Charlyne Steinkamp “Never forget that the Lord called you out of the enemy’s darkness and that your husband or wife has been taken captive by their ignorance or did not realize the severe consequences of dabbling in the sins of this world. Satan is just waiting for anyone – you, your spouse or teenager or young adult – to just look over the hedge of God’s protection to see if the grass is greener on the other side”.
“For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Charlyne Steinkamp “Women, do you respect your husband? Men are to love their wives as their own bodies . A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. Ephesians 5:31 When I started disrespecting Bob because of his actions, behaviors, and words, I allowed the enemy to come into our home and pour self-righteousness, bitterness, and anger into my heart”.
“Wives, be subject (be submissive and adapt yourselves) to your own husbands as [a service] to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, Himself the Savior of [His] body. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, That He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things [that she might be holy and faultless]. Even so husbands should love their wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and carefully protects and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, Because we are members (parts) of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning [the relation of] Christ and the church. However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband [that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly].”
Bob Steinkamp of Rejoice Marriage Ministries “May I borrow from Charlyne’s style today and ask you a question? What do prodigals want? No, not why do prodigals leave home, because we all know that answer. Husbands and wives walk out on their mates and on their children because of an attack from the enemy. Drugs, sex, and alcohol are not “why” prodigals leave, but “how” they leave. You and I both know how temporal those pleasures can be, and so does every prodigal spouse. We make that discovery the hard way; by experience, often at the cost of family, career, health and happiness”.
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world”.
~~~1 Peter 5:8-9 (ESV)~~~
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”.
Rejoice Marriage Ministries fellow stander, Kim from Nebraska “When Dad had left several months ago, Nate and his sisters were actually glad to see him go. There had been arguing and strife in the home for a long time and Nate thought that this separation was a good thing because then he didn’t have to listen to the raised voices all the time or see the tears in his mom’s eyes after a confrontation. And, for a while, it WAS a good thing because the arguing had stopped. What he didn’t know at the time was that it was quiet in his home now because the enemy had succeeded in stirring up enough strife to break up another family”.
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and have it in abundance.”
Rejoice Marriage Ministries continues to give an untold number of spouses the courage, connection, and biblical foundation to remain faithful and committed to their spouse and their covenant marriage vows. The following affirmation should be an attachment included within the wedding vows and should be reread along with the vows each time difficulties arise within marriage.
I AM STANDING FOR THE HEALING OF MY MARRIAGE!
“I will not give up, give in, give out or give over ’til that healing takes place. I made a vow, I said the words, I gave the pledge, I gave a ring, I took a ring, I gave myself, I trusted GOD, and said the words, and meant the words… in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in good times and in bad…so I am standing NOW, and will not sit down, let down, slow down, calm down, fall down, look down or be down ’til the breakdown is torn down!
I refuse to put my eyes on outward circumstances, or listen to prophets of doom, or buy into what is trendy, worldly, popular, convenient, easy, quick, thrifty, or advantageous… nor will I settle for a cheap imitation of God’s real thing, nor will I seek to lower God’s standard, twist God’s will, rewrite God’s word, violate God’s covenant, or accept what God hates, namely divorce!
In a world of filth, I will stay pure; surrounded by lies I will speak the truth; where hopelessness abounds, I will hope in God: where revenge is easier, I will bless instead of curse; and where the odds are stacked against me, I will trust in God’s faithfulness.
I am a STANDER, and I will not acquiesce, compromise, quarrel or quit. I have made the choice, set my face, entered the race, believed the Word, and trusted God for all the outcome.
I will allow neither the reaction of my spouse, nor the urging of my friends, nor the advice of my loved ones, nor economic hardship, nor the prompting of the devil to make me let up, slow up, blow up, or give up ’til my marriage is healed.”
“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him’,…So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”
