From this Day Forward ... Seek God

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Are great marriages possible?

Some think it may be true, at least in some of the movies, but most people don’t think you can have great relationships. Many people think that you can just survive. Most people think that if you work at it, you have a 50-50 chance of making it. You would not take those odds in anything else. Would you get on a plane if they told you the odds were 50/50 that the plane would crash? No.

There is another way… to increase your odds… to have a great marriage… great relationships… It begins with the mindset, From this day forward commit to these 5 things.

1. Seek God

#1 essential. this is today.

2. Fight Fair

Fighting is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be destructive.

3. Have Fun

Romance

4. Stay Pure

No way your relationships will make it if you don’t commit to staying pure.

5. Never Give up

Endurance looks like.... to death do us part.

slide with all 5 and repeat them.

So today,

From this day forward I will seek God

Matthew 6:33 NLT

33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

I will go after all things God as my priority. When you do, God gets involved. People always ask how they can get God and the power of God into different areas of their lives. Here is the answer. You seek God first… above all other things.

These principles are for couples and singles. Too many singles come and they are praying for that ONE. Watch too many movies. I am looking for that person who will complete me. That’s actually a flawed concept… no one can complete you… only God can. Anything that you idolize other than God you will eventually demonize. They are not fit to be an idol… not matter who or what they are. It could be your sports team… a person… They will all fail you. You will demonize it when they fail. The only one idolizing is God. the very thing that you idolized in that person before you married them is the very thing that you demonize now.

When I met him he was just so laid back and calm… now 10 years later… he’s just a bump on a log… idolized - demonized. Boy when I met her she was so organized… 10 year later… she’s a control freak…

You cannot put people in a position that only God should and can be in. You want something from them that only God can give. the pressure is too much, they can’t do it.

Listen to me. The reason that you expect it from them is that you really don’t have it in your God. When you have it in your God, you don’t need it from anybody else.

Here is the principle of this message.

God is my One and my spouse is my Two

How does that look? Here is how it looks for single people.

I will seek the One while preparing for my two.

I will focus on the Lord. If you are single, your can get to the Lord. When you do that you will become attractive because you are not focused on finding a spouse, you become the person that others are looking for. You are faithful in church and letting God work in your life and God prepares you for that person. Then God’s power goes into motion.

If you try it on your own, you will fail. You will get into desperation mode and it just doesn’t work. When you give up, God will get involved and bring into your life the person God wants. If you will keep Jesus as your focus, He will bring that person to you.

How does that apply if you are married?

I will seek the One with my Two

That means we seek God together. It’s important to keep God #1 and not to put your spouse #2. don’t out the kids at #2, or your job, or your friends…

From this Day forward principles…

These principles came from a Harvard business school.

A Harvard study revealed that only one out of 1,246 couples got a divorce if they did three simple things on a regular basis.

If anyone can take your investment odds from 50% to 1 out of 1,246.

1. They pray together

A couple that prays together stays together.

Most people think that your faith is private. That’s what our culture wants you to think. Jesus meant for your faith to be public. That includes you spouse… or other relationships.

James 5:16 NLT

16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

God is an each other kind of a God. Pray for each other. That kind of prayer… for each other… is powerful.

Praying together doesn’t mean you spend your personal time with God together. But throughout the day, there needs to be praying for each other. Bring prayer into your relationship. If you know your spouse has a meeting, text them and let them know you are praying for them… etc. Bring prayer into your life together because the couple that prays together stays together.

Warning to singles - It’s good for you to have a prayer life with others, but do it in public places. Don’t do it on the sofa, or you will be speaking ion tongues, but not the holy kind. Prayer is intimate and bonding and will often lead to other kinds of intimacy.

2. Discuss the Bible together

I am not saying you have to read the Bible together. Some folks like that, other’s don’t and it just may not work for you. But you can discuss it together. Do it informally every day in your family lives.

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 NLT

6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

How do you get the Word into your family? Talk about the bible with them. One way you can do this is to get into a group. Groups are not where someone is up front teaching, it’s about talking about the Bible together.

3. Attend Church together

I know, you are here. Here is a new level. Not just attend church, but attend church faithfully. Here is the challenge for you … make attending church a we don’t miss kind of thing. Make it that kind of priority.

ILL - i used to go to Saint’s games… free tickets… never saw the 1st quarter… Why? Church was my priority.

Attending church together doesn’t mean go when the weather is ok… or when we don’t have something else to do… it’s making it a priority. I was raised that way. We didn’t miss church growing up. My mother, even after she was not supposed to drive, snuck off and drove to church when her ride didn’t show up. She was 97.

Luke 4:16 NLT

16 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures.

Jesus made it a priority.

Psalm 127:1 NLT

1 Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.

You have to get God involved in your relationships… in your marriages… in every area of your life. We need God in our relationships to make it. We have have to live a different kind of life… what kind of life? Write this down.

The number one essential of healthy relationships is living a God-first life

Altar and Prayer time.

Salvation -

Give us the courage that from this day forward we will commit to praying together, discussing the Bible together and attending church together. Now the Lord is building your marriage and family.

Salvation is when you reorder your priorities and put God in the #1 spot. If he is not, all you have to do is to pray and put him in that place. You need to make a choice today… will you do that. If you will, lift your hand up in the air.