The Bridge Christian Fellowship
12 hrs ·
The Pastor’s Pen
My dad was a high school drop-out, the oldest of five children born to alcoholics. My mom was raised as an only child by a bitter divorcee. They met on a blind date at the ripe old age of 16, and were married a week after my mom graduated from high school, both of them four months shy of their 18th birthdays.
If ever there was a marriage doomed to divorce, it was this unholy union of two young, crazy, worldly teenagers! They had little education, no money, and, just one year after their marriage, a baby daughter. Within seven more years, they added three more children to their quiver. Candidates for marital failure, yes. But this was not the end of the story; it was just the beginning.
I am child number three who was born to these two young, reckless lovers. A year before I was born, my parents were introduced to someone named Jesus Christ. He not only changed their lives; He radically altered their eternal future! When my dad, Clif, and my mom, Rusti, humbly bowed their heads and said “yes” to Christ’s offer of eternal life through faith in His gracious offer of salvation (see Ephesians 2:8,9), they were transformed from the inside out.
Within two years, dad had earned his GED and was enrolled in Bible College. By the time he graduated, he was pastoring his first church. From 1956 until God took dad home to heaven in 1999, he and mom served their Heavenly Father in eight different churches in the states of California, Washington, and Oregon. That young, crazy couple had remained faithful to their vows for over 52 years, and were still head-over-hills in love with each other.
My parents not only trusted in Christ together; they prayed together. I witnessed, first hand, their scheduled and their impromptu times of prayer and intercession. We four children were trained, from infancy, to place and faith in Christ alone, and to pray as if it all depended upon Him. Over and over, growing up in their home, I witnessed God’s amazing answers to their quiet, humble intercession. I learned, from experience, that marital prayer is an unbreakable bond in Christian marriages.
Did you know that, for couples who claim to be Christians, the divorce rate is nearly the same as in non-Christian marriages? The divorce rate remains the same, about one in two, for Christian couples who attend church on a regular basis (at least three times/month). However, for couples who intentionally and prayerfully seek their God together, the divorce rate is radically lower. Research demonstrates that marriages involving couples who pray together at least five times per week, in addition to meal time prayers, do not suffer a 50% divorce rate. In fact, such couples experience one divorce per 1,028 marriages!
The old adage is true: “Couples who pray together stay together!” Prayer is the most powerful weapon that God has given us. It demonstrates our faith in and our absolute dependence upon our God. Our prayers excite heaven and incite hell. Prayer gets our focus off of ourselves and back on Jesus. Prayer anticipates God’s provision and protects us from this world’s distractions.
If you are a Christian who is married, I encourage you to pray with your mate. Invest just a few minutes each day to seek God’s blessing and protection on your spouse. Don’t be preachy; don’t be sanctimonious. Just come to Jesus in simple, child-like faith. I desire that we all experience the same kind of enduring love that my mom and dad shared for 52+ years.
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