Four Symptoms of an Unhealthy Marriage

The health of a marriage depends on how a couple deals with their marital conflicts. In reality, every married couple deals with conflicts here and there and the presence of a conflict doesn’t indicate that the marriage is an unhealthy one. Rather the presence of the following four ways of dealing with conflicts may show that the marriage is an unhealthy one:

Exchanging disrespectful words; (name calling); Continue reading Four Symptoms of an Unhealthy Marriage

Marriage Certificate

Marriage certificate is not a certificate of sex but a certificate of self-death. As long as a person accepts that license as a death certificate of self and lives up to it, marriage will be such a bliss, heaven on earth.

Truth to be told, nothing can put a man to death than loving his wife as Jesus loved the church; and of course, nothing can put a woman to death than submitting to her husband as the church submits to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-31). And that very thing which puts them to death is the only thing that brings life to their life as well as marriage. Continue reading Marriage Certificate

Worth Living With Him?

A4P Guest: I have one short quick question; I have no love for my husband. Is it worth living with him without me having any feeling for him?

A4P: My friend, the Bible never says, “If you love your husband, live with him; but if you don’t feel any love towards him, it is not worth living with him; divorce him.” Continue reading

The Truth Offends  

The truth has to offend our intellect before it wins over our soul. When we refuse to be offended or avoid the opportunity to be offended by the truth, we let go of that which has the power to free us. And that which has the power to free us is called “the Truth”.

“You will know the truth and that truth will set you free.” John 8:32

Nothing can set us free but the truth. However, for example, if we are still searching for another research paper that proves that masturbation is perhaps good for our health, we will never experience the sexual freedom God has for us; the freedom that lets us enjoy not only our sexual nature but also the sex God created for us to enjoy without any guilt, fear or shame. ///

Not the Thought but the TOTAL

If you are looking for people with lots of opinions, you can stop by at my house. Talk about opinionated people, we are the typical ones. Five of us have our own different opinion about everything and to tell you the truth, it is very entertaining for me, not always; but sometimes.

So, yesterday, after we argue a little, we all agreed to go somewhere. When we were looking for a parking lot, I saw two young men coming out of a “Dollar Store” (a store where everything is sold for a dollar). They both look very happy especially one of them who was almost hugging the stuff on his hand.

Looking at him, I said, “I won’t let my man buy me anything from this store.” Continue reading Not the Thought but the TOTAL

Wow! It is true that – – –

Look Up

It is easy to teach or sit and listen to the message of biblical sexual purity. But living out the message is a completely different ball game. Taking into consideration our own natural sinful bend and all the hidden and unexpected curves and turns of life, we sometimes get tempted to say, “Forget it! This is not for me; maybe it is written only for few but not for me.”

But the Word of God is given to us who are “new creatures” in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17); to us who are sharing God’s divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4), to us who are the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Continue reading Wow! It is true that – – –

Pursuing Purity as a Team

I usually check our mailbox at the end of the day. I bring all those mails (including junk mails) and put them in the kitchen island table. I always look through them to see if I have any mail and leave the rest for the rest of the Banko’s to check and take theirs.

I love those magazines which always come with the mail with 15% and 25% off coupons. I clip those coupons and put them in my purse to use them if and when I stop by at the mall. I sometimes do my “window shopping” in my kitchen flipping through those magazines. I sometimes don’t find time to see them all; so I put them aside for later time.

Then one day, while we were preparing to eat dinner, my Berhan (my husband) collected all those magazines and handed them to me and said, “Missy, it is okay for you to look through these magazines but not for us men including my boys. We struggle to bounce back our eyes from the lingerie sections. Our nature is completely different from yours. Can you help us so that we won’t be tempted in our own home? Can you put those magazines in the trash before we get to them?” Continue reading Pursuing Purity as a Team

Do You Watch PG-13 Movies?

A4P Guest: Do you watch PG-13 movies? I ask because I read your reply to one of the comments on your post a couple days ago. I thought you don’t watch movies, do you?

A4P: I do watch movies. The title of the movie I last watched is “War Room.” If you didn’t watch that movie yet, do yourself a favor and watch it. If you are married, it is even better to watch it with your wife.

Do I watch movies? I do but only those movies I believe won’t defile my soul, mind and heart. After I made countless mistakes, I learned not to just get up and go to a movie theater.

Whether a movie is rated PG-13 or PG-4 (not that there is PG-4 rating), I won’t watch it until I check the content of the movie from the people who watch it for me. I said, “People who watch it for me” because that is their ministry; to watch a movie and see if it is appropriate for viewers like you and I. Their ministry is called pluggedin.com. And guess who owned this ministry? Of course, Focus on the Family. Continue reading Do You Watch PG-13 Movies?