of us plan out the details of our days sometimes up to a week or month in advance. Others may not have that much forethought and detail, but there is usually at least some semblance of a plan for our days. We plan everything, or do we? Do you have a plan for today? What will you do tomorrow?

Now that I have got you thinking about your plans and how well or how poorly you do in planning, let me shift slightly and get you to think about an area of your life that many do not plan well.

For a moment let yourself of the hook and focus on how most people do in the area of planning.

Imagine for a moment that you are taking a survey and first you enter a room full of unwed mothers, You stand there with your clipboard and you ask them all by a show of hands “How many of you planned to become mothers at this stage in your lives?” I would assume you would not see many hands. You have more questions for them but we will pause this portion of the story much the same way as you might see in a movie with multiple story lines and we will move to a scene in the next room where you are asking a very similar question. In this room there are men and women who’s marriages have ended due to an affair. You ask the question, “How many of you planned to have this affair?” Once again very few hands. In both rooms you ask another question, “How many of you had a plan to avoid this happening to you?” Some might have had a purpose at one time to avoid these types of things, but most do not have a detailed specific plan on how to avoid sin. And this is where I bring your planning skills back into the story. As you can see it is absolutely essential that we have a plan to avoid sin. If we don’t have a plan and if we don’t stick to our plan, we will fall into sin of all kinds. So what does a plan like this look like?

We must agree that we can all be tempted in all areas of sin and we need to plan our escape.

But remember we are not alone in this struggle.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Next we must agree that we are in a battle and we must be properly armed.

Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

The best plans will include memorizing portions of Gods word that will serve as road blocks to sin. A part of your plan may include places and maybe even people that you should avoid. Most of us think that we are much better at resisting temptation than we really are, so your personal plan needs to be more strict than you might first think. Finally, It is way to easy to change your plan and to think that you will not be tempted if you allow yourself to cheat on your plan, so I recommend that you find a good friend to share your plan with and ask them to keep you accountable.

Parents, talk about these things with your children, help them make their plan. Be very specific as you plan together. Role play some examples, make sure they know when to just walk away from a situation and that God will be with them and give them strength. And most of all remember you will need to show them that you have a plan as well.

The Following is an account of my conversations with my friends, family and church members regarding their plan. I welcome your input here. …..