First Step to Spiritual Intimacy 
by Dr. Gary Chapman

How do you develop spiritual intimacy in a marriage?

One wife said to me, "I just wish that my husband and I could share more about spiritual things.  He seems willing to talk about everything else, but when I mention church, God, or the Bible he clams up and walks away.  I don't know what to do, but it's very frustrating."  What advice would you give this wife?

Here's what I said: "Don't ever stop talking about spiritual things.  Your relationship with God is the most important part of your life.  If you don't share this part of your life, you husband will never know who you are.  However, don't expect him to reciprocate, and don't preach him a sermon until he asks for one.  Simply share what God is doing in your life.   

Share a Scripture that helped you make a decision, or encouraged you when you were feeling down.  When you share what your spiritual life is like, you could stimulate hunger.   

When your husband gets spiritually hungry, he may likely come to you for guidance.  When he does, spiritual intimacy will begin."

Article written by Dr. Gary Chapman.  Based on the book,  Now You're Speaking My Language by Dr. Gary Chapman. Published by Moody Publishing.  For a complete listing of Dr. Chapman's books and resources, click here.     

Whenever we speak of God's purposes, we must begin and end with Scripture.  It is so easy to look elsewhere for guidance.  We are quick to depend on our feelings, our habits, the opinions of others, secular culture, false religion, expediency, or self-will as a basis for our perspective, behavior, and decisions regarding marriage.  Yet Scripture, and Scripture alone, is God's means for revealing who he is, who we are, and what marriage is intended to be.

Briefly stated, Scripture teaches that marriage is a profound and marvelous relationship- a mystery, established by God for his glory.  When we speak of bringing glory to God (as we will throughout this book), we mean doing that which, to some degree, accurately reveals and represents him and appropriately honors and responds to him for who he is in his perfection and power.   

Thus, marriage brings glory to God by displaying as fully as possible how he relates to his people through Jesus Christ.