continue to expand while keeping all citations and find the sources of ideas cited with a reference list in Havard style at the end. Include in-text citations for all sources in the reference list: 13 Family life
WHAT is God’s plan for marriage
Marraige was God’s Idea from the begining Marraige was God’s Idea it was not man’s idea marraige was planted by God to meet the human need for companionship ,Love mutual encouragment practical help and sexual satisfication ( Gen2:18, 1 cor 7:1-2) it was God’s plan that children should be born and raised in the security and Love created by one man and one woman in marraige commited to each other for life time ( psalms 127:3 Mal 2:14-16, Matt 19:6)
When God created Adam in the garden of Eden He created a perfect man But there was one thing Adam needed God said it is not good for the man to be alone I will make the helper suitable for him ( Gen 2:18) . God decided to make a perfect partner for Adam Adam need the companioship of another human being . God had made the other creatures male and female ( Genesis 6:19 ) since Adam was A male God took one of Adam’s ribs and made a female partner for him by doing this. God gave Adam a life long companion and helper and a sextual partner for marraige through the physical union of Adam and Eve. God planned for the human race to be continued ( Ge 1:27-28, Gen 2:24)

Marriage the first institution in human society
Marraige was established by God before all other human institutions . This shows Us that marraige is the foundation of human society . marriage was stablished before man’s fall in to sin This shows us that marraige is holy God is pleased with marriage . The miracle by which Jesus changed water in to wine at the wedding feast in cana of Gelilee ( John 2:1-11) shows us that God wants people to Enjoy marriage to the full. He wants men and women to exprience love and acceptance and to be complete . Marriage was made for this purpose
In God’s plane marriage is the basis fo a morality and sociality stable society. This is part of the reasons why God heats adultry ( Exdo 20:140 ) sextual immorality ( 1 Thesalonia 4:3-60 incsst ( Lev 18:6) and homosexuality ( Rom 1 :24 -28). This things disrupt and twist God’s plan for stable Human society The bible warns us , God will judge the Adulter and all the sexual immorality ( Hebr 13:4)
Part of the reasons why many society today are morally and socially unstable is because people have determined to live without regard for sins God’s Law unfortunately there are sever consquences for sexual sins . the great increas in divorce and broken homes and the worlidwide epdemic of AIDS are just two of comsequences
Marriage in God’s plan for all people and all culture in the world ( Genesis 2:24 , Gen 12:3, Matt 19;3-9) the familiy can not be replaced by any other institution in God’s plan for mankind if someone corrupt familiy life he is interfering with God’s plan for the whole human race . it was God who performed the first marriage in in the garden of Eden ( Gen 2:21-25) it is people who have spoiled marriage through there immorality and unfaithfulness .
God’s plan for unity inmarriage

What is God’s plane concerninig the familiy life of christian?
How should christian couple deal with the problems of childrens
BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA PRESPECTIVE PAGE 276
All of this leaves us with christian marriage us the only other opetion Daunting peraphes but less so if we seek to see from scripture how it is ment to work. We have to affirm reaffirm discover and rediscover with out loss of nerve the Bible’s way for marriage and sextuallity.
First we have to understand that marriage fulifil God’s orginal creation ordinance and plane and it is the fundamental buliding block of society inded the first chapters of Genesis show us that God instituted the home even before the state school or church it is a divine creation ordinace and has nothing to do with human kind design or plane its fourfold purposes
COMPANIONSHIP MUTUAL HELP SEXTUAL FULIFILMENT AND PROCREATION
There fore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh and the and his wife were both naked and were both with out ashemed Genesis 2:24- 25 we are here that God’s divine patterne for marraige stableshment as part of creation produced somethings extra ordinarry and in away almost unimaginable Two people the man and the women become one . This is some things more and grater simpliy than togather . it is mystre indeed which no thinkers theologians or teachers have ever been able to aduqutable explain two people become” one flesh” how it takes place we cannot fully fathome or plumbe we just know it happens
And of course if the two are becoming one in this very deep sense then it rules out all adultery unfaithfuliness and promisecuity if the two have become one that can’t then keep happeninig in a half a dozen direction in fact the Bible is quite clear on the dreadful consequences of adultery thus for example proverbs 6:32 says He who commits adultery has no sense He who does it destroy himself
Having insight that Biblical marriage has to be both monogamous and heterosextual , Ed Wheat writes
Although it goes far deeper than the physical becoming one flesh involves intimate physical union in sexual intercourse and this with out shame between marriage partners shame in marital sex was never imparted by God instead Biblical expression for sexual intercorse betwen husband and waife is to know anexpressions of profound diginity “ Adam new Eve his waife and she conceved ( Genesis 4:1) “ Then Joseph … took un to him his waife and new her not till she had brought forth her first born son”( matt 1:24-25 kjv)
This word know is the same word used of God’s loving personal knowledge of Abrham in Genesis ( 18:19 kjv ) “ For Iknow him that he will comand his children and his house hold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment “
Thou in the patrn of divine marriage sexual intercorse between husband and waife includes both intimate phsical knowledge and a tender intimate personal knowledge so the leaving cleaving and knowing each other results in a new identity in a wich tow individuals
Merege in to one one in mind, heart, body, and spirit this is why divorce has such a devastating effect not two people but two fractions of one

