I want to share with you about the covenant of marriage between Gloria and me. There are some things that even the minister who pronounced us husband and wife could not do for us. We became one flesh, but there is more to it than that.
There is also a mental union and a spiritual union. The preacher could not join us mentally. A mental union cannot be pronounced and produced in 10 minutes. It takes time. So too does a spiritual union before God.
We are married physically. The Word of God says that her body belongs to me, and my body belongs to her (1 Cor. 7:4-5). We are married sexually. We don't use it, either of us, in bribery or extortion. That is dishonorable.
We also are married mentally. It has taken Gloria time to figure out that I don't think like everybody else. (My mother and father could have told her that.) Actually, most people are that way. We all think and act differently. No two people think exactly alike.
Gloria and I had to work at learning to think like each other. As we did so, we started complementing each other. God created us that way, to be one, to be full and strong together, instead of divided and weak in division and despair.
We also have been joined together spiritually. That is something no preacher can do for us. God brought us together. In marriage, there is a miracle action that takes place just as when we are born again.
In the New Birth, we became one with Jesus. Gloria and I became one with each other when we stood before the minister and were pronounced husband and wife. We agreed to that union. There was a prayer of agreement; basically, a prayer of covenant.
Working And Learning Together
Marriage takes pulling with one another, praying with and for one another. It takes seeking God to find out what we can do to help, support, encourage and understand one another. We have been at it now for over 30 years and because of God's honor between us it gets sweeter and stronger every day.
There were some things that I did for a long time which just irritated Gloria, and I could not figure out why she was so upset. That still happens occasionally. I can tell when she is irritated about something, but she has too much spiritual sense to throw a fit about it.
We have to be honorable in marriage and in the home. We have to learn honor all over again, and we have to teach it at home. We have to sit down with our children and talk to them about it over and over.
Parents, teachers and pastors must all work together to teach these principles to our children, so they will grow up to be honorable young men and women. Then they will pass on to their children and grandchildren what they have learned from us. That is honorable.
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries