I happened upon this excerpt from Messy Beautiful Love today. It’s a reminder that unity is strengthened when we’re sealed by the Spirit.
God’s desire for us is that we might be one in the bond of unity, in the same way that we are one in the union and fellowship of Christ.
Consider this verse, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” – Genesis 2:24, (KJV)
Have you ever noticed that little word, “cleave” tucked into this verse? And have you ever stopped to consider the significance of that word? It means to keep, and to stick with, and to hold close to, but there’s also a deeper meaning that we should consider.
A cleft is a split, a crack, or a division. Therefore we can look at cleaving this way: to divide along the natural grain forming a cleft that is necessary when grafting two plants together.
In order for those plants to survive this new union they must be completely sealed.
When I consider this grafting of two plants, I can’t help but be reminded of the fact that God created Eve from Adam. When two are joined together in marriage, they return to their original state of union. A husband opens himself to envelope his bride and the two grow together as one.
When they are completely sealed by the Holy Spirit that union is protected and strengthened. Like a cord of three strands, it’s not easily broken.
This article is an excerpt from Messy: Beautiful Love by Darlene Schacht. Used with permission from Nelson Books © 2014.
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Tilling the Soil
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Planting Hope
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10, NIV)
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Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
Facebook: @timewarpwife
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You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife