What does it mean to include God in your marriage?

Throughout my years as a marriage counselor, I have noticed that when people include God in their relationship that they are generally happier both individually and within their marriage. I wanted to share a few thoughts about what it means to me to include God in your relationship.

Faith in God. This is the first step. You are not going to be able to include God into your relationship until you believe in him. God wants you to be happy in your marriage. He also wants your spouse to be happy in the marriage as well. Believe that this is true. Have faith in God that he will inspire you to do what is necessary in order to have a happy and fulfilling marriage.

Pray to Him. Pray to God for patience and determination to make your marriage work. You can ask Him for help with any aspect of your marriage. Do you need help in your communication? Do you need help in loving your spouse? Pray to God, he will help you and your marriage. Do not pray to change your spouse, but pray for the ability to recognize and change yourself. Pray to Him for your spouse’s needs.

Act as God would want you to act. You are married to a son or daughter of God (whether they act like a child of God or not). When my children get married, I want their spouses to treat them with the utmost respect. I want them to be valued and to be treated as the son or daughter of a Great King, because they are. God wants you to respect your spouse. He wants you to value them, and their thoughts, and their feelings.

Demonstrate Repentance. Recognizing when you have hurt or offended your spouse is an important aspect of healthy marriages. There are times when we intentionally try to make them feel bad and other times when we innocently hurt or offend our spouse. Apologizing to our spouse (and to God for the way we treated His son or daughter) can be an excellent way to include God in your relationship and can help with the healing of offenses.

Be Forgiving. As important as it is to apologize to our spouse for any wrongdoing, it is equally (if not more important) to be forgiving of our spouse when they have offended us. Get rid of those feelings of anger or revenge that you may have towards your spouse. Look for the good in them instead of dwelling on their faults. Let God be the judge of your spouse’s behaviors.

I Originally posted this on my blog at God in Marriage.

Tags: God Prayer Faith Repentance Forgiveness Marriage Happiness

Bookmark: