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God's Way To A Lasting Relationship - Religion - Nairaland

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God's Way To A Lasting Relationship by Mdmelijah: 7:14pm On May 08, 2020
Firstly, Instead of looking for the right person, become the right person

Instead of searching for someone who "looks loveable" or desiring someone who loves us, we should realize that Biblical scripture didn't command us to desire human love, in fact it says "we should love" even those who we may term not loveable (maybe because of how they abuse, despise, hate or treat us). If there is any love it encourages us to first receive, it is the love of God that gives us courage to truly love others.

When we speak of being the right person we speak of being a person who loves and for a person to love they have to have love in them (we can only give what we have, and that's why it's sad many can mostly give the pain they have received from men, which they continue to hold unto).

Most times love fades because most people don't have a strong enough conviction to continue to love. 1 John 4:19 says, "we love because God first loved us". When our conviction to love a person is based on having God's love in us, it beats every other reason to love because every other reason may fade but the true love of God which has no reason remains.

Recall this verse in scripture: Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2 (pointed in my previous posts)

So we imitate God in the way he loves us, we become like him having the same spirit with him, the Holy Spirit (of which bears the fruit of love) which results in loving others the same way.

Let's look at the verses before Ephesians 5:1, which are Ephesians 4:30-31 that shed more light on loving like God:
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Now just before you start a relationship, you must develop a relationship with God which is only possible by having the Holy Spirit which enables our fellowship with God. Because it's through this relationship we learn to love practically. Just as children learn from their father, be children of God and learn from God and not children of the world, practising the ways shared in the earlier posts. Not many are blessed with parents with a wonderful relationship or are close to those who have such (but I advice you to be mentored by those who have lasting and loving relationships that are practical examples of God's word).

Having the Holy Spirit in us, defines us as children of God, he first makes us the right person before guiding us to another right person he has prepared. He makes us right by helping us get rid of past bitterness, anger, malice, things that usually become toxic in our new relationships. And helps us develop a kind and forgiving us, unlike the "expectationalist" mentality a lot enter new relationships with (comparing partners with their past EXs).

We don't have the power to always forgive or be consistently kind and understanding (this power comes when we have received the Holy Spirit). Unless we are so filled with God's love that we recognize that our deepest needs have already been met,
and we're no longer expecting another human being to "complete" us.
We will not be able to imitate God in our love
for others unless we know that we are blessed, valuable, and significant —that we are = loved. Our sense of being loved must not depend on this person liking us or that person coming through for us.

This is why the idea that having a great relationship is all about finding the right person is a lie. The key to developing a great relationship is becoming the right person.
It's only when we grasp that God's love for us is boundless that we have the capacity to be genuine givers in a relationship. If we don't have that, what do we do? We try to get approval. We try to perform. We try to win affection. We attempt to manipulate in order to get what we want.

Leslie Parrott said, "If you attempt to build intimacy with a person before you've done the hard work of becoming a whole and healthy person, every relationship will be an attempt to complete the hole in your heart and the lack of what you don't have. That relationship will end in disaster."

Allow me to paraphrase the Parrotts' statement. Any time you want to build intimacy with a person before your identity is fully in Christ and you know and feel secure and strong in him, you will be expecting that person to do something for you that he or she cannot do.

In other words, when your identity is in Christ, you don't need others the same way, you don't have to perform or pretend, and they don't have to come through in order for your ultimate needs to be met.

The world says, "Set your hope on this person to come through for you. Make this person the center of your existence." It doesn't work.

The problem is, that person is weak, imperfect, and needy, just like you and just like me. That person is going to blow it, right? It hurts, so what do we do? We retaliate, or we manipulate, or we blame. Because the world teaches us to expect from others what God alone can give us, we are unable to appreciate the very real (though limited) wonders of human love.

The key to lasting relationships is developing a relationship with God through Christ in such a way that you are secure in who you are in him. That allows you to be a giver and a real lover. If you do not get there (and there is some hard work involved to understand your identity in Christ, by the way), all your relationships will be handicapped. How do you get there? The first three chapters of Ephesians spell out the process. Until you establish an unshakable identity in Christ, every relationship will be an attempt to get something from that person to make you feel like you're okay. Some of us will manipulate, some of us will get overly attached and dependent, but all of us will produce dysfunctional relationships.

Before i post the next step, my question for you is what are you going to do? Are you going to stick with the somehow simple step from the worldly point of view or will go through the right and straight step of God's way to love?

If you desire the Holy Spirit do feel free to contact me. Remember starting with the Holy Spirit and having Godly and spiritual foundation is a sure first step even though there any formulas out there God's way is still the best to take because the way he will lead you will be unique to you (He knows us more than we know ourselves).
Re: God's Way To A Lasting Relationship by Mdmelijah: 9:43am On May 09, 2020
Good morning
Re: God's Way To A Lasting Relationship by Mdmelijah: 9:36am On May 11, 2020
Good morning have a wonderful week
Re: God's Way To A Lasting Relationship by Mdmelijah: 11:49am On May 15, 2020
Blessed morning to you all

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