Spiritual Relationship Book - Page 2

7. The Married Ministry Team

I believe that if one member of a marriage is called into a ministry, they are both called. Maybe not in the same capacities, but in a oneness relationship, this must be true. Many time ministers look for support outside of the marriage and this creates a dangerous situation in their marriage.

A wife is given to be a support, a friend, a confidant, and they should be treated as such. They should be given full respect and looked to for advice. The offices that God has called them to should be given the respect that it deserves. God is no respecter of person for we are all one in Christ: GALATIANS 3:26-29.

I have found that my wife has many of the necessary qualities that I need to be successful in my ministry that God did not give me. I am complete through her.

As a general rule, a married person should never have anyone who they will place more confidence in than there spouse, especially someone of the opposite sex. This will open the door to a great division in the marriage. This violates the rule of oneness.

It is best never to have close friends of the opposite sex. The wife is given to be a man's help meet: GENESIS 2:18.

8. The Relationship of Parents and Children

PSALMS 127:

3. Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

4. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

5. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

EPHESIANS 6:

1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

2. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;

3. That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

4. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition (gentle or friendly reproof: counsel or warning against fault or oversight) of the Lord.

Our children are the heritage of the Lord. They are the world's future. How we take care of them will determine if there will be any holy seed left or not.

We expect everyone to raise our children and train them: the schools, grandparents, day-care centers, churches, Sunday schools, and ministries. However, it is ultimately our responsibility. We must take the responsibility for our own children.

DEUTERONOMY 4:

8. And what nation is there so great, that hath statues and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

9. Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons's son;

11. Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

DEUTERONOMY 6:

6. And these words, which I command thee, this day, shall be in thine heart:

7. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

8. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

There is a great satanist movement going on in the world and if our children are to survive they must be educated in the word of God. Much of the child abuse and child molestation that goes on in our schools, day care centers, and even when sponsored by Christians, is ultimately instituted by satan himself through various devices. No matter the source, its effect on our children is deadly and destructive.

We must begin to teach our children godly Christian principles at an early age. They need to know and believe that there is power over satan in the name of Jesus. Tell them that they should tell you everything that makes them uncomfortable. Let them know that no one can take their life or your life unless the Lord allows it. This will help them to not fear anyone. Teach them the word of God on a daily and weekly basis. If we can get these principles into our children at an early age, then they will be strong enough to fight off the attacks of satan. What I mean by early is ages 2 years and up. Children understand more than we give them credit for.

We learn CPR and think that we will never remember it. But, in the moment of crisis, all the training comes automatically back to our mind. If we fill our children with the word of God, when they are attacked, all that information will come flowing back to their mind as the Holy Spirit leads. If the child's mind is full of Jesus, then there will be no room for the world.

Before we can remember anything, we must first make it a member of our body. We must read it, study it, and meditate on it. This is how it becomes a member of our body. When it is a member of our body, then God can bring it to our remembrance.

TEACHING OUR CHILDREN TO FOLLOW JESUS AND PUT THEIR TRUST IN GOD IS THE ULTIMATE RESPONSIBILITY OF A PARENT.

PROVERBS 13:

24. He that spareth his rod HATETH his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

PROVERBS 19:

18. Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

PROVERBS 22:

15. Foolishness is BOUND IN THE HEART of a child; but the ROD of correction SHALL DRIVE IT FAR FROM HIM.

ROD -- a branch or stick, such as may be used for a whip, an instrument for punishment or correction.

PROVERBS 23:

13. Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou BEATEST him with the rod, HE SHALL NOT DIE.

14. Thou shalt BEAT him with the ROD, and shalt DELIVER his SOUL from HELL.

PROVERBS 29:

15. The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child LEFT TO HIMSELF bringeth his MOTHER to SHAME.

17. Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

Notice, the scriptures above say nothing about child abuse. These scriptures show us that different things are bound in the hearts of our children. We must use whatever godly means necessary to instruct our children in the right way. The rod can be a talk, a chat, restrictions and other things to get our children's attention. However, we cannot look over the fact that at times we must spank our children. To not do so would be to go against God's word. The Lord chastens us because he loves us. If we love our children, we will chasten them.

If we never spank our children, we stand in a great danger of losing control of them until they are completely in Satan's grip.

Sometimes talking helps. A lot of times it won't. We must use these scriptures out of love for our children.

Satan's desire is to ultimately turn our children against us and against God. Many things get bound in their heart by Satan. According to books written by people who fight Satan, he tries to open a door to posses the life of every child while they are young.

