Welcome back to Pomoja Podcast, a ministry of
Life of Christ International Ministries. Pomoja
means together, and that's exactly what this
space is about. The place where stronger lives
are built, faith is strengthened, hearts are
encouraged, and Christ -centered homes are shaped
through ordinary conversations that become extraordinary
encounters with God's truth. One conversation,
one story. one revelation at a time. Thank you
for joining me for another powerful conversation.
In our last conversation, we discovered something
that many couples spend years trying to understand.
Every marriage will eventually feel the heat.
Not because the marriage is failing, but because
two imperfect people are learning to become one.
I shared with you one of the most painful moments
of my own marriage. The day I threw my wedding
ring across the room, the day I believed everything
was falling apart. But looking back, I discovered
something beautiful. The fire had never been
trying to destroy us. God was using it to transform
us. That raises an important question. If God
allows the fire Why? Why doesn't he simply remove
every misunderstanding? Why doesn't he prevent
every disappointment? Why doesn't he eliminate
every conflict from every Christian marriage?
Because if marriage is his idea, why allow the
heat? The answer is found throughout the entire
Bible. When I began reading scripture through
the eyes of my father's parable, I noticed something
remarkable. Every marriage, God ever used, became
warm. Not one escaped the fire. Not Adam and
Eve, not Abraham and Sarah, not Isaac and Rebecca,
not Jacob and Rachel, not Elkanah and Hannah,
not Hosea and Gomer, not Joseph and Mary. Different
fires, different seasons, different stories,
but the same faithful God. Today, I want us to
walk through those homes together, because every
one of them has something to teach us. Not about
avoiding the fire, but about what God produces
through it. Before we continue, I want you to
notice something remarkable. From Genesis to
the Gospels, God never hides the struggles of
marriage. He could have. He could have only shown
us the beautiful moments, the weddings. the celebrations,
the victories, but he didn't. Instead, he allowed
us to see the fire. Why? Because God wanted every
generation to understand that the presence of
fire is not the absence of his blessing. In fact,
many times the fire becomes the evidence that
God is shaping something eternal. Let's walk
together through some of the greatest marriages
in the Bible. You'll discover something surprising.
Every one of them became warm. Let's talk about
the fire of failure of Adam and Eve. The very
first marriage didn't begin with conflict. It
began with perfection. No arguments. No misunderstandings.
No shame. No fear. No death. No tears. Only God.
Only love. The serpent entered the garden. Temptation
entered the heart. Sin entered the home. For
the very first time, Adam and Eve hid from God.
For the very first time, they hid from one another.
For the very first time, blame entered a marriage.
Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. The
harmony of Eden was shattered. If anyone had
a reason to believe their marriage was over,
It was them. But notice something beautiful.
God never separated them. He clothed them. Together.
He sent them out of the garden. Together. The
first journey into a broken world. They walked
side by side. Then came another fire. Their son
Abel was murdered. Not by a stranger, by his
own brother. Can you imagine? The silence in
that home. Can you imagine? The grief. The questions.
The tears. Death entered. The first family. Yet
Adam and Eve remained together. The fire entered
the house. Failure entered the house. Grief entered
the house. But the covenant remained. The first
marriage teaches us that even after humanity's
greatest failure, God's answer was not to destroy
the family. It was to redeem it. The fire did
not have the final word, God did. Let's explore
now the fire of waiting of Abraham and Sarah.
Some marriages don't burn because of conflict,
they burn because of waiting. Imagine receiving
a promise directly from God. You will become
the father of many nations, then nothing. One
year passes, five years, 10 years. 20 years,
every birthday, another reminder, every passing
season, another disappointment, every empty cradle,
another silent prayer. Waiting has a way of testing
a marriage. Not because love disappears, but
because hope grows tired. Abraham and Sarah made
mistakes. They tried to help God. Hagar entered
their story. Ishmael was born. Pain followed.
Consequences followed. Yet through every mistake,
they continued walking together, building altars
together, following God's voice together, waiting
together. Then one day, the impossible happened.
The laughter returned. Not the laughter of doubt,
but the laughter of fulfillment. Isaac was born.
Their marriage reminds us that God's delays are
not God's denials. Sometimes, the fire of waiting
is preparing both husband and wife to receive
the promise together. Let's talk about the fire
of division of Isaac and Rebecca. Isaac loved
Esau. Rebecca loved Jacob. One family, two favorites.
The home slowly divided. The enemy understands
something. If he can divide the vision of a father
and mother, he begins weakening the family. Different
loyalties, different plans, different expectations.
Their home became complicated, yet God continued
writing His story. His covenant did not fail.
His promises did not disappear. Isaac and Rebekah
remind us that even when husbands and wives make
painful mistakes, God is still able to accomplish
His purposes. His grace is greater than our failures.