Here then is marriage design as ordinary by God at the very beginig – alove relationship so deep tender pure and intmate that it is patterned after that of christ for His church . This is the foundation for the love life you can exprience inyour owen marriage a foundation in which you can safely build so we see God afresh as the outher and giver of our sexuality we did not buy it in a drugstore It is given to Us by God as integral to our humanity and as we reciev the Genesis word that Adem ” Knew “ Eve ( 4:1) so we embrace profoundly a deeply spritual and emotional comunications of one persone to another at the deepest possible level
All this says marriage and sexuality, inherently good in and of themselves , are given by God to fulifile our various needs as humans they fulifil our sexual needs and social needs for companioneship and our chracter needs when by we can grow and develope as the people christian marriage also fulifils the fundamental needs of children only a healthy home with a happy married father and mother will provide with children with the proper feelings of security to allow for normall psychological and emotional development Wesly in speech that;-“ THE FAMILIY IS THE CORNER STONES OF OUR SOCIETY MORE THAN ANY OTHER FORCE IT SHAPES THE ATTITUDES, HOPES, AMBITIONS AND VALUES , OF THE CHILD when the family collaphses it is the children that are usually damaged when it happens on a massive scale the wider comunity itself is cripped “
I believe this is true much modren evidance conforms it however the making of a good marriage is a demanding interprise and will elude us unless we seek earnestly with the Lord’s help, to follow some key guading biblical principles
13.1 CHRIST MUST BE AT THE CENTRE OF THE MARRIAGE
Marriage is bassically spritual relationship and while it does adress many of our physical, social emotional needs here on earth , Agustine rightly prays;- “ thou haste made us for theyself and our hearts are reastless till they find their rest in thee “No spouse can fill God shaped vocum designed only for our Lord Himself if we expect husband or waife so meet our deepest spritual needs he or she will always disapoint us infact such an effort is entairelly unfair to our paretner and can only lead to disolutionment , frustration and disapointment often people will leave a spouse to find some one else whome they think will fill the vacum . but they can’t only the Lord can do it why? Because the vacume is God shaped .
In a sense then we could say that a successful marriage is really made up of three good marriage the first to christ the second to oneself for we have to love and value ourselves and the third to our husband or waife
13.2 BOTH PARTNERS HAVE TO SEEK BY THE SPIRIT TO ACT IN LOVE TO EACH OTHER
Love is not just a feeling but naction a way of behaving in fact a commitment in other words , love does certain things and make usbecome certain kind of peoples the problems of marriage is not just finding the right parent but being the right partner by both words and deeds . demanding yes but highly rewarding when we successed and certainlly penful when we fail
13.3 THE FOURE LOVES
Now we must not some thing very key The “marriage carriage is drawn not by one hourse but foure as capturd by four Greek words
Erose , which speks of Romatic and sexual love
Philla which is love as friendship having fun and sharing common intersts
Storage which is affection wormth and tender familiarity
Agaphe , which is God’s in spite of love i.e love as action behavioure and commitiment
13.4 PRAYER MUST BE INTEGRAL TO OUR MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIPS
Prayer is amighty marital bondage force as we togather brings our problems, sorrows , joys, and tenssions to the Lord also as we bring to him the spritual and other needs of our children loved ones and friends inprayer we also confess our hurts or offences to one another and seek forgivness infact mutual forgvness has to becomes a way of life and we should seek to heed the injuction “ do not let the sun godown on your anger ‘( Ephesian 4:26) two of the the thoughest but sweets words in any good marriage are “ I am sorry “ and we can even say them while praying togather .
13,5 MUTUAL SUBMISSION
Although scripture assigns a servant sacrifical and deeply loving and caring headship in marriage to the husband (Colossian 3:18, Ephesian 5:23-24) were by the husband has unaltimate accountablity to God for his familiy and specially it’s spiritual life this does not mean that in all details and aspects the husband leads and decides . Indeed in the day today affairs and process of marriage , who decides and and leads in this or that we depend both on the persons and situations involved in the life of the couple. The key things here is that the husband’s leadership is clearly set in the context first husband sacrificially loving his waife with the deepth and sacrifical care that “ christ loved the church and gave himself up for her “ ( Ephesians 5:25) and secondly both of them living mutual submission “ to one another”
(Ephesians 5:21) There is to be a caring and mutual submission give and take in the godly interplay of husband and waife in christian life
Anobvious corollary of the above there fore is that it is a transvesty and abuse of the” headship “ principle when ungodly men use sensitivily tunde principle to abuse their waives dominate or lord it over them or inflict damege on them This is a million light –years from what the scripture on about when they says “ The husband is the head of the waife “ ( Ephesians 5:23) for husband to grasp the true meaninig of this requires revisting calvary , sitting at the foot of the cross and drinking in the spirit of sacrifice
13.6 WE HAVE TO BE RIGHT KIND OF PARENTS AND THE RIGHT KIND OF EXAMPLE
Agrement on how to raise our children Ephesians 6:4 and also how to be good parents 1Timothy 3:12 is also crutial not to mention the example we set them individually time is also a must for our kids Delinquent and over busy fathers need specially for register this the emotional and sexual development of a daughter is generally greatly influenced by how well her father’s love and tendereness are expressed toher and dads taking quality times with their sons is a sources of immense blessing to both . indeed children growing up in a healthy and happy from home where their is love and mutual care all round can caunt blessed theselves indeed
CONCLUSION