Wonderful News

As we republish our first book, we are also restarting this blog. I want to share some words from A Covenant Wedding. My son and his bride to be wanted me to explain their marriage in terms of God’s Covenant with mankind. The following is an abridged version of that ceremony.

A covenant relationship requires grace, God’s grace, which is God selflessly giving Himself and all He is to us. And He has given Himself to us with a covenant oath, which means that if He fails to be Who He says He is and do all that love promises He will cease being God. That is how serious He takes His blood oath. Since He has given Himself to each one of us with such an oath, we can know in absolute terms that His love has and will meet every need. And how has He done this? He has said that everything He is and everything He has is yours right now. He has given you His life. As the Apostle Paul said, “Christ is your life.” Which means He lives in us, with us, and for us. He lives your life with you.

There are three key words that are a part of our covenant with God. Expectation, intention and obedience. Where do expectations come from? They come from what you believe. Whatever you believe creates what you expect, and what you expect determines what you will see. Since your beliefs create your expectations, what you believe is critical. Ask God to show you the truth about Who He is and what you really believe. God will never be judgmental, harsh, or mean. He wants to encourage you, even if you are sure you have totally blown everything.

Expectations are so powerful that they can cause us to see things that are not real. If you expect something based on a wrong belief that you don’t know is wrong, what you are most likely to see will not be true and you won’t even know it. Since God is the only One Who knows the whole truth about anything, ask Him to teach you what He knows. He loves to do it because if anything you believe isn’t true, He knows you will interpret everything through those wrong beliefs.

What about intention? When we declare our intentions in agreement with His intentions, He makes it happen by doing it from inside us. It is not your responsibility to make anything happen. It is your job to simply keep agreeing with God. In this harmony with Him, He will do wonders to fix what is wrong.

And what about obedience? I want to mention a passage from the Book of Ephesians where the Apostle Paul “supposedly” said wives are to submit to and/or obey their husbands. Many have unfortunately interpreted this to mean wives are to unquestionably do whatever the husband says. Actually, the Greek word which is commonly translated “obey” simply means to “submit to hearing” or, in other words, to listen attentively. As for the word usually translated “submit,” it means to “under-arrange” or “organize under.”

In the first century, the husband was the sole breadwinner and needed his wife to organize and run their home. Paul seemed to suggest that some wives failed to do so. For the man to properly fulfill his role in the family required the woman to fulfill hers, and vice versa. It is in most wives’ hearts to care for their families and make them the best possible. They want to create a family which is successful in every possible way. Paul goes on to tell husbands how to treat their wives so they can be the person they were created to be. When a woman receives the love, respect, encouragement, and support which God intends husbands to give…, well it is nearly impossible to compare what a man will do with what a woman can and will do for her family. But she cannot be that unless her husband knows who he is and is it! Paul said the husband is the head of the wife – not her ruler. Do you realize a head is worthless without its body?….. No man treats his body with disrespect but rather loves and cares for it. That is the husband’s relationship with his wife.

So besides organizing her life for her family and listening to her husband, what else did Paul tell wives to do? Not a thing! That was the end of his instructions for women. But he had a boatload to say to husbands!

You will find a copy of the entire original ceremony under the A Covenant Wedding tab at the top of this page.