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  WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN OUR MARRIAGE (ZAC & ANNIE POONEN TESTIMONY)
  by Zac Poonen
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Summary: This sermon shares a personal testimony of a couple's 51-year
marriage journey, highlighting the challenges faced, the importance of
seeking God's presence in marriage, the need to be filled with the Holy
Spirit, and the significance of glorifying God in marriage. It
emphasizes the continuous growth in faith, the importance of being poor
in spirit, and the power of prayer in overcoming trials and challenges.

Topics: "Faithfulness in Marriage", "The Role of the Holy Spirit"
Scripture References: Matthew 9:12, Matthew 5:3, James 5:16, Proverbs 4:18, Ephesians 5:18, Malachi 2:15, Titus 2:4

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon shares a personal testimony of a couple's 51-year marriage
journey, highlighting the challenges faced, the importance of seeking
God's presence in marriage, the need to be filled with the Holy Spirit,
and the significance of glorifying God in marriage. It emphasizes the
continuous growth in faith, the importance of being poor in spirit, and
the power of prayer in overcoming trials and challenges.

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CONTENT
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Even non-Christians would like to have a happy marriage. It's not only
Christians. So we were married 51 years ago on the 19th of June 1968 and
all I can say is God's been very good to us.

When we got married we did not have an understanding of victory over
sin. So we don't want to pretend that we had a marriage without getting
angry or any such thing. That would be a lie.

A lot of people tell such lies. I wouldn't tell such lies. We started
out defeated but God brought us to a wonderful life over a period of
time as we understood the new covenant and the life of victory and thus
brought us to a very glorious life and we read that the path of the
righteous is like the shining light that shines brighter and brighter
until the perfect day.

We start at zero and I think many of us almost all of us start not at
zero but at minus something because we are so defeated. When we are born
again we are not victorious. We're defeated Christians and any any
honest believer will say we're defeated but we don't stay there.

That's the point and one of the things that God did for Annie and for me
was he filled us with the Holy Spirit separately. He filled her with the
Holy Spirit and filled me the Holy Spirit and the Bible says when it
speaks about husbands and wives the first thing it says is to be filled
with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5 18.

A lot of people begin the section for husbands and wives with verse 22
but that's not where it begins. A good marriage, a good Christian
marriage begins in Ephesians 5 18. Be filled with the Holy Spirit and
then it brings into our life a spirit of thanksgiving verse 19 20 and
then verse 21 is a very important verse in marriage.

Be subject to one another so it's not just the wife being subject to the
husband it's be subject to one another so husband and wife have to both
be subject to one another because each has got a boundary that God has
drawn around and there are responsibilities and privileges that the wife
has and that the husband has and so we have to be subject to one another
we must not God has drawn a boundary around a husband and a wife and
God's even drawn a boundary around children we must not go into the
other person's boundary that's what it means to be subject to one
another otherwise the husband will be a dictator and the wife will be
like a slave and that's not God's will so it begins in verse 21 both be
subject to one another and then it says wives be subject to your own
husbands and the husband of the Lord and the you know in a worldly
marriage they may want to be happy but in a Christian marriage our main
goal is not to be happy I don't want to say at the end of 51 years we
are very happy even though we are we should be able to say we have
glorified God in our marriage because the purpose of Christian marriage
is not to make people happy Jesus did not come to make people happy he
came to make people holy and when we are holy we'll have genuine
happiness that follows holiness so people who are pursuing happiness in
their marriage are not going to be happy it'll be a superficial thing
that will come and disappear and come and disappear but if you are
pursuing holiness you'll be genuinely happy both are concerned for the
glory of God because in marriage it says here we are to reflect the
relationship between Christ and the church because that's the picture
here and says in verse 31 a man shall leave his father and mother and
cleave to his wife the two shall become one flesh and I'm referring to
Christ and the church so this relationship between man and woman is to
reflect Christ and the church and now that's not in a worldly marriage
in a worldly marriage they're only concerned about happiness and learn
to say thank you and learn to say sorry when you hurt each other and go
out once in a while for a meal and and so many things like that but in a
Christian marriage we're thinking of glorifying God whatever you do do
all for the glory of God so if we don't glorify God and we just make
each other happy I'd say it's a useless marriage as far as Christ is
concerned if the marriage is glorified God then it's fulfilled God's
purpose so our aim must be Jesus the Bible says 1 Corinthians 10 31
whatever you do do for the glory of God you get married it must be for
the glory of God not for selfish satisfaction and if I marry for the
sake of selfish satisfaction or to show other people that I've got a
good marriage you'll be a failure as far as God is concerned even if you
get honor from people because a lot of people like that I've seen a lot
of Christian marriage testimonies where they talk wonderful things about
each other and how they're having a very happy time but I don't see
their lives glorifying God I don't see their children growing up for the
glory of God so I say that's a useless marriage as far as God is
concerned whatever they may say because they haven't glorified God in
their marriage they haven't glorified God in their home so you young
people when you think of marriage it's very important that you think of
glorifying God that's the primary aim of marriage and if that is the
purpose of marriage then you must yourself be one who's devoted where
Christ is first in your life so this is the thing when I was considering
marriage I said Lord I don't want to marry someone for whom Christ is
not first so right from before when we even considered each other and
our names were suggested to each other by a godly elder brother whom
both of us respected and in whose church we both belonged and he spoke
to her and he spoke to me and he said he'd been praying for us and he
was 30 years older than us a very godly man the most godly man I met in
India and he we prayed about it and I said Lord I don't know her at all
in Indian culture we can't go out with anybody we can't you know even
court we had to trust the Lord God is not a prisoner of any culture but
I was one concerned about one thing that's Lord I want to know whether
Jesus Christ is everything to her that's all I want to know and I want
