Just Us , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - David Stoop , Jan Stoop

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106 pages

English

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Marriages have a better opportunity of thriving when couples spend time together with God. In Just Us, David and Jan Stoop provide just what couples need to make the most of the precious time they spend together seeking God. Each week's devotions revolve around a specific theme. In just a few minutes each day, couples will focus on God's view of marriage, how God blesses marriage, how to grow in love and intimacy, faithfulness, improving communication, resolving conflicts, the roles of husband and wife, building trust, forgiveness, the importance of prayer, and how to have an intentional marriage. At the end of each devotion, couples will enjoy the "Talking Together" section with thought-provoking questions for the couple to discuss and further develop the theme or strengthen it in their marriage. By setting aside short daily times together each week, every couple has the opportunity to plant these themes deeper into their lives. What a gift for couples!

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Christianity

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	29 août 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441225887
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0374€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© 2003 Jan and David Stoop. Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920.
Published by Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.revellbooks.com
Revell edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-2588-7
Previously published by Regal Books
Originally published by Servant Publications as Ten Minutes Together with God.
Ebook edition originally created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation , copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Other versions used are:
NIV —Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
NKJV —Scripture taken from the New King James Version . Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
TLB —Scripture quotations marked ( TLB ) are taken from The Living Bible , copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.
While the stories in this book are based on real events, they are composites. All the names and identifying details have been changed to protect the identities of the people involved.
C ONTENTS

Week 1: What Is Marriage?
Week 2: God’s Purpose in Marriage
Week 3: Growing in Love
Week 4: Improving Communication
Week 5: Finding Intimacy
Week 6: Resolving Conflicts
Week 7: Maintaining Faithfulness
Week 8: Praying Together
Week 9: The Husband’s Role
Week 10: The Wife’s Role
Week 11: Building Trust
Week 12: Offering Forgiveness
Week 13: Creating an Intentional Marriage
W EEK 1
W HAT I S M ARRIAGE ?

DAY 1

Marriage Is a Covenant
And when I passed by and saw you again, you were old enough to be married. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.
EZEKIEL 16:8
Is marriage a contract or a covenant? When we look at how these two words are defined in the dictionary, the first definition for each word is the same: “an agreement between two or more persons to do or not do something specified.” The other definitions offered by the dictionary don’t give us much help in seeing how they differ.
Yet if we look back to Genesis 15, when God made his covenant with Abram, we can get a better picture of what constitutes a covenant. God’s covenant with Abram seems very one-sided. God makes all the promises: to give Abram a multitude of descendents and to give him the land. Nothing is expected of Abram in return except that he be faithful.
On the other hand, a contract typically is a “this-for-that” kind of arrangement. The language of a contract states that if you do this, then I will do that—it is conditional. Furthermore, the two things exchanged are assumed to be somewhat equal in value.
Marriage is typically seen in our culture as a contractual arrangement—a “this-for-that.” If one person doesn’t keep his or her part of the bargain, then there is a problem and the contract can be broken. For many, the marriage as contract has become very conditional. In other words, I as a spouse will do this for you, but in return you as my partner have to do that for me.
In our country, some states are trying to lower their divorce rate by offering two types of marriages: contract and covenant. If you choose the marriage as contract option, it can be broken, but the covenant marriage is for life and is taken much more seriously. That’s the way God intended marriage to be—for life. His idea for marriage has always been that it is a covenant, where promises are made and kept unconditionally. Furthermore, if one side breaks a promise, God intends for us to be like Him and renew the covenant.
In Jeremiah, God expands on the meaning of covenant when we are told, “ ‘the day will come,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors . . . But this is the new covenant . . . I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people’ ” (Jer. 31:31,33). A covenant marriage is a matter of the mind and the heart, not just a matter of the law.
Talking Together
Many couples haven’t thought about whether their marriage is a contract or a covenant. Talk about your thoughts concerning this. If you do consider your marriage to be a covenant, how has that impacted your marriage?
Praying Together
Loving God, thank You for the covenant You have made with us as Your adopted children. We pray that You will enrich our relationship as we meet with You each day. Help us to give to each other unconditionally as You have given Yourself to us. Write deeply within our minds and our hearts the commitment we have made to each other. Amen.

DAY 2

Marriage Is Blessed by God
The next day Jesus’ mother was a guest at a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration.
JOHN 2:1 - 2
Isn’t it interesting that the first miracle of Jesus took place at a wedding? After Jesus turned the water into wine, the apostle John tells us, “this miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was Jesus’ first display of his glory” (John 2:11). We all love a wedding, probably because it is a celebration of the love between two people and it is an event where everyone can enjoy themselves. Yet, many times the bride and groom are too exhausted to enjoy the celebration. They may enjoy their wedding more later as they relive the celebration through photographs or a videotape.
Jan and I were married before the days when videotaping was common, so we relied on a good still photographer to give us a record of that beautiful day. However, we found we had hired a photographer who was not as experienced as he claimed to be. Halfway through the photos, he dropped his camera. He quickly checked it, but obviously didn’t check it carefully enough, because none of the pictures came out. We were devastated, to say the least. So our wedding album is made up of snapshots that friends and family took. We are thankful that we have something we can look at to remind us of that day. Today, when we look at those pictures, we realize it isn’t the quality of the pictures that is important; it is the memories those pictures stir up within us.
I know some couples who look at their wedding video or pictures every year on their anniversary. I think that’s a good practice. It would help us remember a number of things. We may hear our vows again. We may see the friends who stood with us—maybe a large number or maybe just the two witnesses who stood up for us.
If you were married by a minister, you may remember the words spoken in the ceremony. You might recall the familiar reminder that “we are gathered here to unite this man and this woman in holy matrimony.” Generally the minister then in some way describes how marriage was instituted by God in the Garden, that it was “adorned and beautified with his holy presence and first miracle.” Sometimes the minister also refers to how Paul honors marriage by referring to Christ as the bridegroom and the church as the bride. What an important event a marriage must be in God’s eyes!
One thing we can be certain of: God loves a wedding, and what He loves, He blesses!
Talking Together
Regardless of how big or how small your wedding was, it was a celebration. Maybe at your wedding something went wrong that seemingly ruined the celebration. Every wedding seems to have a story. What do you remember about your wedding? What were some of the things that went wrong? What were some of the joyful highlights?
Praying Together
Lord Jesus, we love it that You went to a wedding and that the miracle You performed there marked the beginning of Your ministry. Our wedding was important to us, and we know it was also important to You. Thank You for being there whether we invited You or not, because we understand marriage is so important to You. Thank You for caring about our marriage and wanting to bless us as a couple. Amen.

DAY 3

Marriage Is a Holy Symbol
A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.
EPHESIANS 5:3 1 - 32
The apostle Paul describes marriage as a “great mystery.” How do two people become one, and yet remain themselves? It is a mystery! Webster defines a mystery as “anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown.” Perhaps one of the reasons there are so many books written to help us with our marriages is that marriage remains a mystery. Who can explain what draws a man to a particular woman, or a woman to a particular man?
Whether I am a guest at a wedding or the minister marrying a couple, I always watch carefully to see what the bride and groom will do with the unity candle. I think the unity candle can be a beautiful expression of the mystery about which Paul is talking.
You probably know how the ceremony with the unity candle works. Just before the minister pronounces the couple husband and wife, they approach the unity candle. Each takes