First One to the Cross: Wives' Guide to a Winning Marriage

By Gwen Steinle

First One to the Cross uses God’s Word to communicate practical tips for ensuring strong marriages and real hope for women enduring strained marriages.
The book discusses eight aspects of a godly marriage relationship. 1. Unconditional Love (Who Luvs Ya Baby?), 2. Reverence (Let Go& Let God), 3. Humility (Who Me?), 4. Affirmation (What’s Real Good?), 5. Expectations (En Guarde! In Your Thought Life), 6. Spiritual Warfare (Satan’s Up to Something), 7. Virtue vs. Vice (Fruity or Foul?), 8. Romance (Takin’ Care of Business vs. Marital Bliss)
“Real life” case studies demonstrate how the principles discussed in the chapter were able to improve marriage relationships.
Excellent resource for individual or group study. First One to the Cross includes Bible study questions at the end of each chapter to assist the reader in applying the chapter concepts to her own life. If you don’t feel like a “winner” in your marriage relationship, this book is for you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gwen Steinle
• Release date: Sep 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301374809

Book preview

First One to the Cross

Wives' Guide to a Winning Marriage

by Gwen Steinle

Copyright 2012 by Gwen Steinle

Smashwords Edition

ISBN: 978-1-301-37480-9

First One to the Cross

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One: Unconditional Love (Who Luvs Ya Baby?)

Chapter Two: Reverence (Let Go & Let God)

Chapter Three: Humility (Who Me?)

Chapter Four: Affirmation (What’s Real Good?)

Chapter Five: Expectations (En Guarde! In Your Thought Life)

Chapter Six: Spiritual Warfare (Satan’s Up to Something)

Chapter Seven: Virtue vs. Vice (Fruity or Foul?)

Chapter Eight: Romance (Takin’ Care of Business vs. Marital Bliss)

Conclusion

About the Author

Introduction

When I told a friend and wonderful Christian counselor that I was getting married, he said, Remember, the first one to the cross wins. The more I pondered this wise advice, the more I realized the truth it contained. Surrendering our lives to Jesus, laying down our cares and concerns at the foot of the cross, and humbling ourselves to show self-sacrificing love toward others, are just a few of the winning concepts we learn from the cross.

The people surrounding Jesus as He carried the cross up Calvary’s hill could only see sorrow, but His death was actually the crowning victory over sin. If the future of your marriage relationship looks bleak, God’s instruction will give you victory. If your marriage could simply use a little sweetening, God’s instruction will give you victory. God’s Word to us contains practical tips for ensuring strong marriages, and real hope for women enduring strained marriages. If you don’t feel like a winner in your marriage relationship, this book is for you!

God’s desire is that you have a fabulous, joy-filled marriage! Our marriages are an earthly picture of our spiritual relationship with Jesus and can be an inspiration to others. Everyone wants to be a winner, and a marriage relationship founded on Jesus and God’s Word will be victorious.

How exactly is victory achieved on a day-by-day basis? God doesn’t expect us to figure it out on our own! He gives us instruction in His Word, the Holy Bible. It is my prayer that you will be edified and encouraged by our Lord Jesus as we look at just a few of those marriage instructions. You will find that the principles found in this book will not only be a blessing to you and your husband, but will also enrich many other relationships in your life.

My husband and I mentored struggling married partners for many years. It greatly saddened me to see the number of women who were not truly enjoying their marriages due to a simple lack of information! I was thrilled to have the opportunity to share this information in a women’s Bible study course at church. It was exciting to see the positive results this information had in the lives of the women in the Bible study, and in the lives of many women since that time.

This book is divided into eight chapters with self-study questions at the end of each chapter. The questions are designed to help you apply the concepts in the chapter to your own life. I recommend writing your answers in a journal or notebook. Pray before answering the self-study questions. Ask the Lord to give you insights that will sweeten your spiritual relationship with Him, and with your husband. Possible answers, and discussion of the questions, follow most of the self-study questions.

Women are extremely busy in today’s society due to their many responsibilities, but my hope is that you will relax for a few moments in each chapter and just let the Lord love on you through the power of the Holy Spirit and His precious Word.

Note: Real life case studies are included in some areas, but the names have been changed to protect the privacy of the couples. The Scripture references in this book are from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible unless otherwise noted. Certain words have been underlined in scripture verses for emphasis. These underlines do not appear in the original text.

Chapter One: Unconditional Love (Who Luvs Ya Baby?)

This chapter may seem basic to women who have known God for a while, but it is the foundation of all that will be presented in this book. It is impossible for us to truly love others until we understand that we are truly loved by God. God gives us examples of His love throughout the Bible. The Bible has been called God’s love letter to us. The greatest expression of God’s love for us was shown in sending Jesus, His only Son, to the earth as a human. Jesus took the punishment for our sin to restore our relationship with God.

God loves us and wants us to be with Him forever. The problem is, until we accept Jesus’ free gift of salvation, we are all separated from God because we have all done wrong. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 God is holy and we are unholy. The only way this separation could be remedied was through God’s perfect, holy Son, Jesus. He willingly chose to die to take the punishment for the wrong we have done. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

To show that God accepted this perfect sacrifice of His Son, He brought Jesus back to life after three days. After the resurrection, Jesus spent a little more time on the earth and then returned to heaven. Jesus is called the bridegroom, and those who love Him are called the bride. Jesus said, Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3 Jesus went to heaven to prepare a place for all of us who have chosen to turn our lives over to Him as our Lord and Savior.

Why did God love us so much that He was willing to send His only Son to suffer and die for us when we did not deserve it? This is a miracle we may never understand. I couldn’t imagine asking my son to endure unbelievable physical abuse, leading to death, for the sake of someone else. Especially a convicted, condemned wrongdoer who definitely did not deserve to have his punishment removed.

But the Bible is clear that anyone who believes these things about God and His Son, and chooses to ask God’s forgiveness for their wrongdoing, will receive forgiveness. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:16-18. If we desire a restored relationship with God, then we need to give control of our lives to Jesus as our Lord. Our life in Christ includes the promise of eternity in heaven, and, His Holy Spirit within us on this earth.

I John 4:19 tells us that We love Him because He first loved us. God has always loved us in times past, loves us now, and will always love us. The Lord has