Many doors have been opened by physical and sexual abuse. We think people are acting out their desires. What they are actually acting out is satan's attempt to destroy somebody's life.

PROVERBS 22:

6. Train up the child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

9. We Must Never Neglect Our Family

1 TIMOTHY 5:

8. But IF ANY PROVIDE NOT FOR HIS OWN, SPECIALLY FOR THOSE OF HIS OWN HOUSE, HE HATH DENIED THE FAITH, AND IS WORSE THAN AN INFIDEL.

INFIDEL - a. one who is not a Christian or who opposes Christianity. b. an unbeliever with respect to a particular religion. c. one who acknowledges no religious belief.

To neglect our family goes directly against the principles of God. Our family, especially the marriage covenant, is the most treasured possession that he gave us next to our salvation. God places great emphasis on our family. So must we!

10. Whose Fault Is It?

We generally try to attribute faults to one party or the other. I suggest that both parties are in the wrong in some way.

We must pray the prayer of faith, and trust God to work it out.

In the meantime, we must walk in faith and love. No matter what the circumstances or how negative the other person is, we must leave the problem in the hand of God and allow him to work it out.

As we pray and fast about a situation, God will reveal his perfect will to us. Then we will know how to act and assist in this situation.

11. Sin is the Ultimate Problem in Every Relationship

As we pointed out in the introduction, Sin will destroy a relationship. That is why we must learn to first be Christians at home. Satan has us conditioned to think that we must treat everyone else with love, but it's okay to let our hair down and get ugly, angry and upset with one another at home. It's one of his great deceptions. Always remember that we learn to respect others by learning to respect those that we live with first.

We must strive to first establish our homes on a solid foundation. Then we will be qualified to show our love to everyone else. The qualification for deacons, bishops and ministers has always been to have a well ruled home. Have you ever wondered about these things: 1 TIMOTHY 3:1-12?

Satan has declared war on relationships. In the latter days he would raise up ministers in the house of God who would even forbid to marry: 1 TIMOTHY 4:3. In the last and evil days people would be marrying and giving in marriage: ST MATTHEW 24:36-44. Also in the hard times, the love of many would wax cold: ST MATTHEW 24:9-13. We are living in the days when we can see these things before our eyes.

When we allow these things to affect us, we sin and this opens the door to demonic influence and possibly possession in our lives: 1 CORINTHIANS 6:9-20. When we have sexual relations we become one with whatever person that we are with. Just as in the natural sexual diseases are transmitted, in the spiritual demons are transmitted through contact and sin.

ECCLESIASTES 10:

8. He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bit him.

God has us hedged in with his goodness and angels. When we sin we break the hedge. Now the serpent (satan) can strike and bite (possess) us. This is why fornication is spoken of as the most awful sin. We are sinning against our own body. If you don't understand this principle, the lesson Spiritual Warfare In Today's Church sheds more light on this topic.

GALATIANS 5:16-26 gives us a good list of sins that are prevalent in many marriages trying to destroy them. It also gives us instruction on how to overcome sin. Then it gives us a list of fruits that should be in our marriage if it is to survive.

We need to firmly establish our marriage in the Lord before satan strikes it.

12. Prayer is an important part of any relationship

1 JOHN 5:

14. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us;

15. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

There are two important principles that I believe that we should follow in knowing the will of God:

a. Study the word of God to know his will. If we know God's word then we will have an idea of his will in situations and we will be able to pray in confidence.

b. We need to spend time fasting and praying. In prayer, God can reveal to us his perfect will. Jesus spent much time praying to the Father. This was the reason he was able to heal the sick and do all those marvelous things. God showed him his will in all situations before time so he could act in full faith.

For example, of the many people we see sick, how do we know which ones God wants to restore and which are ready to depart life: remember, we all must die someday. Or, how do we know that a sickness is caused by natural causes or demonic possession? God must show us these things. I believe this is the key to any ministry. We must lift up all concerns before God in prayer so that we will know how to pray for every situation.

Prayer can fix any relationship.

ST MARK 11:

22. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

23. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith.

24. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Note the following facts concerning pray:

a. We are the whosoever.

b. If we have troubles in our relationship, we have a mountain that needs to be moved.

c. We can say creative word: marriage be healed, divorce be cast into the sea and relationship be restored.

d. The words we say are faith. If we say that we will always be poor, we are confessing this, so we will always be that way. If we really believe something, we will say it.

e. Faith is believing God that your prayer is answered before you see it.