Let's explore the fire of disappointment of Jacob
and Rachel. Jacob believed he was marrying Rachel.
Instead, he woke up beside Leah. One night changed
everything. Seven more years of waiting. Then
another fire. Rachel couldn't have children.
Leah could. Comparison entered the home. Competition
entered the family. Heartbreak filled the house.
Nothing unfolded. The way Jacob imagined, yet
through that complicated family, God built the
12 tribes of Israel. Sometimes, God's greatest
work happens inside the life we never planned,
because his purpose is often greater than our
expectations. As we continue through scripture,
the pattern becomes even clearer. The fire changes,
the circumstances change. The seasons change,
but one thing never changes. God continues to
trust his greatest purposes to marriages, not
perfect marriages, faithful marriages. Let's
explore the fire of silent pain of El Khanna
and Hannah. Some fires make a lot of noise. Others
are completely silent. Hannah's fire wasn't conflict.
It wasn't betrayal. It wasn't division. It was
an empty womb. Year after year, she watched others
celebrate while carrying a sorrow few people
could understand. She prayed, she wept, she waited.
Even Panina used her pain to provoke her. Can
you imagine what that did to a marriage? Yet
El Khanna never abandoned Hannah. He couldn't
remove her pain, but he remained beside her sometimes.
Love cannot fix the problem. Sometimes, love
simply stays. Year after year, they carried the
burden together. Then one day, God answered.
Samuel was born, the very child who would become
one of Israel's greatest prophets. Imagine that.
The fire that almost broke Hannah's heart became
the birthplace of a prophet. Sometimes. God is
preparing something greater than we can imagine
while we're asking him to remove the fire. Let's
talk about the fire of redemption of Hosea and
Gomer. Perhaps no marriage experienced greater
heartbreak than Hosea and Gomer. God asked Hosea
to marry a woman who would repeatedly be unfaithful.
It sounds almost unbelievable. Why would God
ask such a thing? Because their marriage would
become a living picture of his own covenant with
his people again and again. Gomer walked away
again and again. Hosea pursued her, not because
betrayal is acceptable, but because redemption
is at the very heart of God. God wasn't celebrating
brokenness. He was revealing the relentless power.
of covenant love. Their marriage reminds us that
God's love always seeks restoration whenever
repentance is genuine. His grace is greater than
failure. Let's explore the fire of fire of trust
of Joseph and Mary. Then we arrive at perhaps
the most extraordinary marriage in all of scripture.
Joseph and Mary, have you ever stopped? to ask
yourself a simple question. Why was God so intentional
about Jesus entering the world through a family?
He could have chosen any method. He could have
sent his son fully grown. He could have entrusted
him to one parent. He could have rewritten history
in countless ways, but he didn't. God chose a
husband and a wife, a father and a mother. Joseph
was not. Jesus' biological father. But he became
his earthly father. The man who would protect
him, provide for him, teach him, raise him, walk
beside him. God wasn't improvising. He was teaching
us. Before Jesus preached about the kingdom,
he grew up inside a family. Before he called
disciples, he learned obedience inside a home.
Before he redeemed humanity, he lived. Under
the care of a father and a mother, from the very
beginning, God reaffirmed what he established
in Genesis. Marriage, family, the covenant between
one man and one woman. Not because marriage saves
us, Christ alone saves, but because marriage
becomes one of God's greatest classrooms for
love, faithfulness, sacrifice, service, and covenant.
Yet even this family entered the fire. Joseph
discovered Mary was pregnant. No explanation,
no angel. At first, only heartbreak, confusion,
silence, questions. Imagine Mary trying to explain
what no human mind could understand. I have never
known a man, yet I am carrying the Son of God.
Who would believe her? Then after Jesus was born,
Another fire leave everything flee to Egypt become
refugees Protect the child the family chosen
to raise the Messiah wasn't spared hardship Why
because God never promised that holy families
and would avoid the fire he promised to walk
with them through it as I look back I Understand
my father's story better than ever before he
never described the furniture. He never described
the walls. He never described the decorations.
He simply said the house was warm because warmth
is not the absence of fire. Warmth is the testimony
of a fire that was surrendered to God. Every
marriage God has ever used became warm. Adam
and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca,
Jacob and Rachel. Elkanah and Hannah, Hosea and
Gomer, Joseph and Mary. Different stories, different
seasons, different fires, but one faithful God.
Perhaps your house feels warm today. Perhaps
you're walking through a season you never expected.
Don't lose hope. You may be standing in the very
place where God is preparing the greatest chapter
of your marriage. Because the fire does not always
mean God is against you. Sometimes it means He
is working within you. Thank you for walking
with me today through another conversation inside
the house in the middle of the forest. May God
bless your home. May He strengthen your covenant.
And may He remind you that even in the fire,
He never leaves the house. I'll see you in our
next conversation.