Marriage
with Pastor Jim Gallagher
Hello, I want to take just a moment to talk a little bit about the idea of marriage and ministry.
You know, there are a lot of very simple principles that can help us to continue to navigate forward in a positive way in our marriage, because there are so many obstacles to that.
Mutual Submission: A Key Principle
One of those principles is found when Paul first introduces the subject of marriage in Ephesians chapter five.
Before telling the wife to submit to her husband, he says, “Submitting to one another in the fear of the Lord.”
I think one of the key principles in marriage is this healthy concept of mutual submission.
Paul doesn’t use this language; this is kind of my own language, but I see mutual submission as “agreeing together to seek the Lord for His plans and His purposes for our lives”.
Seeking God Together
For my wife, Kristi, and I, as we have over the years sought to invest in our relationship, we’re in this together.
We’re seeking God together for what He has for us and how He wants to navigate the circumstances.
A Life-Changing Decision
I can think of a situation that happened for us—it was a long time ago, but it really forged who we are and what we’re doing.
We had decided to move from Southern California to South Florida, essentially leaving everything we knew, our comforts, and moving across the country to invest in church work and serve the Lord.
The decision was made while I was separate from her—I was there, and she said, before I got on the plane:
“Do whatever the Lord tells you to do.”
While I was there, I felt like the Lord spoke to me and said:
“This is where I want you to move your family.”
I flew back—this was pre-cell phones—and when I arrived, she said:
“Did the Lord speak to you? What do you think the Lord said?”
And I said:
“I think the Lord wants us to move to Vero Beach.”
She said:
“Okay, let’s do it.”
The Power of Trust and Respect
Some time later, some years later, we talked about that event. She said:
“When you told me that the Lord told us to move to Vero… everything inside of me wanted to do what God wanted us to do, and no part of me wanted to move to Florida.”
When she said that, I had this realization:
- The Lord had spoken to me—I’d heard His voice saying, “Move your family.”
- But the only voice she heard was mine.
That humbled me.
The amount of respect that I had for her and her relationship with the Lord just continued to increase.
It also helped solidify this idea of mutual submission—that if we continue to seek the Lord together for what God has us to do, we’re going to end up walking right into what God’s called us to do.
Final Encouragement
So I want to encourage you, wherever you’re at in your relationship:
- Lean into your spouse
- Spend time investing in your relationship with one another
- Pour into one another
- Seek God together for what He has for you
Whether that’s the ministry outside with the church or in the home—raising children and walking through the stages of life together—this concept matters:
Mutual submission. Investing together. Seeking the Lord together.
God bless you guys as you continue to serve Jesus and seek to be pleasing to Him.
