Faithfulness in marriage.

[arunangelo]

Should not we be faithful in our marriage, even if our spouse is not?

God always stays faithful to His covenant with us. When we were unfaithful to Him, He brought us healing by sacrificing His own life. The Lord told Hosea (Hosea 3:1), to return to his wife although she was an adulteress. God further told him to love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they were unfaithful to Him.

 

[Dreamer]

Amen. I love the story of Hosea and Gomer.

 

[stephen]

The vow's a couple make at their wedding, in the presence of God, and to each other, are life long....."till death us do part"

People tell us that the world has changed, things are not the same now. I believe that the foundational principles for family life, have not changed, and still remain the same, in the eye of God.

A contributing factor to the breakdown of society, a rise in lawlessness etc. is due to having replaced the foundations of our Fathers. Of which the 'marriage vows' are an example.

"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the bible". Georg Washington

"A thorough knowlege of the bible is worth more than a college education". Theodore Roosevelt

 

[Chad]

Great topic! What is one to do while remaining faithful to their marriage with an unfaithful spouse?

1. Obey GOD's Word
2. Pray for the spouse to be convicted by the Spirit to repent and seek forgiveness
3. Pray for yourself that you may be guided by the Spirit, comforted and given peace in Christ
4. Do not seek revenge

Member shortlady also posted about GOD sustaining us through Christ. Perfect timing
http://www.talkjesus.com/showthread.php?t=8333

 

[arunangelo]

Great topic! What is one to do while remaining faithful to their marriage with an unfaithful spouse?

1. Obey GOD's Word
2. Pray for the spouse to be convicted by the Spirit to repent and seek forgiveness
3. Pray for yourself that you may be guided by the Spirit, comforted and given peace in Christ
4. Do not seek revenge

Member shortlady also posted about GOD sustaining us through Christ. Perfect timing
http://www.talkjesus.com/showthread.php?t=8333

Thanks Chad for giving a perfect solution.

 

[Levana]

How do I build up confidence and trust?

Hi everyone,
I am a new member and would like to say thankyou for those of you who read my email and prayed for me. When thing's get on top of us and we loose focus of God, we can feel alone; it's great to know that we have brothers and sisters in Christ who we can count on to lift us up and give us some direction and help us find our strength again. Some times when things feel like they are moving to slow and the tough times feel like they are forever, it's a great time to ask for prayer from our family in Christ. Sometimes we need help to pray, if we are struggling and really need God's help. By asking for prayer God can see we really do trust in him to help us.
When God hears our prayer and see's our faith in him, and our open heart's to him, he can them speak to us, and we can hear him better.
This weekend after asking for prayer, God sent a missionary family to preach in our church, the wife gave a great testomony about her life and how she decided that she was going to follow Jesus and it didn't matter what people said about her. She said,"Because if she is for Christ who can stand against her", it didn't matter to her anymore what people said or thought.
Listening to her testomony really helped me find direction, which made me realise that God knows us well, hears us calling for help and then sends the right (people or thing's) our way to help us get through our struggles. When we pray or ask for prayer, we need to really trust God and listen out for him talking to us.

 

[Suzi]

What if its not another person that has come between you, but an addiction? I pray over this situation continually and have remained dedicated to my marriage but sometimes his drinking makes things intolerable. I know God has a plan and I pray that I remain strong in my faith, that he will be delivered, but sometimes I just feel lost and confused even though I know Jesus is with me in all things. Is it ever right to give up and let a spouse go when their choices are so damaging?

 

[stephen]

http://www.talkjesus.com/ethics-morality/13654-betrayal.html

 

[Levana]

What if its not another person that has come between you, but an addiction? I pray over this situation continually and have remained dedicated to my marriage but sometimes his drinking makes things intolerable. I know God has a plan and I pray that I remain strong in my faith, that he will be delivered, but sometimes I just feel lost and confused even though I know Jesus is with me in all things. Is it ever right to give up and let a spouse go when their choices are so damaging?

