<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the next message in my marriage series “Two Are Better Than One<\/a>.” In my last post<\/a>, I shared how we need each other. Today, I want to focus more importantly on how much we need God.<\/p>\n

Jesus said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.<\/strong><\/p>\n

John 15:5-11<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jesus instructs us to remain in Him and remain in His love because apart from Him we can do, not some things<\/em>, but absolutely<\/strong> “nothing!”<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0 <\/em>The first five years of my marriage, my husband and I did not have a relationship with Christ. We were not connected to the vine, so we were not able to bear any fruit to help our marriage grow as God intended it to. We were like a branch that was thrown away and withered, picked up by the world and burned. We had no life to sustain our marriage.<\/p>\n

Once we started seeking Christ, and God poured His love into our hearts, He began producing fruit and bringing life into our marriage. God worked many miracles in our marriage that first year of seeking Him. One miracle was He completely took away my jealously and insecurity. My husband and I used to have horrible fights. Walls would get punched out. Things would get broken. Sentimental items would get destroyed. My husband even ended up in the hospital once after hurting himself from one of our fights. My parents moved into our old apartment complex recently and my husband and I were just recounting all the walls we had to patch then. We praise God those intense fights ceased completely once He began to pour His love into our hearts.<\/p>\n

Jesus said to remain in Him and His love so that His joy would be in us and our joy would be made complete. Several years ago, my husband was feeling guilty for not being the husband he felt he needed to be. He felt convicted when he thought about our daughter and how he would want her husband to be. At the time, I was experiencing a fresh revelation of God’s love and was overflowing with joy. As my husband was saddened by all the things he did and didn’t do, I encouraged him that I already had all I needed. I was content because God’s love was more than enough to fill me. I didn’t need anything else.<\/p>\n

Even now, when I allow the busyness of life to get in the way of my relationship with Christ, I begin to lose my joy and see it affect my marriage. When I am on fire for Christ, and I feel His love, nothing my husband does wrong matters to me. The joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). We can battle anything in life when we are in God’s love and His joy is complete in us. All our faults and our spouses’ faults don’t matter when we are filled with a revelation of God’s love.<\/p>\n

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ephesians 1:22-23<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you are not fulfilled and satisfied with your marriage, I encourage you to ask God for a fresh revelation of His love. Remain in Jesus and His joy will be made complete in you.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father,<\/em><\/p>\n

We praise You for sending Jesus to fill us in every way. Help us to remain in Jesus so we can bear much fruit to strengthen and bring life to our marriages. Give us a fresh revelation of Your love so we can be content and not need our spouses to change in order to make us happy. Fill us in every way with Your love so that Your joy will be made complete in us.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen! <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*My marriage series will end this Monday. You can read more about my marriage testimony and how to enjoy your marriage in my book “You Can Have a Happy Family: Steps to Enjoying Your Marriage and Children<\/a>” (available in paperback, ebook, & audio format).<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[subscribe2]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the next message in my marriage series “Two Are Better Than One.” In my last post, I shared how we need each other. Today, I want to focus more importantly on how much we need God. Jesus said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. John 15:5-11 Jesus instructs us to remain in Him and remain in His love because apart from Him we can do, not some things, but absolutely “nothing!”\u00c2\u00a0 The first five years of my marriage, my husband and I did not have a relationship with Christ. We were not connected to the vine, so Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[210,10],"tags":[216,224,20,207,36,212,21,46,28,215,218,213,126],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharingtruths.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}