you to assure me of that that she's a person for whom Christ is supreme
who can say to Jesus in the words of Psalm 73 25 Lord there's no one on
earth I desire but you and when I get to heaven I only want you that was
my position I had said that to the Lord very clearly there's no one on
earth I desire beside you I'm not even interested in marriage Christ is
everything to me and if Christ wants me to get married I'll get married
I really that's the happiest foundation for marriage not well I'm 28
years old so I should get married no if Jesus Christ wants me to get
married I'll get married otherwise I'm quite happy to be single because
the will of God is more important to me than my own pleasure my own
satisfaction a lot of people get married for their own lust and their
own satisfaction and because it's suggested by parents and so many
things I'm not saying such marriages and be unhappy but it'll never be
the best the best marriage is where a person says Lord Jesus I want to
fulfill your will for my life whatever it is I want you to be first in
my life I want you to be Lord of my life I desire nothing on earth but
you and I don't even want anything in heaven but you and if you get two
people like that married it'll be a very happy marriage I mean happy in
the sense happy in Christ and then they'll be able to reflect the
relationship between Christ and the church so and the purpose of two
being put together you know I like a read a verse in Luke chapter 10
Luke's gospel chapter 10 after this the Lord appointed 70 others of his
disciples and he sent them in pairs now think of this as a picture of
marriage there of course he was talking about two men disciples going
out to share the word but think of this verse in relation to a married
couple the Lord sent them as a pair ahead of him to every city and place
where he himself was going to come see the Lord is going to come to this
earth to your city to my city and to every place where he is going to
come he sends a married couple you go there and reflect my life to the
people in that town and city let them see something of Christ and his
church the relationship between Christ in the church in your
relationship as husband and wife and as I said none of us start
perfectly we all start with a selfish nature that when we come together
we discover how selfish we are and that selfishness can lead to
misunderstandings it can lead to strong words where we hurt one another
etc but if we say Lord we want to glorify you we will repent of it and
apologize and set things right and gradually come to a life of
blessedness and peace where such things don't exist where Christ is
really Lord in the midst of that marriage that should be our goal every
married person should have that as a goal Lord we want to live with each
other in our house exactly as if Jesus Christ were physically living in
the house and how would we talk to each other if Jesus was sitting there
in front of us that's the way we want to talk to each other all the time
and you would never be rude to your marriage partner if Christ was
sitting right there with you impossible you would never get angry with
him or her the Christ is there you wouldn't behave selfishly so the most
important thing is for us to recognize the presence of Jesus Christ in
our home as a married couple very very important and that doesn't come
easily because we are so much more conscious of the world and so many
other things but it can come more easily if you determine as I said that
Christ is the one whom you want more than anything else so when I was
considering marriage I said Lord I want to marry someone who for whom
Christ is first I never want to be first in her life I told her that in
my entire life I never want to be first in your life I want to be second
I want Christ to be first in your life and then me second and I told her
you will never be first in my life you'll be second Christ will be first
in worldly marriages they say we must keep each other first okay that's
okay for the worldly marriages let them do that but in a Christian
marriage Christ is first your partner is second and I'm very happy that
after 51 years we still have sought to maintain that same attitude we
had 51 years ago that Jesus Christ would be first I can't think of any
time where I decided my wife is going to be first Christ is going to be
first and I want to say that particularly to you because that's the only
way to a marriage that glorifies God see we are not Jesus didn't come to
make us happy he came to make us people who will glorify God and our
marriage must glorify God and when we have that type of home see with
Christ is always there in our home it brings what does Christ bring
Christ will bring the atmosphere of heaven there and when children grow
up in that atmosphere of respect for God and respect for one another
they will absorb that over a period of time and even though all children
are naughty in the beginning they'll absorb that and they will gradually
open up themselves to receive Christ as Lord of their own lives so this
is our goal God unites us we read in Malachi and chapter 2 Malachi 2 in
verse 15 in the margin of my Bible and it's this verse is translated in
different ways in different translations but here the latter part of
that verse Malachi 2 15 in the middle of that verses and what did that
one do in the margin of a Bible which says and why did he make you one
why did the Lord make you and your husband or you and your wife one
because he wanted a godly offspring that's the reason why he made
husband and wife one one of the reasons anyway to reflect Christ in the
church which is of course not in the days of Malachi that was only after
the Holy Spirit came but otherwise even in the Old Testament God says
the reason he makes a husband and wife one is so that they can have
godly offspring that means godly children to have children that's easy
anybody can have children a foolish sinner godless person can have
children but to have godly children for that you need a godly husband
and wife and I tell you it's that's why it's very important for those
who are single here to be very careful that you marry people that you
get married to someone for whom Christ is first in their life so that
you will always be second you pray like that if you're not yet married
Lord give me a person who will only put me second and I will put you
first in his life or her life that'll be the most blessed marriage where
Christ is glorified and you'll have godly offspring which is God's word
why did he make you one why did God make husband and wife one that he
can have godly offspring this is very important for us and I'll tell you
why we felt like that that because when you look around we were married
51 years ago and we looked around at Christendom we saw so many many
pastors and preachers and Christians who claimed to be born again but
their children were wayward and unconverted I said Lord I don't want a
home like that it dishonors you the devil's being glorified in that home
I don't want a home that glorifies the devil and so I remember when we
were married the Lord gave us a verse for our children as soon as our
first son was born and that was in Isaiah chapter 54 and it's
interesting that the Lord gave her and me the same verse separately so
then we knew it was from the Lord Isaiah 54 and verse 13 all your sons
in the margin of my Bibles it says will be discipled by the Lord all
