Marriage Matters so Whatever Your do, Don’t Put your Marriage Last!

If you are going to be a good parent, you must make your marriage relationship a priority! Whatever you do, don’t put your marriage last! Nurture your marriage.

Click below to listen to the 10 minute podcast…

This week we will take a hard look at parenting as we continue to discuss the 7 worst things parents do. If you want to be a good parent, DO NOT put your marriage last. This is one of the 7 worst things parents do….

Prayer Request

I realize there are many single parents. And I want you to know that you are not second class. If you want us to pray for God to send you a good spouse don’t be too proud to turn in a prayer request to that effect. You may send your prayer requests to manlytraining@gmail.com and put prayer request as the subject line so we can find those emails quickly and pray for you.

Empty Nest Divorce

Now,  if you’re married you need to remember that as important as children are, they are going to grow up one day and leave you, and hopefully you will still want to stay with your spouse. You don’t want to be an empty nest divorce statistic. You need to nurture and grow in your romantic relationship with your spouse while the kids are still home. Don’t think you can put the vitality of your marriage on the back burner while you raise your kids.

Too Hot to be in the Bible

Here’s the wisdom God gave Solomon on this issue…

Proverbs 5:18-20 (NLT)

18 Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. 19 She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. (you know… I don’t know why Solomon used wild animals to illustrate love but I guess back then it was romantic… anyway… the word continues to say…) Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love. 20 Why be captivated, my son, by an immoral woman, or fondle the breasts of a promiscuous woman? 

Whoa! This is hot stuff! Is it me or is it getting warm in here? I bet some of you didn’t know that the bible uses this kind of language! 

WARNING!

The 5th chapter of Proverbs begins with the king warning his son to stay away from promiscuous women. Most of us know that women who are willing to have sex with anyone are searching for security, not sex. We need to be like Jesus toward these women and offer our understanding but at the same time point them toward the truth that real security can only be found in a relationship with God.

One of the best ways to counterbalance the lure of infidelity and marriage break up, is to keep the fires of romance burning in your own marriage. But one of the biggest obstacles to husbands and wives enjoying the intimacy that God created them to enjoy is the presence of these little people in the home we call children

What’s the Plan?

Let’s be honest…. Kids take up a lot of time to feed and clothe and train. But the Bible wisely advises us to not let marital closeness wane during the years of raising children.

So you’ve got to have a plan. You’ve got to make time to be alone with your spouse. You must Date your mate! You gave one another complete attention before you were married, it’s called dating, and you need to keep it up!

Hire a babysitter, or trade babysitting responsibilities with another couple with kids, or get the grandparents or an older couple in the church to watch the kids, and get away regularly for a night to be alone. Don’t feel guilty about leaving your kids with someone else. It’s OK!!!

Child-centered Families

Studies have shown that when a strong marital relationship is visible to the children they actually feel more secure and thrive in their personal growth! The opposite is true when the children sense that they are the center of the home. When all of the attention and all of the affection is fostered on them they actually become emotionally imbalanced! Child-centered families make neither healthy parents nor healthy children.

So … Spend time with your children but spend time alone with your husband or wife too.

Marriage-centered Families

Make children sleep in their own beds and have set bedtimes. Parents are the executives of the family. They make and have the right to enforce the rules. So don’t make the mistake of putting your marriage last while you raise those kids of yours….. If you do, raising them will become much more difficult to do. 

Don’t miss next week’s episode when we bring up the third item in my list of the 7 worst things parents do. And What is it? It’s when parents live vicariously through their kids and push too many activities onto them. 

Thank you so much for joining us this week on The Manly Training Podcast!

Come back next week or subscribe to the blog so you will get notified when the next installment goes live. Keep up with Manly Training Ministries and become the person that God created you to be.