THE SEVEN Ps OF MARRIAGE PREPARATION

                                   THE SEVEN Ps OF MARRIAGE PREPARATION

The goal of most single ladies is to be married. However, that does not mean you should wait until you are engaged to start preparing to be a wife. Once God prepares us to receive blessings then there is the need to prepare ourselves for the blessings of our husband.

God has someone just for you and he is preparing you to be part of your husband’s destiny. With that being the case, ladies we need to get ready. 

Here are seven steps I am using to prepare for my husband. Use it to begin your Christian marriage preparation or let it inspire you to develop your own plan.

STEP 1: PRAYER

Many singe ladies pray to be married and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But this first P is not about yourself but rather praying for the man who will one day be your husband. God strengthens your marriage once you begin to pray for the husband. His spiritual walk, emotions, health, his role as a father, leader and decision maker, his security in work and finance, protection, family and his faith and future should be inclusive in your prayer for him. The better gift to give to your future husband is prayer. As a Godly wife, pray for him and prepare for oneness in your family. Importantly, our prayers should be focused on having a discerning spirit to recognize our PRINCE when he comes. Unfortunately, most of us encounter few men before meeting our prince. It is crucial to understand and separate the things of God from the things of the world or to distinguish between good and evil. It has nothing to do with what he looks like, but rather looking to his heart and his spirit. As Christian single ladies, we must realize that everyone that demands your attention does not deserve our attention. Just because a man requests your phone number does not mean he deserve to have it. God’s desire to reveal will always be greater than your desire to know. Seek his guidance in your decision making.

 

STEP 2: PREPARATION

Your family is your training ground for marriage. You can’t treat your family poorly and then assume once we say "I do" we will all of a sudden know how to treat our spouse. Family is the practice field for every lady; we take into our future marriage what we learn in our life with them here and now. If I learn to be snub or disown those closer to me, I am setting patterns for broken trust and emotional heartache in the future. If we train ourselves now to be verbally abusive to our family members, friends and colleagues, we condition ourselves to bite rather than bless in the future. We are only as holy as we are at home. Family is our training ground, learn how to treat people whiles you are preparing for your future marriage.

STEP 3: PRACTICE

Yes it is true, during this time of singleness we have freedoms that married women don’t always enjoy. However, that is not to say we should be footloose and fancy free.  We can and should be practicing submission. Submission is all about yielding in love.

God has designated that the man is the head and as such the woman is to be submitted unto him. Now you can choose to look at this negative, but I view it as a positive because submission is all about submitting to God’s design for marriage. There is more pressure on men, since they are held responsible that is why you should be praying for him. Remember the story of Adam and Eve, even though Eve was the one that actually took a bite of the fruit, God called out to Adam for an account and response. Christ is the ultimate example of submission, seek his guidance and ask permission before committing to any activity and you discover the joy of God’s plan in your marriage. 

STEP 4: PRAISE

Why do we always wait until we see the blessing to praise God? If you believe in your heart that God has promised you a husband, then thank him for the one he is preparing just for you. Praise God in your waiting and thank Him for the lessons he is teaching you and how he is maturing you. He was a great guy, yes we all know guys are great, but was he the prepared one for you? Thank God that he left you with emotional heartache and disappointment. God is making you understand his plans and love for you. Marriage is a blessing and we ought to rejoice when we see the blessings of the Lord. Praise God for how he is growing and maturing you.

STEP 5: PERCEIVE

It’s quite easy to be focused on the glorious day when you will marry the one that Christ has for you, but don’t lose sight of the here and now. The fact that God is preparing you for marriage doesn’t mean we are to do nothing in the meantime. An idle man is the devil’s workshop so perceive in doing what God wants and not to remain idle. There is work to be done, so you can rest assured that your role is not just sitting around waiting to be married. Perceive who God is to you, get to know him better and serve him whole heartedly during your season of singleness.

STEP 6: PROFESSION

Many women believe that is the duty and the responsibility of the man to cater for the family. It is not always true. As a lady you need to get yourself a career or a vocation. Something worth that will help you support the man to run the family. Stay focus and work to help plan for the future.

STEP 7: PAUSE

Wait on God, knowing that he is just working things out for you. Most times we finagle our way to get the thing rather than waiting for God.  I implore you, don’t do that with marriage, and wait on God.  Who knows better how to prepare you for marriage than the One who designed marriage?  In this fast paced world, take time to pause and make sure you’re making choices that are pleasing and honoring to God in every area of your life. 

So there you have it, the 7Ps of  marriage preparation.  let us all be encouraged and motivated by  these steps to help prepare for our marriage in our singleness. 

Be blessed, my sister, someday your Prince will come.