your sons the Lord will make them his disciples and the well their well-
being that means their spiritual well-being not that they will be
financially rich but their spiritual well-being of your sons will be
great but that's exactly what I wanted that's exactly and she got the
same verse and we said Lord that's what we want in our marriage we want
you to disciple our children and we want their spiritual well-being to
be great so the primary purpose of marriage is not children because if
that were the primary purpose of marriage then every godly couple in the
world will have children but the fact of the matter is that many born-
again married couples do not have children so that's not the primary
purpose of it's a secondary purpose of marriage to have godly offspring
but the primary purpose is that we must reflect the relationship between
Christ and the church that was not there in the Old Testament in the Old
Testament it is only godly offspring because the relationship between
husband and wife is not important but in the New Testament it says in
Ephesians 5 you have to reflect the relationship between Christ and the
church so it's very important that that unity of the like the head for
the body is manifested in a relationship between husband and wife and so
from the beginning we started to concentrate on that and as I said
whenever we slipped up we would repent and come to the Lord and be
honest we didn't want to pretend before others that oh we are perfect
when we are not perfect that would be hypocrisy and we realized that
hypocrisy is the number one sin that Jesus condemned so we never wanted
to be hypocrites we didn't want to be a hypocritical husband and wife
like a lot of we found a lot of Christian husbands and wives and they
would come to the church and pretend to be very happy and holy but they
were not in private life and they were absolute hypocrites and they
didn't realize that they were sinning more than anybody else in the
church by being hypocrites so we said we don't want to be hypocrites we
don't want to pretend that everything is okay when it's not okay I'm not
saying we confess our sin in public but we can say we are struggling and
but we want to be honest but we believe that we will come to the place
where we left victory and have a life which where we reflect the
relationship of Christ and the church and like the you know like the
Bible says the path of the righteous Proverbs 418 that's been one of my
favorite verses if you don't know it you must know it because it applies
to the single person and the married couple Proverbs 418 please remember
this verse all your life it applies to individual Christians and it
applies to family life as well the path of the righteous the righteous
individual and the righteous married couple is to be like the light of
the Sun from dawn till noonday position it gets brighter and brighter
and brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter so you know early
morning it's not so bright in the around us it's a dawn is a dull type
of light that's how we begin our marriage and everyone who's honest will
acknowledge that but as the time goes on and we walk with the Lord it
should get brighter and brighter and brighter pressing on to perfection
and that can only come if you say to each other inwardly Christ is going
to be first in our life and you're going to be second that'll be the
most blessed marriage you can ever think of so that I've is one of the
main things that we have stressed in our life and to keep a good
conscience to be quick to ask forgiveness immediately from the Lord and
from one another because in every marriage there will be a need to ask
forgiveness for one another and you know even a small little slip up we
must immediately set it right it's like whether it's a big thorn or a
small thorn that got into your foot you pull it out immediately so
whether it's a big misunderstanding or a small little slip up with one
unkind word we ask forgiveness immediately and set it right so that the
relationship is always kept straight and clear very very important and
the two words which I want to show you in Ephesians 5 which should be
true in a Christian home it's the last verse of Ephesians 5 in a
Christian marriage the husband verse 30 Ephesians 5 33 must love his
wife seek to love her like Christ loved the church and the wife it says
must respect her husband the two very important words where 33 wife must
respect her husband and the husband must love his wife and remember this
is in the context verse 32 of Christ and the church it's not like it's
not what the world considers respect or the world the world considers
love it's Christian love which is different from worldly love it's a
self-denying type of love and respect is to respect the husband is the
one whom God has appointed to be my head because it says Adam was
created first and the woman was created to be her helper and where we
try to maintain that relationship I believe God can fulfill his purpose
the other thing that we sought for in our marriage in all these years
was from Matthew chapter 18 in Matthew 18 Jesus said and I believe this
we would use this for our own married life verse 20 if two are gathered
together now there's a difference between gathered together and gather
together gather together means two people just come together gathered
together means somebody else brought them together that's the Holy
Spirit and that's how it should be in a Christian marriage the Holy
Spirit brings two people together they are gathered not that they
themselves decided to gather together they are brought together by the
Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus there Jesus is in the midst so I see
that as a picture of a true Christian marriage where the Holy Spirit
brings a man and a woman together and Christ is in their midst and when
Christ is in their midst it becomes three the husband wife and Christ
and then verse 19 we go backwards from there because I say I will tell
you why I say backwards because whenever you find the word for verse 20
begins at the word for for means it's connected to the previous verse so
you got to go backwards from verse 20 up to verse 18 so we begin at
verse 20 and then we go to verse 19 if these two with Christ in their
midst agree about anything they ask it shall be done for them by my
father who is in heaven where Christ is in the midst and I'll tell you
something once again let me repeat Christ cannot be in the midst if you
love each other more than you love Jesus Christ Christ will never take
second place in anybody's life you either give him first place or no
place he's going to be Lord of everything or not Lord at all so if in
your marriage you want to give Christ second place maybe your job first
place or your whole house first place or your home first place or your
wife first place or your children first place I can tell you Christ will
not be in that marriage I'll tell you that straight because Christ will
not take second place in anybody's life or any marriage that's why from
the beginning I stress the most important thing is Christ must be first
so where he is in the midst then he unites the two and when two agree
together and the word in the Greek word for agree is symphony it's a
picture of two musical instruments playing on the same scale and
sounding so beautiful because they are playing together it's a picture
of two two if two are in symphony that's the meaning of that word two
