Why we must fellowship as couples
After the creation work of God, the Bible records in Gen1:31 saying;And God saw that everything that He had made was good but quickly too, God also realized that something was not good about the MAN when He said;it was not good for the man to be alone, I will make for him a help meet for him (Gen2:18).
In order to fulfill this promise, God caused a deep sleep to come upon Adam and from his rib made the woman and brought her to him. When the man woke up from his sleep he was delighted with what God gave him. Adam said this is now the bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh and she shall be called Woman.(Gen2:21-23).
The Bible further declared “therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his WIFE and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed; (Gen 2:24-25). By this token, God began the institution of marriage.
Recall that the man was to leave his parents and be united with his wife and both were to leave in the beautiful garden that God had prepared for the man with all the provisions and opportunity foe regular fellowship with the man.
Brethren, I suppose that this was when the battle between Satan and Couples began. Satan became envious and decided to disturb this fellowship with God, and by extension the God’s purpose for marriage etc.
The Bible affirmed that Satan was the most subtle of all creation and so worked on the innocence and perhaps ignorance of the woman such that she fell into his trap and the man followed. Thus they lost the comfort of the garden, divine provision, fellowship with God and then started the blame game; when Adam said the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat; (Gne3:12).
Today, we have seen marriages and even very high profiled Christian marriages breaking up for all manner of reasons and excuses. When you come analyze most of them, you will find that both the husband and the wife failed to notice that Satan had crept into their relationship and sow the seed of discord (Hosea 4:6; Isaiah 5:13; Mathew 13:24-28a).
It was against this back drop that New Light Baptist Church started the Couples Fellowship to provide a platform for Christians to fulfill God’s purpose for their marriage which includes: Reflecting His image (Gen1:26,27); Procreation of Godly seed (Gen1:28a); An Overcomer even of Satan (Gen1:28a); Fellowship, Companionship and warmth ( Eccl4:9-11) etc through provision of opportunity to:
- Study together and learn from scripture God’s plan and purpose for marriage. Prov11:9b says; through knowledge the righteous man is delivered”. Prov 27:17 says “Iron sharpeneth iron, so shall a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
- Encourage one another through sharing of real life testimonies of God’s faithfulness. Rev12:11 says “and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the words of their testimony.
- Pray for one another to overcome whatever challenges (John16:24).
- Show love for one another thus fulfilling the will of God (Jn13:35).
- Counsel anyone that is challenged in their marriage for any reason (Prov 11:14; Isaiah 5:13).
- Teach and expose brethren to current realities in marriage/family relationship including dwelling with your Teenager by the leading of the Holy Spirit. (Prov 11:9b).
- Have true fellowship that builds up the family (Hebrew 10:25).
This fellowship is open to all believers, and as many as would come to receive counsel from the Lord. Jesus said;And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice and they shall be one fold and one shepherd; (John 10:16).
You are therefore welcome to join us at our fellowship (every 3rd Thursday of the month) and be fulfilled in your marriage as God intended it to be.
I will like to announce here, that come August 2012, we shall be having our Couple Retreat with the Theme; Contending for your Family, Marriage and Relationship;. Details shall be posted on this sight in due course. Please plan to attend.