Marriage And Ministry

''Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.'' Hebrews 13:4

Marriage is the greatest institution of God on earth, it is imperative that every minister of God should hold marriage in high esteem .God does not want us to pursue ministry at the expense of marriage , nor should we forsake our spouse for the sake of ministry . 

Every minister of God should give the highest honour of priority to God first ,then marriage second . We serve the Lord better in an environment of marriage , with the company of our spouse. This is important to note , that is why we need to take heed to handle our marriage in the midst of ministry . 

The word of God admonished the priest to get married ,  ''13And he shall take a wife in her virginity. 14A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.''  Leviticus 21:13 -14

In another verse , scriptures give qualifications for the man of God  ,and one of them is marriage . ''A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife,'' 1 Timothy 3:2 In the light of these scriptures , we notice that it is important that every minister of  God should get married .The following are some of the ways and means a man of God should handle his marriage .

 1. Pray together  

It is important that any minister of God cultivates the habit of praying together with the spouse . This is very important , because it is the stronghold of the family , and for that matter the devil cannot really intercept the marriage and ministry of the duo  . 

2. Go to programs together

What builds the couples faith together is when they both go to programs together , in that sense they become more cordial. Another thing is it will help prevent unnecessary temptations , and promote more love in their relationship . Aside from that they learn together and grow in the knowledge of God . 

3, Study the scriptures together

At times it is necessary for the couple to study the word of God together , this gives the couple the same mind-set .Every man of God should know how to study the word of God with the spouse , when your wife has the same knowledge of God's word that you have , it helps your faith to grow together  .This helps the minister's wife to become more spiritual , and helpful to the ministry 

4. Impart your spouse 

It is very important that you should impart your spouse with grace , gifting and anointing of the Holy Ghost upon your life . When you lay hands on her and pray for her all the time , there shall be an impartation .

5. Disciple your spouse 

This stage is very important ; every man of God must know how to disciple your wife to become more spiritually matured and useful to God's kingdom . Train her to become spiritual like you , in the faith , belief, words and works . When you disciple  your wife she will be like you in the faith and do things in common like you in the church .

6. Do ministry together

It is equally befitting for a man of God to do ministry with your wife , doing God's work together , praying together , doing evangelism together ,and doing church work together . This will produce more results and give the minister and his wife more growth in the ministry .

7. Do not abuse your spouse in church

As much as possible , do not abuse your wife in front of the church members . No matter the offense , you have to take it easy and rebuke her in private .To abuse your wife in the open , you create an alarm that there is a leakage in the marriage , thus you create a door for the anti-marital forces to enter .

Abusing your wife  includes shouting over her , insulting her , or even beating her up both  indoors and outdoors .

8. Go on waiting together

At times you as a man of God have to go on waiting or retreat together  with your wife , so that God can fill your cups and renew your anointing , giftings and calling .

9. Allow spouse to minister at times

At times you need to give room for your spouse to minister on her  area of gifting , anointing or ministry . If you give your wife room  to work for the Lord , it will be a check on her character and a challenge for her to grow in the Christian faith . 

10. Do not discuss spouse weakness with church members

Do not let church members know about the weakness of your wife as a man of God , you have to rather emphasize on her good side  or the strength of your wife . You should not openly rebuke her in front of the  church members . If you dishonour your wife before people , it will go a long way to affect your dignity before your church members . Try as much as possible to cover up for your wife , when it comes to her weakness .

11. Travel together

It is a requirement that you as a man of God should travel together with your wife when going to far places , especially to preach the gospel . This area has affected many clergymen who travel alone without their wives , then they eventually fall into the temptation of adultery and the like . 

12. Always Create Awareness of your marriage 

Always create awareness of your marriage or wife to your congregation or in any place you are preaching . Let your listeners be in the known that you are a married man , this will help prevent unnecessary temptation from women who might be looking for attention or are interested in you .