musical instruments a husband and wife must be like two musical
instruments playing together no discord you know sometimes you listen to
some music and people are not playing the notes correctly and there's a
jarring sound that shouldn't be there in a marriage if two are in
symphony then there's a tremendous power in prayer and we have used
those two verses almost all our life we say Lord we were brought
together by you and you are first in our life and you'll always be first
and now we want to ask you something for example if our children had a
problem in school with the teacher or something like that or with some
other troublemakers in the school here's the prayer we'd say Lord we
want you to answer us and solve this problem bind these satanic
activities that are affecting our children in some way or if they get
sick or anything to pray together they to agree on earth and ask for
anything it'll be granted I cannot think of the number of times we have
used that promise as we prayed together for our home and for our
children and to preserve ourselves and of course for the ministry that
we had in the church and the one you know that the first marriage was
attacked by Satan as soon as they got married the devil came and tried
to break them up and he did succeed in breaking them up and here also we
read that the purpose of our agreeing together is not just to ask
something selfishly for ourselves but also so that we can bind verse 18
we go backwards now to verse 18 where we bind on earth these satanic
forces that are trying to bring confusion in a home do you know that it
is satanic forces that bring all the confusion in every Christian home
I've sometimes told believers I say listen if you find your wife is very
upset one day something and she won't talk to you you know what you
should do brother go to some corner and bind the demonic forces that are
trying to bring that confusion in your home that's what you need to do
first is the demons who always try to bring confusion between a husband
and wife nobody else and here it says if you verse 18 if you buy what
you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and but as I said it begins at
verse 18 you can't jump it begins at verse 20 you can't jump to it verse
18 verse 18 is dependent on verse 20 and 19 that's the foundation so if
we are united in the name of Jesus Christ is in our midst he's first in
our life and we pray together and the answer is then we can bind the
satanic influences that come into the home the satanic influences that
seek to affect your children Satan what do you read in the Bible as soon
as Adam and first of all he tried to separate Adam and Eve and he came
between them they started accusing one another you know Adam was
accusing Eve that's Satan is the accuser so you can see when Satan the
Adam accused Eve that the devil had gotten there already and whenever
you point a finger at each other you can see the devil has already come
there when you say to your wife or your husband you did that or it's
because of you these words that so many husbands and wives say that's
the devil the spirit of accusation and that must not be found in our
home because then you're inviting the devil to come right in and it
affects the children because the devil's aim is to separate if the
husband and wife are one he can't come through so he tries to separate
them there's a gap between them and then the devil comes in and who is
he aiming to attack the children and because he could separate Adam and
Eve the very first son was born to Adam became a murderer who made him a
murderer the Jesus said in John 8 44 the devil was a murderer from the
beginning yeah he's the one who instigated he didn't murder anybody in
heaven what did he mean by that we read you let turn to that verse if
you don't know it it's in John chapter 8 and verse 44 John 8 44 you are
of your father the devil and you he was told the Pharisees who were
reading the Bible into a pretty religious you want to do the desires of
your father he was a murderer from the beginning who did he murder he
didn't murder any angel he couldn't murder anybody in heaven but the
very first couple that God united in marriage the devil came into that
and made that first son a murderer and that's because I believe that
Adam and Eve didn't put God in the middle of their marriage so the devil
is seeking to do that even today I tell you he's seeking to attack every
single Christian home any home that seeks to be a witness for Christ you
can be pretty sure the devil has got that as a target so I'm gonna hit
that home and we must be alert that we don't allow the devil that's why
husband and wife must be united so that we don't bring a gap so that the
devil can come through and attack our children because his aim is murder
anger is a is the root cause of murder you remember Jesus said the old
covenant said you shall not murder but I say to you don't get angry
anger is the root from which murder comes so it's the devil who makes
people angry and it's one of the main things we have to conquer in
marriage we will not get angry we'll overcome that and if we do slip up
sometimes we ask forgiveness and seek to come to the place where we
never get angry I want to encourage all of you who are married husband
and wife to pray that you will come to the place where I prayed this
prayer myself and God did it in my life that I will never get angry with
my wife for one single moment for 365 days of the year and 366 days in a
leap year that means never is it possible I know what the devil says no
it's not possible what does God say it's possible now it's only a
question of whether you believe God or the devil but don't let the devil
come in when it says the devil is a murderer from the beginning and
that's the first thing he did with Cain the first son was a murderer and
now turn and I'll show you this in Matthew chapter 5 what is murder in
the new covenant it's what I just mentioned verse 20 Matthew 5 20 your
righteousness will see more than the righteousness of the Pharisees what
he meant is the Pharisees have an old covenant righteousness you must
have a new covenant righteousness and then he said I'll explain what I
mean verse 21 the righteousness of the Pharisees is don't commit murder
but yours must be more than that new covenant which is in verse 22 that
you don't get angry you see that it's right there just like God told the
Old Testament people the commandment is don't commit murder he said I
say to you verse 22 in the new covenant the equivalent of that is you
don't get angry that's why it's so important what would you think of an
Old Testament family where husband and wife went around murdering people
or sought to murder each other he'd say what I have a marriage that
murder we are horrified but do you know that the new covenant equivalent
of murder is anger it's Jesus said here that's why we must hate it and
that's why we must seek to put it away with all of our heart and I
believe it's one thing which I found you know I remember preaching in a
place in India there's a gathering of different denominational churches
and I spoke on this and one man got up and gave a testimony he says I'm
70 years old and I never heard till now that I shouldn't get angry or
that I shouldn't get angry with my wife imagine he was a Christian all
in so many years and he never heard in his life there are numerous
people who come to our church in Bangalore who said brother Zach we
