Prologue

We resemble our Lord Jesus with wounds for the sake of love.

This book is written for those who want to know more about what defines a marriage, as it is illustrated in the Bible and in ordinary life. It also aims to help those who provide marriage counseling at churches, and particularly for those who have lost hope in their marriage or parental relationships.

I hope this book could restore their confidence in relationships and look forward to helping readers to find their true selves through an insight into the impacts of materialization upon their lives, to reclaim freedom, joy and intimacy in the relationships and live out God’s heart and will for them.

This book begins with a thorough look at the fundamental definition of “marriage,” and ends with key practical exercises. There are already good readings available out here that provide effective communicative skills for members of a family, which I will not be repeating.

I will start by exploring personalized feelings, such as: “Why does he/she not love me anymore?”, “Why does it seem that I cannot love him/her as much as before?” Once we know the answers to these questions, we will find our paths back to our love. This love and passion will not only be as sweet and hopeful as the beginning, moreover, it will add elements of maturity and understanding. We can see our own images and feelings reflected through the beloved ones’ eyes, and refrain from inflicting more pain in our spouse at where it hurts, again. We can understand why we chose them in the first place, and we will thus find ourselves becoming more willing to come to God and live out God’s calling for our family.

Isaac and Rebekah completed the calling of their family despite all the disagreements and family hubbub, from their blood lineage came Israel and the Messiah; prophet Hosea completed the calling of his family by manifesting the intimate relationship between the Lord God and Israel through the testimony of the trials in his marriage; Aquila and Priscilla worked and served in the ministry to complete their calling.

Our Lord God has a unique blueprint and will for each individual family; we need to get to know ourselves, our spouse and family through God’s perspective, instead of harboring unrealistic expectations and the one-size-fits-all criterion unfit for each household. This book aims to help you, the reader, recognize the one-and-only calling for your family!

Table of contents

PART Ⅰ The Lord’s Calling and Molding of Individuals and Families

Unit 1. The Lord’s Original Plan

Ch.1 God’s Molding: To Equip Us to Taking on God’s Calling

Ch.2 The Glory of the “Nail Mark”: Make Us More Like Jesus

Ch.3 “Divine Weakness”: Inspiring Us to Learn from Jesus and Saints

Ch.4 Being Created in “the Image of Son of God”, We Could Live Out Jesus’s Image in Our Way of Life

Ch.5 Live Out “My Archetype-Original Self”: Your Heavenly Calling in Jesus Christ

Ch.6 The Archetype of Spirit, Soul and Body: To Imitate Jesus Becoming Strong in Spirit

Ch.7 Let God be God: Be Hidden with Christ in God

Unit 2. The Blueprint for the Family

Ch.8 Families That the Lord God Paired: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah

Ch.9 The Role of the Family and Its Growth

Ch.10 Crumbling Families: A House Divided Against Itself

Ch.11 The Lord’s Home: The Church

Unit 3. The Blueprint for Marriage

Ch.12 Bible Verses about “Marriage” and “Spouse”

Ch.13 Differences and Similarities between Men and Women

Ch.14 The Meaning of “Being United to”: To “Cling to” and “Impinge”

Ch.15 The Image of Marriage: To Help Each Other to be More Alike Jesus

Ch.16 The Likeness of Marriage: Living in Love, Day-to-Day

Ch.17 Singleness of the Disciples

Unit 4. The Blueprint for Parental Relationship

Ch.18 The Image of Parents: Our Heavenly Father is the Paragon

Ch.19 The Image of Children: Lord Jesus as Paragon

Ch.20 Discovering Our Children’s Calling: A Unique Discipleship

Ch.21 Training and Rearing: Building the Children’s Spirituality

Ch.22 Passing on the Legacy: Mentoring the Next Generations to Obey the Lord

Ch.23 Turning the Hearts of Parents and Children to Each Other: Embracing the Leaping Joy of Archetypal Calling

PART Ⅱ Thriving in the Lord’s Unique Calling and Molding Process for Family

Unit 1. The Healing of Post-Archetype in Lord Jesus

Ch.24 Allowing Christ’s Blood to Free Us from the Bondage of the “Ancestral Pattern”

Ch.25 Replacing the “Pattern of Old Self” with New Course of Action

Ch.26 Replace the Standards from “the Fruit of Good and Evil” with the Expectations of Jesus Christ

Ch.27 Deny Ourselves and Turn Our Hearts Back to Remove “the Plank in Our Eye”

Ch.28 “Scapegoating” Identifies with “the Lamb of Salvation that is Christ Jesus”

Ch.29 Spiritual Warfare in the Family: Estranging Us from Our Calling

Unit 2. To Find One’s Archetype in Christ

Ch.30 Archetypal Joy, Archetypal Love, Archetypal Grace, the Image and Likeness of God

Unit 3. To Have the Archetype of Garden of Eden in Christ Jesus

Ch.31 Five Blessings, Two Needs, Two Nurturing Atmospheres, and the Lord’s Perspective

Ch.32 Independence from Parents: Letting God the Father be Our Father, and Christ Jesus be Our Lord

Unit 4. The Holy Spirit Guides Our Growth

Ch.33 Archetypal Glory, Archetypal Action

Ch.34 Marriage Devotional: Staying Accountable to the Lord Only

Conclusion: Through Our Family All People on Earth Will be Bless