Pastor Faith Oyedepo: Christian Marriage

Author: Pastor Faith Oyedepo

Topic: Christian Marriage

Dear Reader,

I welcome you to another glorious month of the year of our Heaven on Earth. This month, by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, I will be looking at Christian Marriage.

Right from creation, God demonstrated His interest in the marriage institution and the family, by being practically involved in their institution. He did not simply speak them into being, as He did the beast of the field and the fowls of the air. He carefully put it together step by step.

Christians believe that marriage is considered in its ideal according to the purpose of God. It is also considered in its actual occurrence, sometimes involving failure. Getting married is the boldest and most idealistic thing that most of us will ever do.

Too many couples fall in love, but they don’t realize that falling in love and getting married are two different steps. It’s not too difficult to fall in love with someone. However, that doesn’t mean that you should spend the rest of your lives married to each other. You may have “loved” each other through a certain season of your lives, but this relationship may not be one that would last through the rest of the seasons of your lives. Marriage is something you commit to, because you’re both equally committed to each other and to the Lord who wants to bless your union, helping it to be one that reflects God’s agape (unconditional) love.

What is Marriage?
Marriage is the joining of man and woman as husband and wife. In the Christian church, this is a ceremony and, or sacrament. It is the oldest institution in the world and it has its root in divinity. And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man (Genesis 2:22). It is the union of two people of opposite sexes with a view to building a God-centred home. It is a unique relationship ordained by God, for a man and a woman to give and receive satisfaction for their healthy needs and desires.

Christian marriage is a unique relationship because it involves two individuals, spirit, soul and body. Why? It is because their lives must have been transformed, both of them being born-again, becoming new creatures and therefore, belonging to the same spiritual Kingdom.

In taking marriage vows, we are doing what the Lord Himself did with Abraham: making a promise of love to one individual. In keeping this promise, we are actually mirroring the Lord’s own faithfulness to all His people, a faithfulness designed from the beginning to spill over to the whole of mankind. When a man and a woman come together as husband and wife, they are expected to have entered a better way of living. Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour (Ecclesiastes 4:9). Our early Christian Church believed that marriage was a sacrament, because it was a symbol used by Paul to express Christ’s love of the Church. Husband-wife equality produces the most intimate, wholesome and mutually fulfilling marriages (Galatians 3:28). This applies to all Christian marriages. Christian marriage is an important issue in Christian life.

The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’…and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 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.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh (Gen. 2:18, 21-24).

Here, we see the first wedding. We can conclude from this account in Genesis that marriage is God’s idea, designed and instituted by God Himself. In these verses, we also discover that at the heart of God’s design for marriage is companionship and intimacy. Thus, if you and your spouse want to experience the gold in marriage, then you must do what God says, without circumventing His laid down rules.

Any marriage outside Christ cannot escape difficulties and troubles. No wonder, married unbelievers see themselves as trapped. If you are not born-again, you are not entitled to the fulfillment in marriage that God has reserved for those who love Him. But, God’s grace is the carrier of salvation. If you respond to it today, you will escape the distress, which most couples are facing. If you desire to be born-again, please say this prayer of faith: “Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I come to You today as a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. I believe You died and rose on the third day for my sins. I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Make me a child of God today. Thank You for accepting me into Your Kingdom.”

If you prayed this simple prayer, you are now a child of God. He loves you and will never leave you. Read your Bible daily, obey God’s Word and seek Christian fellowship (John 14:21).

Congratulations! You are now born again! All-round rest and peace are guaranteed you, in Jesus’ Name. Call or write, and share your testimonies with me through contact@faithoyedepo.org, and conselling@faithoyedepo.org; OR 07026385437 and 08141320204.

For more insight, these books authored by me are available at the Dominion Bookstores in all Living Faith Churches and other leading Christian bookstores: Marriage Covenant, Making Marriage Work, Building A Successful Home and Success in Marriage (Co-Authored).

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