never heard in our life that we shouldn't get angry oh did you read this
Bible or some other Bible see Ephesians in chapter 4 why do I say this
because I believe this is the one thing which a lot of so-called
Christians and spiritual Christians do not take seriously Ephesians 4
verse 31 look at all the different words he uses for anger here it's
very interesting different different words verse 31 put away all these
things what all should you put away bitterness wrath anger clamor
slander malice so many words the Holy Spirit uses to say whatever color
you give it whatever label you give it put it away I don't care if all
the rest of Christendom doesn't take it seriously brothers and sisters
we are a new covenant Church you must take it seriously I decided to
take it seriously and you'll never overcome it if you don't take it
seriously you'll never overcome it if you don't put Christ as first in
your life you will never overcome it if you follow the world's attitude
of I love you and you love me let's love one another more no it's not
that way I love Jesus Christ supremely and then I love you then we shall
come to this place so to those who are not married also I want to say I
want to repeat look for someone who has put Christ first in his life and
her life I remember when before we got married I said Lord you got to
show me this in some way I want to know the type of book she read and I
found it was the same type of books I was interested in reading about
the way of the cross and self-denial and putting Christ first and the
other thing is you know when we saw that God's purpose was to have godly
offspring we looked around and we saw so many Christian homes where the
wife would go to work and the children grew up wayward and we said we're
not gonna do that we didn't have much I didn't have any income I was not
in any Christian organization I was trusting the Lord for my needs we
lived extremely simply we had to because we earned so little extremely
little and my wife is a medical doctor she could have earned millions of
rupees but the day our first son was born she resigned her job and she's
never worked after that except helping poor people medically and today
we don't regret it because if I weigh in a balance the millions of
rupees she could have earned as a doctor on the other side of the
balance four sons who are following the Lord and living for him I know
which is heavier I have no doubt about it at all if I were to live my
life again it would be exactly the same money is not the most important
thing I have to keep telling that to married people so many married
couples I say already the man is earning enough but still the wife wants
to go to work to make more money and more money what what is the end
result children are gone astray and I say that shows God saw from the
beginning that you are more interested in money than your children and
God says okay you will reap what you sow and I've seen that in so many
cases and I'm thankful I saw that before I saw that before we got
married and we are very thankful that's one thing which is very
important it says in Titus we tried to follow scripture and all these
things you know not our human understanding Titus it says about women
young women Titus 2 verse 4 see everything we understood we get from
scripture we believe God's Word is accurate encourage Titus 2 verse 4
encourage young women to love their husbands and to love their children
to be sensible and pure and to be workers where to be workers at home we
took that seriously kind being subject to the husband why should they be
workers at home so that the Word of God is not dishonored verse 5 so the
Word of God is not dishonored by your children so that's very important
that we put God first and not money first Jesus said that you cannot
serve God in money and you have to make a choice sometime in your life
if you really want to follow the Lord and especially in marriage I know
I know numerous Christian marriages that are completely ruined because
money was a very important thing in their life money must be a servant
we decided that right from the beginning of our married life we will
make money our servant not our master money is not going to dictate how
we run our married life and if you have little we live simply you don't
need to go to restaurants to go and eat meals every time we are hardly
ever in our life gone into a restaurant in India we just cook at home
and eat simple food because we want to be careful with our money we
don't have much and we're gonna be careful with what we have and of
course the greatest joy we had in our life was to start a church meeting
in our home and that involved a lot of sacrifice because we used to have
four meetings a week and we had small children our oldest son was when
we started CFC in our home our oldest son was six years old and Santosh
was about two years old and we had another baby about six months old and
our fourth son was not even born so we had all these little children but
the Lord decided to have a church in our home and he said fine we just
let we had gradually 40 50 60 people would come and we had meetings on
Wednesday Friday Sunday morning Sunday evening and then we had on
holidays we would have all day fasting and prayer that's how we started
our church that's how we built the church with fasting and prayer and
and we'd have times of prayer together like that and seeking the Lord
for say from nine o'clock to three o'clock in the afternoon and there
were people baptized in the Holy Spirit as we were waiting on the Lord I
find so many Christians today have lost all that they don't they think
God's gonna do everything for them they sit back lazily and wait for God
to do things and God doesn't do and nothing does and they don't seek God
the Bible says you will seek him and find him and you seek him with all
your heart and we decided we're gonna seek him with all our heart I'm
gonna teach our children to seek him with all our all their heart and if
you seek God's kingdom first the other things will be added to us and we
found all through our 51 years that whenever there's a need God provided
it we never lacked anything at any time we didn't have much but we never
lacked anything and we were not dependent on anybody we decided from the
beginning that we will support ourselves and we will not be dependent on
any church supporting us any such thing we're very thankful for that and
that was an example to our children we sought to honor our parents
that's one thing we did and I believe you honor our parents we it goes
well with us we didn't obey our parents because we were not living under
them under them we God we together would seek God's will there are many
follow we found many married couples in India when they have a problem
they run back to their parents and the parents advises what they follow
we decided we definitely listen to anybody not only their parents we
listen to godly people but the decision will always be taken by both of
us together we never allowed either of our parents to decide anything in
our life because it says here a man must leave his father and mother and
cleave to his wife it's the first commandment in Genesis 2 24 so we
obeyed that I said Lord I'm I'll not let my dad and mom tell me where I
should go or what I should do not at all I'll seek their advice but my
wife and I are going to decide where we're going to run many times my
