Living a 220 life

Ignite a passionate marriage!

Friends, I’ve posted a new page entitled, “Ignite a passionate marriage!” Proverbs 5:15-19 offers us a wonderful teaching point in order to develope a passionate marriage. Though the page is a bit longer than most of my posts, I encourage you to read through it with the intent of hearing the Lord’s voice for your marriage. Simply click on the linked title above to be taken to the page. I pray that this message would impact you and your marriage as much as it has me and mine. AMEN!

Ignite a passionate marriage!

“Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well. Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be only your own, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love.” (Proverbs 5:15-19)

I’ll start out by telling you that many people have expressed envy over Beth and I’s marriage. We’re told often that people wish they could be as in love with their spouse as Beth and I are with each other. I write this only to acknowledge the fact that we, indeed, are passionately in love with each other and that you also can have this passion in your marriage. All too often couples give up on passion simply out of ignorance. Much like starting a campfire, the passion in marriage can be simple to start if you know how to start it. If you don’t know how to start it you’ll simply stack wet wood and try lighting it with a match; it ain’t gonna work my friends!

In Proverbs 5:15 we’re told to drink water from our own cistern and from our own well. Let me explain what this has to do with a passionate marriage. During Solomon’s time, when this scripture was written, people would build a cistern in order to catch the rain water so they could later drink it. The cistern provided life giving nourishment in the middle of a dry desert. The biggest problem with the cistern is that the water would sit and become stagnate. Sometimes the cistern would hold the carcasses of animals that came to drink and fell in. Cisterns weren’t the nicest places to get water but, none the less, they provided much needed water to sustain life.

On the other hand, running water from a well was known as ‘living’ water. This was God given water from a spring. It was clean and fresh. In comparison to cistern water, the running water from a well was like gourmet water next to sewer water. These two analogies are given to represent the extremes of marriage. Some people drink from a cistern because they have a lot of baggage in their marriage that can make the water taste bad. Some people drink from a well that produces ‘living’ water because they’ve cultivated a great marriage. My friends, I know some of you are drinking from a pretty stagnate cistern right now, but there’s hope.

The water in this analogy represents the love, respect, and intimate companionship that we so desperately need in our marriages. The deep spiritual, emotional, and mental needs that cause us to enter marriage in the first place are represented by the water. Whether you know it or not, if you’re drinking from a cistern you’re still getting the nourishment you need to stay alive. It may not taste very good but it’s still nourishing you.

With this said, we’re told to “drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.” My friends, we’re called to get our needs met from our spouse only! Men, this means stop looking at other women with lustful eyes. Put an end to your porn addiction! STOP meeting your needs in another cistern. Women, this means stop fantasizing about romance with other men! STOP measuring you’re husband against the fantasy men in movies or novels! We must drink from our own cistern. We’re asked the rhetorical question in verse 16, “should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets?” This is rhetorical because in a desert land, to allow your precious water to be spread all over the street and wasted was unthinkable. It should still be unthinkable for us today.

We are told in verse 17 and 18, “Let them be only your own, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth.” Friends, we must look to our spouse for all our needs and equally to meet all their needs. As we begin to drink from ‘our’ cistern (the cistern you and your spouse have created) our fountain will be blessed. With much use the cistern will naturally be cleaned and the well will spring up with living water. We are called to rejoice with our spouse. This often takes a conscious decision at first but must be done. Despite the poor history and pain your marriage may have created, make the decision to rejoice with your spouse. It’s worth it! The cistern can be cleaned.

As we come to our own cistern to draw all of our water we’ll begin to find the ‘living’ water welling up. Verse 19 gives us a glimpse at the passionate marriage God wants for us, “As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and always be enraptured with her love.” Men, how amazing would it be to have the woman who ‘enraptures’ you living in your home, joining you in your bed every night, loving you dearly? Think about this guys, the woman who sets your heart on fire every time you see her is your wife. That is every man’s dream. Women, would you not like to be the one who ‘enraptures’ your husband? Would you not like to be so loved by your husband that he can hardly think straight when you’re around? This passionate marriage all stems from drinking at your own cistern.

One final note for those not yet married. You must be cautioned to not begin drinking from a cistern before you’re ready to stay there from life. If you begin drinking from one or two or sometimes many cisterns during your dating years you’ll muddy the waters of your final drinking hole. Every person you share a cistern with eventually adds another dead carcass to your finale cistern. Of course these carcasses can be cleaned by the Lord’s power but you’ll be stepping into a marriage with a very nasty place to have your needs met, which sets the stage for disaster the rest of your life.

My friends, the Lord has called us to drink from our own cistern so that He can satisfy us with a well of ‘living’ water. He wants us to enjoy a marriage filled with passionate love for our spouse; a marriage that builds us up in Him. Our marriage is meant to be a worldly relationship that reveals a deeper sense of the Lord in our lives, not an institution to bring pain and bitterness. Drink from your own cistern and be ‘enraptured’ by your spouse! AMEN!

Living wisely

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7)

Do you do things in life that make you stop and wonder why you did such a dumb thing? Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes I do things that are really dumb. I’m not a dumb guy so it really boggles my mind by some of the things I do. I believe all human beings have these moments. However, the book of Proverbs tells us that we have the opportunity to grow in knowledge. This opportunity begins with the fear of the Lord.

When I read this verse I was pretty excited. I was ready to sign up for the program immediately. Then I began to wonder what exactly does “the fear of the Lord” mean? How do we really fear the Lord? I was all for getting the knowledge, but I really didn’t know how to fear the Lord.

Then I read Proverbs 2:1-5. The Lord heard my questioning heart and answered my question. He told me, “My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” (Proverbs 2:1-5)

My friends, this breaks down to 7 simple tasks:
1. receive His Word–read the Bible regularly
2. treasure His commands–willingly obey what He tells you through His Word
3. incline your ear to wisdom–humbly listen to other Christens and check what they tell you with scripture.
4. apply your heart to understanding–dig into what you read. Do some research and really investigate.
5. cry out for discernment–Pray, pray, pray. Ask God to instruct your heart.
6. lift up your voice for understanding–Pray, pray, pray. Ask God to instruct your mind.
7. seek and search–don’t give up. It’s a life long pursuit that we never stop.

As we conduct these 7 steps whole heartedly we begin to find our loving Saviour. These steps aren’t the complete package of being a follower of the Lord but they will lead you into His presence. My friends, seek Him and you will find Him. AMEN!