Its significant that you are here as families. You’re not just two individuals coming together in marriage - but two families. In the passage that was read - Paul writes, “I fall down on my knees and pray to the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”

By His love God has established the family of His Son Jesus Christ - the Church - and God desires to establishes individual families that will live within His love and glorify Him.

God has designed marriage as a partnership. His desire is to create in you a union of heart, mind, and body for your mutual joy - for comfort - for strength in the midst of whatever circumstances of life lay ahead of you - a relationship of prayer and nurture in the knowledge and love of the Lord - a partnership - a family - which glorifies Him.

And that’s why I’ve chosen this passage from Ephesians 3:14-19 - that was read in Armenian. In these verses Paul is praying for the Church - the family of God - and what he prays also applies to individual families - like what yours is becoming - what God desires to do in your family.

There are two things that Paul prays for that I would like to share with you.

First, Paul prays that out of God’s glorious, unlimited resources He would give you inner strength through the Holy Spirit.

One man said, “My wife and I never go to bed angry. Whatever the problem, we always resolve it before we go to bed. Of course there was a time when we didn’t go to bed for 3 months....” Marriage takes work and effort because we marry imperfect people like us.

So many couples endure marriage - they put up with each other - tolerate each other. And as they go through the circumstances of life - they struggle and fight. They never learn to work together as team - working through the circumstances of life and their relationship. They live with everything depending on themselves - trying by their own strength to control each other and life which cannot be controlled.

God desires to give you His strength and power for life - to make available to you all of the resources you need to work through whatever the circumstances are ahead of you - whatever you need to work through in your relationship - to give you everything you need to move through them victoriously.

The requirement, Paul writes, is that we have faith in God through Jesus Christ.

A few verses earlier - in Ephesians 2:8 - Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

Grace is when God gives us something we do not deserve - or could never earn on our own. God gives us salvation through Jesus Christ. Imagine, what do we have to offer God that He - the holy - almighty - God of Creation - would sacrifice His only Son - Himself - on a cross for us? Salvation is gift. And the way to accept that gift is by faith. To trust God that He has given it - and to put our lives in His hands.

So many Christians miss this - they accept Jesus as their Savior and then try to live life by their own power and not His. But, if we really have given our lives to God through Christ then we need to rely on His power to live life.

_____ and _____ if you can learn this - that with our salvation - and life which we are powerless to control - if you learn to rely on God for everything - then you will find His strength is more adequate to take you through whatever lies ahead for you. Take the time to come before Him in prayer - with whatever is going on in your family - and ask for Him to help you and guide you. Spend time reading and studying and applying His word - the Bible - to the circumstances and situations of your lives.

Second, Paul prays that you would be be rooted and grounded in God’s love and be filled with God Himself. Paul writes that this means “knowing the love of Christ which goes beyond our understanding.”

Years ago, Toyota had a theme for their commercials, “I love what you do for me.” And that fits the way our society thinks about love. I love you because of what you do for me. And, once you stop meeting my needs I won’t love you anymore. Its pretty selfish and shortsighted.

God, on the other hand, has given us His Son Jesus - to be born and live with mankind - to die on the cross - taking the penalty for our sins - being resurrected to assure us of an eternal relationship with God and a fulfilling life now. All that without any of us seeking after God. In fact, the Bible says that God did all this even while we were in complete rebellion and disobedient to God. That’s God’s kind of love - given to those who could never earn it or repay it.

That kind of love goes beyond our understanding because as we look around at our society - we don’t see any examples of that type of commitment and giving type of love. The only place we see attempts at that kind of love is in people who are trying to imitate God. As humans - we’re just incapable.

But God has demonstrated that He is capable. And if we know Jesus - we will know His love - and God will begin to develop His kind of love in our lives. _____ and _____ - purpose to know Jesus. That means trusting Him as your Savior - giving your life to Him - and doing whatever it takes to deepen your relationship with Him.

Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house - or family - they labor in vain who build it.” Let God establish your marriage and your family. Let Him be the strength of your marriage. Let Him teach you how to love each other as He has loved us through Jesus.