Page 90 - Family Life Student Textbook

Your marriage partner will struggle to trust you to be loyal to your marriage if you cannot keep yourself
sexually pure before marriage. How will you build the trust that is needed inside marriage?

4) Acting married before you are married:

The time before marriage is not marriage. God does not want us to act like we're married before we are.
Acting married before we are married decreases the excitement of getting married and increases the
temptation to become involved sexually.

5) A wrong view of how to determine God’s Will:

Too many young people have a wrong view of how do you determine God's will. They conclude that their
feelings show them God's will. But feelings very. Feelings are often unrealistic.

Some people try to test God by setting a condition, which if met, they conclude to know God's will based on
that.

Some people point to likenesses they share with the other person as evidence they should be together.
Others are influenced by random circumstances or situatons which they conclude indicate they should be
together.

Is important to have a correct view of how to determine God's will. First, we must obey God’s commands,
which will limit the range of possible future mates.

Then, we must make sure that we are living in close fellowship with God and are seeking to obey him in all
areas of our life. Satan is very good at getting us to live out of fellowship with God in some area so that we
are not controlled by the Holy Spirit. If we are living out of fellowship with God Satan can negatively
influence our very important decisions which will impact the rest of our life.

A thorough knowledge of God’s Word is important so that we can follow His principles for making wise
decisions.

We need to pray fervently, asking God to show us His will in this important choice. And we need to be
committed to following His will instead of our own, no matter how we might feel.

We need to move carefully, paitiently, and wisely in a relational direction, constantly asking God to give us
the necessary peace about taking any further steps towards marriage. Ask God to stop you from having
peace if your current direction is not His will.

Ask for and listen to good, Godly advice from people who know you well and love you, and from people who
know the other person well.

Set out to observe the other person in many different situations, including how they react to and perform
under pressure. Do some ministry together.

Relate to other people together as a couple. Do not stay isolated and spend most of your time with only the
two of you together. Go on some group dates and ask your friends to observe the other person and how the
two of you relate together. Ask them to honestly share their obervations and do not dismiss their insights
too quickly and easily.

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