Biblical Foundations for Freedomwww.foundationsforfreedom.net

Restoring Hope To Your MarriageRestoring Hope To Your MarriageSession #1Session #1

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What makes a great marriage?

Can you identify the key factors?

Commitment

Care and love

God’s standards and principlesHumility to acknowledge wrongsWillingness to keep growing

Signs of Giving UpINSIDE OUTSIDE

Lack of contentment Distracted by busy lives

Little attraction in being with ones spouse

Imagination flings (romantic novels)

Bitterness or spirit of revenge Pornography and seductive movies

Unforgiving spirit Flirting and marital affairs

Disrespectful attitude of spouse

Disrespectful words about spouse

How Does Hope Help?

I get married.

My problems are solved!

Right??

Wron

g!How Does Hope Help?

Hope does not solve problems, but it does put us on the

right track so that we can work out the big and small

difficulties that we face in our marriages.

Two Pictures of Marriage

This is the world’s concept of marriage–only a legally-binding contract between husband and wife.

Wife Husband

Wife Husband

God

This is God’s concept of marriage–a God-created covenant uniting a man and a woman before Him for life.

The Secular ViewThe Biblical View

The Marriage TrioThe Marriage Trio

Marriage truly

is a triangle of

relationships

involving God,

the husband

and his wife.

Governmental

laws help

protect the

marriage.

God’s Design of Marriage“For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

Genesis 2:24

“What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

(by Jesus) Mark 10:9

Every marriage is spiritual in nature because of God’s declaration.

Good marriages follow God’s design.

Bad marriages ____________ God’s design. do not follow

Mediocre marriages have not _____ embraced God’s design. fully

In Mark 10:9 Jesus states that every marriage has been joined together by God. No person should treat marriage as a mere man-made union.

• God wants to build great marriages.

• God has a way to restore a broken marriage.

• God works with those who are listening to Him.

• God leads us back by living by His design.

• God wants to build great marriages.

• God has a way to restore a broken marriage.

• God works with those who are listening to Him.

• God leads us back by living by His design.

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are needed to see this picture.

We safely can assume several things from the Bible.

Hopelessness

Many times in your marriage you will face this “I give up” thought. It is not from God. You can be sure it is from the evil one. You can consider it a temptation.

All of these statements support the main goal of the evil one: to make you give up !

• How do you identify these areas of lost hope?

• Isn’t it too late?

• Do we all have areas of hopelessness?

• Isn’t it dangerous to focus on areas of discontent?

A Marriage Building Project

List 3-4 areas in which you have lost the hope of bettering your marriage.

A Hope List

After you do this, you can add other areas in which you still do have hope to the original list.

#1 God designed marriage (Genesis 2:18-22)

(c) Specially fashioned woman

So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and

he slept; then He took one of his ribs,

and closed up the flesh at that place.

And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man.

(Genesis 2:21-22)

Then the LORD God said,

“It is not good for the man to

be alone.” (Genesis 2:18)

(a) Some special need

And brought her to the man.

(Genesis 2:22)

(d) Introduced her to Adam(b) Animals not suitable

And the man gave names to

all the cattle, and to the birds

of the sky, and to every beast

of the field, but for Adam

there was not found a helper

suitable for him. (Genesis

2:20)

Truth: Great Marriages Happen!

Let’s look a four biblical principles that give us hope and confidence in our marriages.

Fashioned woman.

From man.

Man slept.A God-sized job.

Rib from man.Preserved man.

And the man said,

“This is now bone of my

bones,

And flesh of my flesh;

She shall be called Woman,

Because she was taken out of

Man.

Truth: Great Marriages Happen!

#2 God designed plurality: male and female (Genesis 2:23)

The phrase ‘one flesh’ speaks to the relationship as a whole; sexual union is one special expression of this union.

Truth: Great Marriages Happen!

#3 God designed oneness (Genesis 2:24)

For this cause

a man

shall leave his father and his mother

and

shall cleave to his wife;

and

they shall become one flesh

Truth: Great Marriages Happen!

#4 God designed His glory to be revealed in marriage (Genesis 2:25 )

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.The two of them

were as one. Totally

transparent to each other.

Not ashamed before sin.

Before the fall it seems that a glorious light emanated from Adam and Eve.

After the fall God gave them clothes to cover their bodies and offered forgiveness.

•Wait before discussing this ‘hope list’ with others.

•Confess any lack of hope in whatever area of your marriage.

•Ask the Lord to restore hope to areas of lost hope.

•Give God the opportunity to answer your prayer in His time and way.

•Share your list with your spouse only if asked.

•Wait before discussing this ‘hope list’ with others.

•Confess any lack of hope in whatever area of your marriage.

•Ask the Lord to restore hope to areas of lost hope.

•Give God the opportunity to answer your prayer in His time and way.

•Share your list with your spouse only if asked.

Take Home ProjectTake Home Project

Abraham: A Persevering Hope

Romans 4:18-21“In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform.”

God is a God of

miracles.

Change sometimes requires a

long process.

Hope assures a persistent

faith.

The Beauty of MarriageGod still works

miracles.

Building great marriages is a process

needing time.

God wants to work with us to build a great marriage.

It takes time because we need to

be changed.

Marriage!Building

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