1. I Surrender My Marriage Malachi 2:14-16

2. I Surrender My Marriage As the first Sunday of the month is here, we wish to focus on our theme for this month “I Surrender All” is the theme for the year 2013 We have tried to look at different aspects of this thought

3. I Surrender My Marriage Today we not only focus on our theme, but we continue our thoughts from the last two weeks Our thoughts will center on surrendering our marriage to God There are many who have not done this…

4. I Surrender My Marriage Instead of surrendering our marriage to God, perhaps we’ve surrendered to our own will Even if things are going well in your relationship, you may not have surrendered all to God Let’s understand together how we do that…

5. God In The Middle One way that some do not surrender their marriages is that they do not place God in the center of the relationship God must be the most important aspect of our lives He should reign in our relationships

6. God In The Middle Jesus said that to love God is the first and great commandment of all (Matt. 22:37-38) That means loving Him above our spouse However, loving Him means loving our spouse (Jn. 14:15)

7. God In The Middle Remember what we are to seek after first in this life (Matt. 6:33) If we draw near to God in our marriages, He will draw near to us in the same (Js. 4:8) Deuteronomy 6:6-9

8. Keep Your Word Jesus commanded that we be people of our word “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’ (Matt. 5:37) Whatever we say, that is what we should do, even if we have to take a loss in doing it (Ps. 15:4)

9. Keep Your Word When we became married we made a vow or a commitment God expects us to keep that commitment Malachi 2:11-16 God was a witness to our vows and expects us to keep them

10. Keep Your Word The vows we make are ones such as the following: ▫In sickness and in health (Alzheimer’s - Pat Robertson) ▫For richer or poorer ▫For better or worse ▫Until death do us part

11. Keep Your Word Keeping our word means developing an attitude of hatred towards divorce If we take it off the table as an option, then we will be forced to work out our problems Remember, the commitment to our spouse is a reflection of the commitment to our God

12. Handle With Care Another way we surrender our marriage to God is in the way we treat our spouse There are some who may stay faithful to their vows, but they are unloving and mean-spirited to their spouse It does matter to God and our marriage!

13. Handle With Care One of the easiest rules to practice is the Golden Rule (Matt. 7:12) We should treat our spouse the way we would want to be treated We need to be kind and considerate to one another (Eph. 4:31-32)

14. Handle With Care The Bible commands that we love one another (Matt. 22:39; Eph. 5:25; Titus 2:4) Love is not a choice, it’s a decision we make (Matt. 5:44; Gen. 24:63-67) Paul describes what real love is all about (I Cor. 13:4-8)

15. Handle With Care We get out of our marriage what we put into it We need to make daily deposits into our relationship If we do that as we would do our bank account, we will watch our return grow and grow!