6.  WHAT FOUR COMMANDS MUST WIVES OBEY TO ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE? - CONT.

iv)  She is to be a homemaker - Prov 31:10-31
A godly Christian wife is a diligent person.  She works hard at making and keeping her home clean and beautiful.
Her family are proud to bring their friends home.
She knows raising a family is not a game, but a life time commitment of hard work to which she diligently applies
herself.
She prepares healthy palatable meals for her family.
ILLUSTRATION: Errols ex wife was eating an apple for supper as he came home from a hard days work.  When
he asked what was for supper, she replied, "Help yourself to whatever you can find in the house.  I'm on a diet and
this apple's more than enough for me."  Dear wife, never forget that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
She helps the family budget by running a profitable business on the side.
She honors the Lord and brings her family up in the fear of the Lord.
Her family are proud to call her mom, for she is filled with kindness, grace and wisdom.
Her husband knows God has blessed him with pure gold for a wife.
Kin Hubbard said, "Of all the home remedies, a good wife is best."

The perfect marriage is to be married to your best friend.
Andrew Jackson said, "Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there."

7.  WHAT IS THE SECRET OF A LONG-LASTING MARRIAGE?

Eccl 4:9-12 (NAS) Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.
10  For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion.  But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.
11  Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?
12  And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him.  A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
The secret to a successful Christian marriage is to always give the Lord Jesus Christ first place in your lives.
Then as the third strand in the union, He will permanently bind the two of you together into an unbreakable bond,
even through the most testing of storms.
ILLUSTRATION: Cathern Paxton wrote, "A braid appears to contain only two strands of hair. But it is impossible to create a braid with only two strands.  If the two could be put together at all, they would quickly unravel.  Herein lies the mystery: What looks like two strands requires a third.  The third strand, though not immediately evident, keeps the strand tightly woven."  Then Paxton concluded, "In a Christian marriage, God's presence, like the third strand in a braid, holds husband and wife together."
ILLUSTRATION: Viola Walden tells the story of a newly married couple riding a train on their honeymoon.  A
silver-haired man leaned across the aisle and asked, "Is there a third party going with you on your honeymoon?"
The couple looked at him strangely; then he added, "When Sarah and I were married, we invited Jesus to our
marriage.  One of the first things we did in our new home was to kneel and ask Jesus to make our marriage a love
triangle - Sarah, myself, and Jesus.  And all three of us have been in love with each other for all 50 years of our
married life."