How do I know if I'm God wants me to marry or be single like the Apostle Paul.
Everytime I try to get in a relationship with a woman it doesn't work out. Does God want me married? Is it better to remain single like the Apostle Paul?
I think they are distracting me from the Lord.
Wait, I say, wait on the Lord!! (Ps 27:14)
"I think they are distracting me from the Lord." Anything and anyone can be distracting when your eyes are not on the Lord. It's not the women.
...I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. (Phil 4:11)
Quan, spend "TIME" with Jesus first BEFORE you get into another relationship, please. You can't submit or even listen to a wife if you have not learned to listen to Christ and follow Him. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph 5:21)
Sometimes your wife will be right and you will have to submit to the Christ "in" her but if you haven't already learned to submit to Him now, it's going to be a hard row to hoe when you are married.
1 Cor 7:9-10 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
Two is better than one, Quan, but choose to delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it. (Ps 37:4-5).
God bless you brother,
Lisa
Hi dear brother. Paul said "For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." So I reckon, from his argument in that section, that if you for example have no bodily need (or are not burning to be precise), then you should certainly benefit greatly (on that day) by opting to go without a wife. There are certainly many other temporal benefits or goodness that come with having a wife. Such as "those cute and enjoyable little ones". But so were many oral and nutritional benefits that could be drawn from the many rams, lambs, flour, etc. that were burnt into ashes on the many altars of the old testament. But the understanding was that sacrificing was either mandated (or encouraged) and ultimately honor worthy.
Prior to getting married, I pondered the same section with an opened heart. But in the end I had to admit that the ability to go without a wife was not given to me. Lately the family has been attached from a great many angles. From anxiety disorder (myself - slowly recovering), to govt official threats for homeschooling unregistered (they are not processing our forms), to our third born being diagnosed with (Autism - a developmental disorder), to poor performing business. All of which seem to have helped to weaken wife's ability to cope with a PTSD from child-hood. Leaving her essentially defeated. Which as you then can imagine has been a sure thorn for me on a daily basis. Well, we are aware that a good therapist could make a lasting difference but this is not currently afforded. As my current business venture is dragging its feet badly. On the contrary, this would not be a thorn for someone with that Paul-kind of a gift.
But with all that said, I would like to know exactly how the considered ladies distracted you from the Lord. This is because it seemed to me that the actual distraction happens after the tying of the knot. I would not want to think you have had to divorce all the considered ladies as this is not permissible unless they just all end up in adultery.
I'm to focus on woman. I think I need to set myself apart for God.
You may ever so do as this is indeed commendable in the Bible. If you storngly feel you can get by single, then certainly go for it. The good thing about it is that you can always reconsider in the future (should need ever be) for as long as you make no vow about it. Otherwise is can be normal to be overwhelmed when you have just newly met a 'someone'. And this normally eases off as the marriage ages. But never enough to prove Paul wrong in his commending of singleness, of cause.
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