*WISDOM FOR TODAY*
*TO HAVE AND TO HOLD....."*
*Scripture Treasure.*
Matt 8:14 *And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.*
*And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.*
*Insight and Higlight.*
Exd 15: 26 *".....for I am the Lord that healeth thee.*
*Scripture Commentaries.*
There are adverse things that will happen to us that can only be changed or reversed by God.
Life's challenges of different kinds affect marriages.
Couples must be one and must stand with Christ in the midst of these challenges.
One among many other challenges is sickness. We are comforted that one of the commisions of God to Christ is healing, Luke 4:18-19.
We pray against sickness, but it looks from the scriptures that it is one thing that can not change its impact on us because that is the way it is.
Couples must not only love each other in good health. Each must love to care for an ailing partner. As much as the church prays against sickness, she must encourage God's people of the possibility of its occurrence and that there is healing available from God.
God's people must be assured that a sick Christian is in no way lesser than a healthy Christian.
To teach couples to ignore or refuse to accept that none other than good health will take place is questionable and a grave error. To make them believe this is prophesying evil is misguiding.
Though we do not pray that any other thing but good will happen, but bad things do happen and bad things happen to good people,ref (Eccl 3:4, Job 1-2, Matt 6:34).
We have enviable marriages of renowned men and women of God today who have testified of their humble backgrounds when there was practically no means of livelihood or sufficient availability of it, their struggles battling with sicknesses etc.
As we pray against sickness, the reasons why we must realize the presence of sickness and other challenges is that it is stated in the scriptures.
Concerning sickness, Jesus identified with the sick in His early ministry, saying those who are sick need physicians/doctors, Luke 5:31-32.
Jesus said in Luke 4:27 that many lepers were in Israel, but none was saved except Naaman the Syrian.
While we pray against sickness, Paul, in his admonition in 3 John 2, was implying that bad health could occur, but he wished above all things that *".....you be in good health....."*
There are people who live sickness-free lives, and there are people who are prone to occasional sickness.
Paul had a thorn in his flesh 2 Cor 12. He was sick in Gal 4:13. In Gal 4:14, he
was grateful that the people did not reject or despise him. They welcomed him.
Timothy suffered from frequent infirmities, 1 Tim 5:23.
In Phil 2: 25-27, Epaphroditus, whom Paul referred to as a brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier, was ill. Paul said Epaphroditus almost died.
Jesus cared about marital relationships. He healed Peter's mother-in-law, meaning he would have cared and healed her if she were Peter's wife!
Sin brought sickness into the world, and we all may be prone to it irrespective of who we are because we live in an imperfect world.
Elisha was sick of a sickness, yet with his anointing, he died sick. In his death, his stature did not diminish. His dead body raised the dead, 2 Kgs 13:14, 20-21.
Our love for one another may be more expressed in times of distress than in good times.
We are not married as fair weather friends but as fellow burden carriers to each other.
Job expressed a deep loss of closeness when he was in distress, Job 6:14. Whereas when things were good, when he washed his feet *".....with butter..."* people were close to him, Job 29:6.
We may not wish to express for better for worse, or in sickness and good health but we must know that good and lasting marriages are built on thicks and thins and our love is best expressed in our partner's adversity. The same passage says *".....a friend loves all the time...."*, Prov 17:17,
This means no matter the situation or come what may, good friends stay with each other.
You will not be sick or lack anything good in your marriage in Jesus name We will continue to pray for no sickness, lack, or life's misadventures, but we must prepare for life's eventualities, and when they come, it is not one partner's burden but both. This is why two are better than one.
We must earnestly pray. God is a healer, and He still heals.
He can even give us divine healing, and this is your portion in Jesus name.
Go into that marriage to have and to hold. Believe God, and He will help you both, but teach yourselves the word of God. Paul says in
Phipn 4:12-13 *I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.*
Love, have, and hold each other!
*Remorse corner.*
Your love is most effective in difficult times, not when things are going well.
*Call to Word action.*
Eccl 4: 9-12 *Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.*
*For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.*
*Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?*
*And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.*
*The Christian clarion duty.*
Total removal of sickness may not come, but the grace to reveal God's power in the sickness is given, 2 Cor 12.
*Prayer.*
Lord, take away sicknesses or any form of lack from us, and grant us Your all-around peace in Jesus name.
Good morning all, and be blessed as you come into His presence, in Jesus name.
God bless you.
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