dad would suggest something else and her dad would suggest something
else we respected them we loved them I say thank you dad but we're not
going to do that because the Bible says you must leave your father and
mother and cleave to your husband to your wife that's what I did and so
if Christ was first my wife was second my parents and all were third
when we had children the children were third and parents were fourth or
fifth that is a scriptural pattern but we found in India I don't know
how it is in the US but in India we found so many marriages unhappy
because parents were there as important factors in their marriage never
love them care for them but never let them run your life and you know
India is a culture where even the Hindu culture has got tremendous
respect for parents we grew up in that culture and it Jesus was in a
Israeli culture where also they were taught to honor their respect their
parents but in such a situation the Word of God says the man must leave
his father and mother and cleave to his wife so the if the leaving the
parents is not perfect the cleaving to the wife will not be perfect so
we decided never I can say before God that I never allowed my parents to
interfere in our married life we loved them we cared for them but they
would not tell us what to do if they told us we would listen to them
graciously but we would do what we both felt we should do otherwise we
would not be where we are today we would not have accomplished what we
did because my dad didn't feel I should quit my job in the Navy first of
all and he didn't think once we quit that we should start a house church
but I believe my dad's born again he's in heaven today and if he looks
down on us I'm sure he'll say son you were right so many times that
stand we take will be appreciated by people only years later while
you're taking a stand they may think oh these guys are crazy but years
later they'll approve and see God was backing them up so it's very very
important to ensure that Christ is in the center of your home and Christ
in the center of your marriage and that you seek to bring up your
children we were very strict with our children we did not allow them to
be disrespectful or disobedient we taught them to be respectful to God
respectful to parents respectful in the church and they came to the
meetings and we are very thankful for what the Lord has done I would say
one thing finally ultimately it's not what we do that accomplishes God
is the one who does the work but I ask myself why is it that so many
Christian homes it's very rare to find a Christian home in the world
where husband and wife are really seeking to glorify God they live
peacefully with each other and where all the children are following the
Lord it's very very difficult and I've traveled to many countries in the
world and the reason is very simple God says if you honor me I'll honor
you if you don't honor me I will not honor you and that's the reason so
I want to encourage all of you seek to honor God we make mistakes but we
repent and God will be honored okay now now listen to my better half
this meeting is a bit of a surprise for me and I'm going to say
something very personal like a testimony Zach's name was suggested you
know in India we don't meet and date and go out together so a pastor or
parents or some relatives suggest us to each other so Zach was suggested
to me by our godly elder brother you might say like a pastor he was the
elder of our church and my first response in my mind when Zach was
suggested to me was he is one person I will look up to always and
respect and though there were others who have suggested I felt like all
my life I look up to I'll be able to look up to him and respect because
I had heard him speak and also because I admired the fact that he gave
up a good job to follow the Lord and I then I knew that a person who
made such a decision to follow the Lord and obey the Lord I can safely
trust and follow his decisions so in one sense he's my earthly hero and
he continues to be my earthly hero every now and then you know as we
grow older we become weaker and we are not like as we used to look when
we were young but every now and then I look back to the day when I first
saw him and I admired him and that pictures in my mind so that respect
is has been with me all these years so when Zach's name was suggested to
me I was happy of course we had little obstacles my parents were not
very happy about it because they didn't know him and because he had
given up his job but God sorted it all out my parents were happy and
they arranged the marriage but deep inside in my heart there was one
fear and that was Zach was such a good speaker and everywhere you when
Zach speaks they may expect me to speak and I didn't want to speak like
I'm not the type of person who like to stand up in front and speak I'm
so conscious of myself and my everything so that was a big fear in my
heart and then I prayed and I said Lord I don't want to speak Zach can
speak that's okay I'm happy with everything but don't let me speak in
public because it'll be like a competition or husband and wife they are
speakers and you know in all the worldly things you see a team husband
and wife are the speakers I didn't want that type of thing then the Lord
spoke to me so clearly in my heart I can't say in some word he said you
don't have to speak Zach is speaking he'll do the speak you know if
there's only one mouth he'll do the speaking all you have to do is to
support him you be behind him and take care of him he's my servant and
he's doing my work all you have to do is just be there take care of him
take care of his needs and support him and do all the other things in
the home and I was so happy I said Lord I'll do that to the best of my
ability I'll take care of all the home things concerning the home and
the children and everything whatever you ask me to do and hospitality
people come home to see him or talk to him or want to stay with us I'm
ready to do everything and I surrendered to the Lord so then another
thing which I came across was after we were married we I worked for one
year as an anesthesiologist and my entire saving of that year my Zach
sent to my dad because we are nine in our family and I was the only one
who had finished my studies so he said let your dad have this so like we
had so little and this money would have been so helpful to us but he
said no we'll send it to your dad that was good then our son came our
oldest son was born and I was at home taking care of him and then
reality hit me like we couldn't afford to rent our own home we had to
stay with Zach's parents in a room of our own they were so kind enough
they were retired people but they're kind enough to give us a home a
room in their home and we live with them and you know it's not so easy
when you share a house with somebody else even if it's your own home and
Zach used to travel a lot be out of town so most of the time I was with
them and not only I was getting to know Zach but I was getting to know
his family and how they run the home and so many practical things and
then the baby was born and so sleepless nights and taking care of and
you know you try to be careful about the food not to waste and not to
make other make demands on other people you try to be as careful as
possible so all those are pressures in my life like I was happy but when
Zach was out of town it was like it was so empty and lonely for me and I
