God Is a Matchmaker

Derek Prince

Description

God is the divine matchmaker, and this is His plan for you.Marriage is God's sacred creation, a beautiful gift for His children. But too often we fail to leave the choice or the timing to Him.In this revised and expanded edition of his bestselling book, well-known Bible teacher Derek Prince and his wife, Ruth, reveal God's true plan for you and your future spouse. In addition to sharing their own real-life love story, Derek lays out seven biblical steps to finding your mate. He will also help you answer tough questions, such as· How can I know if it is God's will for me to marry?· How can I prepare myself for marriage?· How can I find the mate God has appointed for me?· What is God's plan for remarriage?Full of inspiring testimonies from people who found their perfect matches by following these principles, God Is a Matchmaker also offers special counsel and material for parents, pastors, counselors, teachers and youth ministers involved with those preparing for this exciting time of life.When you discover God's pattern for marriage, you will experience His perfect gift: a match truly made in heaven.

Sujets

• Dating

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 15 juin 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781441263353
• Langue: English

Extrait

God Is a Matchmaker
Copyright © 1986, 2011 by Derek Prince Ministries–International
Published by Chosen Books
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.chosenbooks.com
Chosen Books is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan. www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-6335-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, ® NIV ® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica, Inc. TM Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations identified NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, ® Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quotations identified NIV 1984 are from HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. ® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations indentified NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified TLB are from The Living Bible © 1971 owned by assignment by Illinois Regional Bank N.A. (trustee). Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Cover design by Eric Walljasper
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Foreword
Introduction

Part 1 My School of Experience
1 The Voices of Bride and Bridegroom
2 Lydia
3 Ruth

Part 2 The Divine Pathway to Marriage
4 The Gateway
5 Attitudes to Cultivate
6 Actions That Lead to a Successful Marriage
7 A Man Prepares for Marriage
8 A Woman Prepares for Marriage (by Ruth)
9 The Role of Parents and Pastors

Part 3 Special Situations
10 Divorce and Remarriage
11 The Place of Celibacy

Part 4 Ruth’s Story
12 “Meet Me in the King David”

Subject Index
Scripture Index
About the Author
Other Books by Author
FOREWORD
The truths presented in this book, though first put into print 25 years ago, are as biblically based and sound today as they were at the first.Since the Bible begins and ends with a marriage,it is clear that this is an important aspect of knowing what matters to God.
In the book of Genesis, after God created man and woman, He then brought Eve to Adam to present her to him perhaps very much as the father of the bride walks his daughter down the aisle in most marriage ceremonies today.Near the end of the New Testament, in the nineteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, John describes for us the marriage of the Lamb with His Bride, the Church, that will bring this age to its culmination and usher in Christ’s millennial Kingdom. Marriage at the beginning; marriage at the end a vital principle for all Christians as we look toward the close of the age.
At the end of each chapter of this newly revised edition, you will find testimonies received at Derek Prince Ministries that testify to God’s faithfulness in this realm of choosing one’s life partner. These touch on various aspects of Derek’s teaching as brought forth in the themes of each chapter. We believe these testimonies attest to God’s faithfulness to train, build character, wait for His provision and delight in His care and fulfillment.
We want to call special attention to the story you will read at the end of chapter 1. It tells how the principles in this book worked in the lives of those who have read it. It is the story of Paul and Toni Danchik of California, told in the words of Toni as she relates how the Lord provided her with the perfect match.

T HE I NTERNATIONAL P UBLISHING T EAM
O F D EREK P RINCE M INISTRIES
INTRODUCTION
I can best introduce this book by explaining what it is not.
First of all, it is not a book of mere theory or theology. It does not deal with truth in the abstract. On the contrary, it is rooted directly and firmly in the experiences of real life my own experiences.
For more than forty years, this has generally been the way I have made my most important discoveries in the spiritual life. They never came to me while I was seated behind a desk, pondering abstractions. Most often they were both prompted and confirmed by situations I lived through. Only later, as I meditated on such situations in light of the Bible, did I come to discern the underlying spiritual principles God had been teaching me.
In the second and third chapters of this book, I relate the way in which God led me into marriage first with Lydia, then with Ruth. In each case, the path by which God took me corresponded exactly with the basic biblical pattern for entering into marriage.
The first time, I really did not understand what God had done. When the pattern was repeated in my second marriage, I came to realize that, in each marriage, God had followed the very same pattern He Himself had established at the dawn of human history a pattern He has ordained to stand unchanged until human history reaches its consummation. It is this divine pattern for entering into marriage that is the central theme of this book .
I need to explain, too, that this book does not attempt to lay out a plan for married life or for the raising of a family. There are a number of excellent books currently available on these themes. Rather, my purpose is to explain the steps that lead up to a successful marriage. A man and a woman who seek God’s direction only after they have exchanged vows in a church are like the man Jesus pictured who built his house on sand. All too often, such a marriage will not stand up to the tests and pressures to which it will almost inevitably be subjected.
This book will help you to answer some of the most important questions with which life confronts you: How can I know if it is God’s will for me to marry? If it is God’s will, how can I prepare myself for marriage? And how can I find the mate God has appointed for me?
In chapter 8, Ruth offers suggestions specifically for women on preparation for marriage. Again in the final chapter, Ruth shares very personal details of her own preparation to be my wife.
Chapter 9 offers special counsel for parents, which will help them to guide their children through that difficult and dangerous phase of life in which they wrestle with the emotional and spiritual problems of choosing a mate.
The same chapter provides constructive material for pastors, counselors, teachers, youth ministers and all the other servants of God who seek to lead His people into lives of fulfillment and fruitfulness. There is no area where sound, biblical instruction is needed more than in the application of God’s pattern for marriage to contemporary living.
Chapters 10 and 11 offer much-needed help to the many millions who are confronted with special, critical problems in this whole area of marriage: those who have passed through the agony of divorce, and those destined to live out their lives unmarried.
There is one other category of people to whom this book may appeal: those who enjoy a true-life romance with an element of suspense. Ruth and I hope you will enjoy this part of our story. But remember, the suspense will not be resolved until you reach Ruth’s final chapter, “Meet Me in the King David”!

D EREK P RINCE
J ERUSALEM

1
The Voices of Bride and Bridegroom
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
G ENESIS 2:22

God first appeared on the scene of human history in the role of a matchmaker. What a profound and exciting revelation!
Is it too much to suggest that Eve came to Adam on the arm of the Lord Himself in the same way that a bride today walks down the aisle of the church on her father’s arm? What human mind can fathom the depth of love and joy that filled the heart of the great Creator as He united the man and woman in this first marriage ceremony?
Surely this account is one among countless indications that the Bible is not a work of merely human authorship. Moses is generally accepted as the author of the Creation record. But apart from supernatural inspiration, he would never have dared to open human history with a scene of such amazing intimacy first between God and man, and then between man and woman.
The portrait Moses here paints of God is in a totally different category from the type of religious art we have come to associate with churches and cathedrals. It is doubtful, in fact, if Moses’ portrait would even find a place on their walls or in their windows.
Not only does human history open with a marriage; it is also destined to climax with a marriage. It is John on Patmos who paints this scene for us in Revelation 19:6–9:

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”
[Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.]

Then the angel said to me, “Write this: ‘Blessed are those who are invite