Marriage comes before Ministry...

I was opportuned to attend a Pastors' Wives Conference and it was interesting and illuminating to hear some of the issues that some Mrs. Pastors are facing.

On the first night, this topic dropped in my spirit - Marriage comes before Ministry...before God and even in the dictionary. Before we dive into this topic, let's be clear...Marriage is between a man and a woman - opposite genders - no more no less. Ok, let's go on.

As I was saying, marriage comes before ministry. Ok, let me back up for a second here...I am not saying that you must be married before you can go into ministry. What I am saying is: even if you or your husband was called into ministry before you got married to each other, you must reprioritize so you get the right results.

I daringly say this to Mr & Mrs Pastor: it is more important to preserve and protect your marriage than it is to preserve and protect the ministry. Ah! Yes ah! Remember the ministry is God's work...the church is God's bride. Let me pause here to say:

Dear (male) Pastors, take care of your bride - let God take care of His.

Too many marriages are in deep trouble because of the wrong priorities when it comes to these 2 "M" words - I won't even add children into the mix for now...

Marriage is God's idea so why would anyone think that their ministry is more important than their marriage? The only other thing more important than your marriage, is your personal relationship with Him. I encourage you to invest quality time and emotions in your relationship with God and your marriage - you'll see the fruits your ministry. Otherwise you'll have to deal with more thorns & tares in ministry than you need to - I join you to say: "God forbid!"