didn't take my spiritual life seriously at that time I used to read the
Bible but it was like for namesake I read my Bible and all the
temptations like self-pity, discouragement and then on top of that my
dad got upset with us for small small things and he didn't want to have
anything to do with that so that added to the problems I was facing and
I didn't share this with anyone but that hollowness and emptiness was
coming in my life and if the baby cried at night Zach's dad or mom would
knock at the door and say why is the baby crying can't you give him some
milk or something like that like I was so scared even if the baby cries
they shouldn't hear you know you live like that it becomes stressful and
I was not careful about my spiritual life it was like the marriage in
Kena where the wine got dry there was no wine left my life was like that
no spiritual life was rock bottom but God didn't leave me like that some
lady who was passing by whom I have never met before she used to go
house to house praying with people so she must have heard that who was
living in that house so she knocked at the door and she smiled and she
said I just want to pray with you so I said sure I mean we sat in the
sitting room and prayed but something in her prayer was so fresh and so
real which I had lost in my spiritual life and after she left I said
Lord I've gone so far away from you let me have a little bit of what
that lady has so she said we'll meet again she gave came one more time
that time also we were with my relatives so we didn't pray much then she
said next week you come to my home so we went I went with them and Zach
had come back so I took the baby my oldest son and went to her home and
we sat down and we started praying we didn't waste much time no talking
and I didn't share anything with her about my personal what I was going
through the emptiness or anything so he said let's pray because I had
already knew her pattern of praying she didn't talk much so first she
prayed and then I prayed then when I said this is my chance I thought in
my mind this is my chance my only chance to come back to the Lord
because at home if I go there are people here I am away from everybody I
want to come back to the Lord so I said Lord I don't know what has
happened some big distance has come between you and me at one time you
were so close to me I could tell you everything now what has happened
between you and me please help me to come back to you and that was a
short prayer but I felt like at that time God went down and reached out
to me like I was like a little baby on the floor crying and a parent
picks it up I felt like God had lifted me up and comforted me and I felt
like such a peace and joy which I had never which I had felt when I was
born again and brief times in between but this time it was so real and
refreshing I felt like God had met with me and I thought at last I'm
back to in presence of the Lord and I started praising God I said Lord
thank you that you had mercy on me and you didn't let me fall in my you
didn't let me die in my wretched state but you lifted me up I was just
praising God and God gave me the gift of tongues in praising God now my
background is brethren Plymouth brethren they are against speaking in
tongues and they think all that is from the devil so I when I started
speaking in this language made me so happy but I thought something's
happening to me I don't want that I don't want that to speak like that
so I tried to come back to English and pray in English but that was like
a struggle to pray in English this other language was so like bubbling
out of my heart and coming out in torrents of praise and worship I said
Lord if you take me now to heaven I'll be the happiest person I'm ready
to be with you to such an experience but I have a family I have a child
and God touched me and gave me freshness in my life and that's what I
want to share with all of dear young sisters wives who may be going
through some dryness in in our life Jesus said in the last days the love
of many will grow cold love of many towards the Lord the love will grow
cold the love for each other husband and wife will grow cold love for
our brothers and sisters in the church might grow cold love for our
children we may be partial to one a difficult child we don't want to
love that child as much as we love the other Jesus said in the last days
love of many will grow cold and we have to be watchful and vigilant that
our love towards him doesn't grow cold that was one experience like the
beginning of my marriage life I'm so thankful the Lord met with me and
from that time there's been a steady freshness you know like a lawn
where the water just sprinkles and sprinkles and sprinkles I can't say
like a big experience like boom God landed met with me or shook me no
it's like the slow watering of the lawn always that freshness and I can
tell the Lord anything there are so many things which married people
face which we think like oh I must go and tell somebody this and I'm
facing this but I never feel like that because I say God is my father
why should I go and tell this to somebody who who may not be able to
understand but God can understand me and I can tell him and that's what
I've been doing and sometimes the things which I tell the Lord are so
silly like I think why did I feel hurt about this it's not worth
worrying about and the Lord helps me to sort it out and as we heard to
my husband speak it's we have to work hard to keep on the freshness in
him in our married life it's like we've heard him say that marriage is
like a garden which has to be watered and planted a few weeks ago Megan
the children and I we went to buy some plants and what fun we had I was
doing the grandma duty of taking care of the younger two and Megan was
selecting some plants the older children brought some plants is that
grandma do you like this one you like this one and we finally made a
selection of some plants and we planted the soil was already prepared
and she planted and we had such fun planting but you know that
particular day after we planted there was that hail storm such a big
like rocks the hail fell on the plant and then I thought our marriage is
like that we try our best to plant it to beautiful things words of
kindness and love and forbearance and unselfishness and forgiving each
other and not thinking of bad things in which somebody did to us or said
to us not forgetting all those things we take care to plant all those
things and the devil is there to destroy it but we have to be vigilant
we have to do our part not like those hailstones destroy a plant and
thank God not even one plant in Megan's garden died because of the
hailstorm and we have to pull out the weeds weeds of suspicion you know
most married women can testify sometime in their life there would be
some suspicion or some other person is coming and taking my husband's
love those are all empty those are all weeds which the devil brings and
so there's no place for that pull out all those weeds of suspicion and
doubt and expecting something to be done for us and self pity all those
are weeds we have to pull out and then it can be a beautiful garden so I
praise God thank you all for this little celebration it means so much to
us and I'm thankful for my children Megan and my grandchildren they have
brought so much joy in our lives when we see them grow now you all are
raising a garden with these little plants and I know just as God did for
