The rate of failure of marriages is rising everyday. More marriages contracted today are likely to fail than those of say 50 years ago. Success is no respecter of persons but of principles. Success is not an accident.

There are many keys to success in marriage but I will just discuss 5. They are; (1) Powerful preparation…Discussed Last week. For this week I will discuss (2) Powerful relationship with God, (3) Positive communication, (4) Productive Partnership, and (5) Practical perspective.

(2) POWERFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD: This gives you two things: wining principle and prevailing power. Your spouse must not replace God. Adam knew God before he was given a wife. Eve married Adam before they sinned. The first thing to find out in choosing a life partner is how born again and how close to God is he or she. Marrying an unbeliever is completely out of question. You must have a sound prayer life; a sound study life and ability to hear from God. That comes by giving him time. Give God your ears. If God cannot have your ears, there is very little he can do to help you. Learn to switch off everything and observe a quite time with God daily. You need this especially when the going gets tough.

(3) PRODUCTIVE PARTNERSHIP: All partnership are not productive. You cannot have a productive partnership;

i. without a common purpose

ii. without common values:-
You must define family values and strive to live by them: values like honesty, personal growth, worship etc.
with someone exactly like you:-the most effective partnership is the one in which both partners brings something to the table that the other person does not have. That way the can compli
ment each other. That way there is mutual respect. My wife has a thoroughness, intuition and drive that prevent me from making costly mistakes in my quest for results. I listen to her. The essential ingredient of productive partnership are commitment, honesty, faithfulness, hardwork etc.

iii. with someone who is selfish:-
I was watching a football match one day in which a striker was face to face with a goal keeper. He took a shot and the goalkeeper saved it. But they could have scored if he had just pass the ball to his team mate on his right who was at a better advantage to put the ball into the net. They lost that chance because he was selfish. To win you must learn to pass the ball. It does not matter who scores the goal as long as the team wins. The role is not as important as the goal. To have a winning team, you must be prepared to put your partner before yourself.