Hi Susy,
When my husband was unfaithful to my, it made me come closer to God, to trust in him, I felt that as a christian I was responsible for my husbands life. So I prayed like never before and read my Bible to try and hear what God was saying, and to get some guidence in what to do. I could see that this was not the husband that I once knew, Satan had entered his body and I wanted it back and I wasn't going to let go of it, God had give my husband to me and I wasn't going to give him up without a fight. I used all of Gods strength that was in me until I couldn't fight no more, which was last year when I felt I couldn't do this alone any more and asked my pastor to pray for my and my husband. I told her that no one could find out about my telling her, or my husband will leave me. So she asked the church to pray for reconsiliation in the marrages in the church that God would help everyone in marrage. This pray was then prayed through out the church and with in the first month I could see little changes in him.

But it was like one step forward and one step back, then two steps forward and two steps back, my husband and I can now talk alittle more with out him getting aggresive toward me on any subject, feels great to be able to talk to him even if he only has a little bit of time for me. He gives me gifts with out any kisses and gifts with out any hugs, if I kiss him he pushes my out the way, and if I hug him he tells me to get off. I offen get emotional waiting for the day when things will be back to normal, the way they used to be.

So my advise to you would be to ask as many people as you can to pray for you, so God takes notice and can see that you are in real need of him, and don't give up on your husband, just think what it would be like if you went to heaven with out him.

 

[foc]

Should not we be faithful in our marriage, even if our spouse is not?

Yes
But contrary to what I believe you are meaning, a man is not being UNfaithful if he puts away his wife when she chooses to play the harlot.

God always stays faithful to His covenant with us.

And He is faithful to put those who apostate themselves from His covenant in hell.

When we were unfaithful to Him, He brought us healing by sacrificing His own life.

'Us' would be correct. Those who will choose to follow Him.
Im not a universalist, so I do not believe that those who either remain in unfaithfulness until death will be covered by the blood of Christ.
Im not OSAS either, so I do not believe God is 'required' to save the apostate either.

The Lord told Hosea (Hosea 3:1), to return to his wife although she was an adulteress.

Yes, God DID tell Hosea to do this. And THAT is why Hosea was to stay with this woman. Under Mosaic law this woman would have been put to death in NORMAL circumstances for her adulteries. But God had a different plan in this particular case to USE this harlot to show what Israel had done to Him.
No other man or woman has this requirement placed on their life or their marriage other than Hosea. And this was for a purpose. God does not go around telling all men to marry harlots, nor requiring any woman to remain married to a man who beats and rapes her, then casts her out into the streets.

God further told him to love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they were unfaithful to Him.

And that was to show Israel what they had done to Him. It was by no means setting ANY tone for future marriages of any other man or woman.
Just like God hardening Pharoahs heart a few times was for a purpose, so was Hosea marrying a harlot for a Gods purpose.
It has nothing to do with any marriage before or after Hoseas/Gomers


Also, you seem to forget that God DID give a bill of divorcement and then finally DID end that covenant with all the peoples, both Israel and Judah

And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.
(Zec 11:10-11)

God DID ultimately END that covenant. God IS metaphorically a 'divorcee'.

 

[foc]

The Lord told Hosea (Hosea 3:1), to return to his wife although she was an adulteress.

Hosea and Gomer
By WmTipton

Some try to assert that Hosea and Gomer were foreshadows of marriage during this age of grace.
Let us see for ourselves what Hosea is about.

God TOLD Hosea to marry a harlot because of Isreals constant ******* / idolatry against Him.
He was showing, thru this prophet, how Israel was BREAKING the covenant He had made with them, and like a forgiving spouse, He had keep taking her back.

But God did not permit Israel, the nation as a whole, to continue in this.
In the book of Zechariah (11:10-11) He fully and finally broke / ended that covenant with them, as a nation.
One more prophet came ofter this, Malachi, then silence from God for over 400 years until John came out of the wilderness.

A brief read through of the first few verses in Hosea shows us clearly that it had nothing to do with all marriages, but was God showing Isreal through the life of this prophet what they had been doing to Him.

The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. (Hos 1:2-6)

Those who use Hosea for an argument also need to start doing every other thing in the OT commanded of His prophets.
God put away a covenant with a ******* nation and we may put away a ******* spouse, just as Jesus has confirmed .(Matt 5:32 and Matt 19:9)
The fact is Hosea and Gomer are irrelevant in the MDR discussion as NONE of us are directed by God to go marry a harlot. Only if we were could we even begin to apply this situation to our marriage and even then it would ONLY be applicable to that marriage itself, not the hundreds of millions of others in the world today.