Firstly the the word INTENSIVE suggests a rather focused time frame to beginning a different way of living in marriage - DAYS. For the majority of marriages, it could be said that issues have the potential to arise in a matter of seconds - much less a matter of days. Husbands say yes when theirs wives expected them to say no. Wives inadvertently communicate a wrong message to their husbands by cooking fish instead of chicken. Each of these instances happen within a matter of minutes. The concept of taking a step back and looking at marriage for an extended 5-day period opens the door for endless possibilities. What would happen if couples spent a week focusing on nothing but their relationship with one another? How would lives be changed if a husband and a wife sat across one from the other and confided their deepest hurts, fears, and pains to one another? All couples need to do is step back, invest the time, and spend a few days allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal to them the power of a new marriage.

The second implication "intensives" makes is that the word implies an aspect of marriage more fast paced than in the past and a result, new. Newness is a promise offered in and through Christ. Christians are to live in the newness of Christ as Paul writes:

"put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."  Ephesians 4:22-24

Believers are given the opportunity and the privilege to live a life in the righteousness of Christ. Why should marriages be any different? As a covenant relationship, Christ promises those who are married the same newness in Him. Thus when the idea of an intensive suggests that there is a "new" marriage awaiting, this is the marriage it refers to - a marriage covered in the anointing of the Holy Spirit full of the new promises in Jesus.

Let an intensive be a starting point for your marriage. Days is not a huge time commitment considering the restorative power Christ promises to those who seek a new marriage. Pick up the phone. Write the e-mail. Talk about it with your spouse. And begin to pursue the marriage Christ intends you and your spouse to live.