• Ingredients for a Successful Marriage
• God’s Word defeats the enemy

 

2 Kings 4:8-37

Elisha meets the Shunammite Woman

⁸ Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food. ⁹ And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly. ¹⁰ Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.”

• They were a hospitable couple who went from providing meals for Elisha to providing space for him.
• You will invest in what you are passionate about.

 

Ingredient of a Successful Marriage: Make room for God in your home so the Word of the Lord can be fulfilled in your lives.

 

The Prophet asked, “What can I do for you?”

¹¹ And it happened one day that he came there, and he turned in to the upper room and lay down there. ¹² Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him. ¹³ And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Look, you have been concerned for us with all this care. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’ ”She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”

• Consider the heart motives of the Shunammite woman.
• She did not bless the man of God in hopes of getting something.
• Do you need help in the political realm or do you need some protection?
• Her answer was I am content, I am good, Everything is fine, I am all set.

Ingredient of a Successful Marriage: Godliness with Contentment

Godliness with Contentment

1 Timothy 6:6 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

The Secret of being Content

Philippians 4:12-13 “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (NIV)

Gehazi answered the question for her.

¹⁴ So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi answered, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵ So he said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. ¹⁶ Then he said, “About this time next year you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!” ¹⁷ But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her.”

• No son was an indication that she would have no one to care for her in the future.
• This couple positioned themselves for a blessing.
• “Do not lie.” she is saying, let what you are saying to me be backed by God and able to be carried through all the way.

Ingredient for a Successful Marriage: Embrace God’s will for your life and act on it.

Their Promised Son Died

¹⁸ And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. ¹⁹ And he said to his father, “My head, my head!” So he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. ²¹ And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out. ²² Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.”

• The Shunammite Woman knew how to deal with a storm.
• She took him to the prophet’s room. It was in that room that the Prophet spoke the Word of the Lord to her.
• She laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then she called her husband.

 

Ingredient of a Successful Marriage: Respect

• Respect can be defined as ‘to feel or show honor for, to think highly of, or to look up to, to have regard and to be thoughtful of, to show consideration and concern for another individual’.

 

The Shunammite Man trusted his Wife

²³ So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It is well.”

• When her circumstances around her looked hopeless, she still said, “It is well”.
• “It is well”- the phrase in the Hebrew means – God will bring clarity and there will be a righteous resolve or judgment.
• She was saying to her husband, the reason I am going to the prophet is because I believe there will be a righteous perspective brought forth. “It is Well”

Ingredient of a Successful Marriage: Trust

Trust is weightier than details, just like grace is weightier than the law. (anonymous)

Ingredient of a Successful Marriage: Agreement

Amos 3:3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?

• Communication breeds agreement.

 

Prayers are hindered if you are not in agreement with each other.

1 Peter 3:7 –“ Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”

24 Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” 25 And so she departed, and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

• She didn’t let her circumstances slow her down

25 So it was, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, the Shunammite woman! ²⁶ Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ ” And she answered, “It is well.” 

• Elisha wanted to know “is everything in order?”

⁷ Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”

• God did not tell the prophet their son had died. But God knew.

²⁸ So she said, “Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”

• She got a hold of his feet
• The prophet was their connection with the Rhema word of the Lord

 

²⁹ Then he said to Gehazi, “Get^[f] yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but lay my staff on the face of the child.”

I Will Not Leave YOU!

³⁰ And the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. 

• This is the same phrase Elisha spoke to Elijah in 2 Kings 2:2
• Expectation is the breeding ground of miracles

³¹ Now Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, “The child has not awakened.”

Elisha Went in and Shut the Door

³² When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. ³³ He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. 

Elisha Raises the Shunammite’s Son

³⁵ He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. ³⁶ And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” ³⁷ So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.

Ingredient of a Successful Marriage: Love and Honor God

• Put God first in everything.
• They sacrificed and built a place for the man of God.
• They were given a child by God.
• When the devil touched their gift, they went right back to the maker.
• The presence of God in your marriage does not mean it will be easy but it will work.

Ingredients of a Successful Marriage

1. Make room for God in your home so the Word of the Lord can be fulfilled in your lives.
2. Godliness with Contentment
3. Embrace God’s will for your life and act on it.
4. Respect
5. Trust
6. Agreement
7. Love and Honor God