John 10:10 English Standard Version (ESV)

10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Jesus came so that we could have an enjoyable life. These lessons will empower us to live at whatever stage or place in life we find ourselves during our journey. We will look at how to enjoy single life, married life and as you mature in age senior or mature life.

Married Life: Enjoy the Journey

Today’s lesson will empower and encourage couples by giving them Biblical principles on how to enjoy their marriage and how to relate with each other.

Turn to Genesis 2:20-24

Genesis 2:20-2420. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

21. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

23. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

• Marriage was God’s idea for man and woman, and for earth. Sin came after marriage did change God’s design for marriage.

Man and woman would benefit from married life: emotionally, mentally, physically, financially, spiritually; for a fulfilled life.

Remember: Marriage is God’s God’s ideaidea and even though Adam and Eve fell in the garden, marriage never did, because man was, and still is using a God idea that can produce great earthly results if used the way He intended it to be used.

God’s Purpose for His Idea (Marriage)

Marriage is a covenant; a contract between two persons to live and model together a loving, lifelong relationship for mutual care, respect and enjoyment of each other, to reproduce themselves in children, making a family, which would become the basic unit of society.

Marriage Relate Tips

• Learn about the differences in a man and women (physiological, emotional, mental, etc.)

Tip #1 Learn

• Learn about each other’s purposes, Learn about each other’s purposes, temperaments, gifts, and talents, temperaments, gifts, and talents, and help each other develop them. and help each other develop them. Don’t force development, help it!Don’t force development, help it!

• Learn how to disagree without internalizing the disagreement causing future problems. Disagreeing is part of marriage that will strength or weaken it. You chose which one it will be by your choice.

• Ask God to show you yourself. Learning you and making the changes to be more like Jesus will produce greater results in the marriage.

Maturity always looks at itself and makes the necessary changes on itself, which creates an environment ready for change.

• Learning the One Flesh Process

This process is more like fusing two different elements together instead of gluing. Fusion produces an inseparable bond. The process is painful to achieve, but great results are achieved once reached.

Genesis 2:24 English Standard Version (ESV)24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Tip #2 LaughProverbs 17:22 The Amplified Bible22. A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

What can laughter do?• Lower blood pressure• Increase vascular blood flow and oxygenation of the blood• Give a workout to the diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles

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•Defend against respiratory infections–even reducing the frequency of colds

• Increase memory and learning; in a study at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, humor during instruction led to increased test scores

• Reduce certain stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline

Tip #3 Live• Enjoy your time together . Invest in your life together ( vacations, date nights, etc.)

John 10:10 English Standard Version (ESV)

10. …I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

• Create good, wholesome, and fun memories, which will be used in intense seasons. What you don’t take time to create can’t be used in the future.

Tip #4 Love

• Love will allow you to dislike and disagree but love must be built upon each day so that it their when you need it in the marriage.

• Emotional love is only one facet of love the kind of love we have to build upon is agape love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 4. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5. or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6. it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.7. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Enjoying the marital journey with each other that produces a

purposeful, wholesome, enjoyable, and great model for others to follow is a choice we make or don’t make.

It’s still your choice!