10 Rules to Keep your Marriage Happy!

Love your partner as yourself is the golden rule of a marriage. How to do that? See 10 practical ways in the article below.

There are many rules and regulations in this world in every area of expertise. We need them to properly relate to each other in traffic, in school, at work and basically anywhere. Can you imagine the traffic without rules? Can you imagine airplanes flying without any flight order? Most of us will admit that it would mean chaos and a sure way to death due to the imminent collisions.

Right but how about marriage? Who is to establish the best rules for it?
Well, who made the rules for the traffic? The inventors of cars! The same way, the Inventor of marriage, namely God, gave the rules for a happy marriage. Yes, He made the man and woman different to complement each other and not to compete against each other. But
often times, in our competitive society, we tend to forget that marriage doesn’t work best if we apply competition.

Jesus, the Son of God said that the greatest commandment of them all is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. When applying this commandment to marriage, it means to love your husband/wife as you love yourself. That implies putting his/her wishes above yours, giving in to make the other happy. Hmm…this sounds a bit hard, doesn’t it?
Someone once said that if you marry because you want your partner to make you happy, you married for the wrong reason; the right reason should be to marry so that you could make your partner happy. You love him/her, you want to see him happy right?

TOO TRUE!

Sunday 7 September, 08

‘HOLD ON TO INSTRUCTION…GUARD IT WELL, FOR IT IS YOUR LIFE.’ PROVERBS 4:13 NIV

It’s not enough to get prepared, you must stay prepared. We’re being told that knowledge is doubling every five years. So if you don’t keep growing, you’ll end up with coping skills that no longer match the challenge you face in the world you live in. It’s estimated that many doctors are so busy taking care of patients, they are years behind the latest developments in their field. If you or a loved one gets ill, that could become a real concern for you. Preparation doesn’t begin with what you do; it begins with what you believe. If you believe that success tomorrow depends on what you do today, you’ll treat today differently. A wise sailor studies the weather before he goes to sea because he knows that avoiding a storm is easier than getting out of one. Howard Coonley of the American National Standards Institute stated, ‘The leader of the future will be rated by his ability to anticipate problems, rather than to meet them as they come.’ Preparation is not merely an event, it’s a perspective. Abraham Lincoln said, ‘If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.’ As a young man Lincoln had split rails with an axe, so he knew the value of staying sharp. Wisdom always prompted him to prepare; whether he was getting ready to cut wood, study law on his own to pass the bar or lead the nation. This is why your Bible says, ‘Hold on to instruction, do not let it go. Guard it well, for it is your life.’

DO IT WHEN YOUR LIFE IS DOWN!

Monday 1 September, 08 ‘ELIJAH WAS…JUST LIKE US.’ JAMES 5:17 NIV There are times in life when we all feel down. But God’s Word shows us the way to get back up. Look at Elijah, who ‘was just like us.’ How come he got so far down? 1) It happened on the heels of a great victory. He didn’t start out in the doldrums, and he didn’t fall into sin. No, he’d just called down fire from heaven and slain 450 false prophets (1 Kings 18:22-39). But that’s hard work! So he went from exhilaration to exhaustion. Weary, defences down and vulnerability up, he fell into a natural depression because fatigue strips us of our courage. 2) Fear caused him to lose perspective. The man of God who’d just faced down an evil multitude, ended up running from one woman, Jezebel (1 Kings 19). Fear made him forget God’s power; it skewed his perspective and left him feeling suicidal. Exhaustion coupled with fear is a dangerous combination. It invites hopeless, wrong thinking, and creates the illusion that your options are gone. 3) He became isolated. Elijah left his servant at Beersheba and journeyed into the wilderness alone (1 Kings 19:3-4). When you most need support, anxiety, a sense of inadequacy and fear of failure, will push you into isolation. At that point you’re in the worst possible company; your own. Elijah thought, ‘I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me’ (vs10, 14 NIV). Translated: ‘It’s bad and I can’t see it getting better!’ When you’re down, it isn’t the time to isolate. That’s when you need to reach for God and the people who love you, who can help you back up.