us and now we can see our children grown up and leading and sharing
God's word I have faith that all the children here will grow up like
that and be witnesses may God protect all of you dear children from all
the evil things in the world all the hailstorms and weeds and all and
help you all to grow up so you'll be pillars in the church just one
thing briefly Matthew chapter 9 it says here the Pharisees verse 11 the
Pharisees saw Jesus sitting with the sinners at a meal and said to his
disciples why Matthew 9 verse 11 why does your teacher sit with these
sinners and look at Jesus reply why do I sit with sinners because it is
not those who are healthy who need a physician or a doctor but those who
are sick those who have a sense of need in their life Lord I'm sick I
need healing in this area he's ready to help them but those who are
self-satisfied and I'm okay he ignores them that's why the Pharisees
never got the blessing that the sinners got so we must be poor in spirit
at all times if we want to possess the kingdom of heaven and that means
to have a constant sense of our own spiritual need it's like a poor man
in the world a homeless man every day is standing there saying will
somebody help me poor in spirit is like that Lord spiritually I'm needy
I'm coming to you for help I seek to live like that every day we seek to
live like that you know every day and then I find that God meets us and
why should we be poor in spirit for one reason we have not yet become
like Jesus I have not become like Jesus my wife has not become like
Jesus so then we must acknowledge there's an area in our life which we
have to become more like Christ and that will never stop until he comes
again so if the passion of your life is I want to be totally like Jesus
Christ in my behavior my attitude and my thoughts the words I speak the
way I speak my words and my motives and everything we will always be
poor in spirit because we'll find some area oh I can be a little more
like Jesus here I see a need in my life and then also another byproduct
of that is we won't have time to judge others the people who judge
others are the ones who are not judging themselves they're occupied with
the faults of other people so the sick Jesus told the Pharisees you guys
think you're healthy that's why I don't come to you these guys know they
are sick therefore I go to them so I see the same principle today Lord I
want to be a little more like Jesus and I see some area in my life I
want to be like that he'll come to you so I pray that all of you will
those of you are single will get really godly partners and have
wonderful homes and those of you who are married already whatever your
past failure may have been God overlooks the times of ignorance and say
Lord from today we want to have a godly Christian home and we want to
bring up our children in the fear of God that they will be a testimony
in their generation for Christ that should be our desire for every one
of the children in RLCF and I tell you have to pray pray for it pray for
it together husband and wife for your children we pray for our children
and now for our grandchildren regularly prayer does wonders see one of
the things we faced in our marriage was sickness with our children with
each of them we had something one of them had a major operation where we
thought his leg may have to be amputated and a couple of them had
problems with their eyes they needed to be operated and there was no one
in in India had done that operation before there were things like this
we faced with our children and accidents and sickness sometimes we
wonder why God allows all this but I see that God strengthens the
strength God gives us in these situations helps us to comfort and
strengthen others because we live in a world where there's a lot of
sickness and if we escaped it all we would not have sympathy and care
for others who are going through that so we've had a share of all types
of things allergies and arthritis and many many things I don't want to
make a list of it all but I want to say today that God has seen us
through all of it he's been a faithful friend we only asked that God
would give us grace and very often healing as well so we always would
take our you know like we sing in that song Oh what pain we bear all
because we do not carry everything to God in prayer what a friend we
have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to bear he's there to bear our
sorrows and when we go through these things so we don't want to I've
never preached what all other people preach that Jesus will heal every
sickness because it is not true and it's a lie which they preach I
believe Jesus heals and I've experienced that myself and my wife too but
it's not that he heals everybody and I know the times when we've gone
through difficult things I remember when the first son was our first son
he had a problem with his vision when he was two years old and he we had
to take him to a doctor and the doctor kept on putting thicker and
thicker and thicker thicker lenses and it's only we had to wear a very
thick lens for a long time and he was the only boy in the class it is
wearing and people would make fun of him and pull out his glasses and
all these type of things he faced numerous things children in school but
it was necessary for us and thank God that God didn't sort of insulate
us from all these problems and say no no no you'll have a very peaceful
life we've gone through so many things and God allowed us to be taken to
court because we stood up by religious people for ten years all the way
to the Supreme Court so many many things we have gone through and in all
those things we can say like Paul we are more than conquerors through
him who has loved us and who has carried us through everything we've
found the help of God and I say that for your encouragement there's not
a single problem that God cannot solve how he solves it is up to him how
soon he will solve it or how late he will solve it that's up to him but
God has a purpose in every single thing every single trial we've gone
through and I don't want to talk about all of them we've had financial
struggles sickness struggles opposition tremendous amount of opposition
from relatives unbelievers Christians and articles published against us
in so many Christian magazines we've come through it all and all I say
is God is good all the time he's always with us and he'll be with all of
you remember that whatever you may be going through ultimately you'll
find that he brings you through in triumph and he'll make you a blessing
what you've gone through will be the means by which you can help others
when we faced poverty what used to come to my mind was yeah this is what
I promised before the Lord when I gave my vow that I'll share his life
if it's a life of poverty that's what I promised years ago when
opposition came yes I gave my vow that I'll share in that time of
opposition when plenty came oh it was good that is what I promised that
I'll share so whatever we went through I thought I reminded myself of
the vow I had made before the Lord that I would share those days with
him and we have the Lord with us so what more do we need God bless you
all

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/9pzYnd8AWOo.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/what-god-has-done-in-our-marriage-zac-annie-poonen-testimony/
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