1 True Talks
1 True Talks
Kingdom Dating with Pastor Charles Maris
What if waiting wasn’t wasted but the very way God builds you for a love that lasts? Pastor Charles Maris joins us to share how a heartbreaking divorce led to surrender, healing, and a whole new way of dating rooted in prayer, clarity, and kingdom purpose. He walks through the “movie clips” God used to correct his patterns, the fasting and prayer that rebuilt his heart, and the moment contentment made space for a Spirit-led match that turned four months of friendship into a confident yes.
We dig into what Christlike leadership actually looks like in a home: faithfulness you can measure, honesty that doesn’t flinch, and consistency that holds when emotions swing. Pastor Charles unpacks Biblical courtship, two people asking God separately and together if the relationship is ordained and explains how to end a mismatch without cruelty or delay. We get candid about blended families, co-parenting realities, and holiday decision traps that can fracture unity, plus practical steps to protect peace and keep the marriage centered on prayer, purpose, and presence.
If you’re single and tired, you’ll hear why singleness is a gift, not a gap. If you’re dating, you’ll learn how to set non-negotiables, spot spiritual alignment, and avoid idolizing romance. And if you’re married, you’ll find language and tools to reconnect around kingdom vision. We also highlight Pastor Charles’s resources: The Intune Husband, the Kingdom Singledom Workbook, and The True Behavior of a Kingdom Man, guides that help men tune into God and women pray with precision for the partner they desire.
Ready to build love on a stronger foundation? Listen now, share this with a friend who needs hope, and subscribe for more conversations that help you become whole, choose wisely, and grow closer to Christ.
Hello, loves. Welcome back. I am so excited to be bringing to you a very special guest to us that is going to inspire, empower, and uplift, I feel like, and hopefully teach our men how to be real men in this world. I am sitting here with author and pastoral dating mentor who runs a kingdom-focused marriage ministry. Welcome, Pastor Charles Maris. We are so excited for you to be here with us today.
Pastor Charles Maris:I am absolutely ecstatic to be here with you today. So I'm grateful that you have me on because we do need to expand God's reign and reach in the earth through ministering. Because you know, a lot of men think that they already know what to do. They already got it, because you know, men don't like to ask for directions when they're lost.
Renee Richel:And I always say you guys are really simple. Sometimes it's us that confuse things too. So I am I am blessed that you have come to us through a dear friend that highly recommended and said you have need to talk to you and to have you on our show today to talk to all of our followers as well. As you've got over 20,000 followers on social media yourself. So congratulations. You have a huge following that is already inspired by you. So we can't wait for you to also do the same with our audience and combine our audiences together as you work with them.
Pastor Charles Maris:That sounds good. Sounds good.
Renee Richel:So you have a wealth of experience. So let's dive in. I'm just gonna start off by asking you questions, obviously, so that we know a little bit more about you. And I can't wait to hear just your guidance that you give. When did you invite Christ to be the king of your life?
Pastor Charles Maris:Well, I'll probably have to say uh when I really did it, like uh like I mentioned before, I was uh I was a little boy that was on the front row every time the church doors were open. Uh I may not understood what the man was saying or what was really going on, but I was there. Um again, I was the 14, 15-year-old uh teenager in the mirror, holding revival, holding deliverance service, healing service. So I always knew that that was something that I wanted to do. But what really brought me closer to Christ was um when I was probably 30, 33, and I had experienced the divorce. And that's what really made me fall to my knees and really surrender completely.
Renee Richel:It was such a hard time when you wake up and realize that it maybe it wasn't the Lord's direction, and so I know how difficult that can be. Um, but I also know that obviously God had a plan and has led you to the right one now, right?
Pastor Charles Maris:Definitely. And see, I was the rebellious son when God told me no to this woman. I said, I asked him to just be a part of it anyway, because this is what I wanted. And he kept me through it, but it taught me some very valuable lessons, and I want to make sure that I am committed enough to make sure that other men don't go through the same things that I went through. When God tells you no, it's nope, it's no.
Renee Richel:There's no negotiating with God there as much as we think we can, right? There's not.
Pastor Charles Maris:Absolutely.
Renee Richel:And so, how many years have you been married now?
Pastor Charles Maris:Uh, we are June 13th will be 12 years.
Renee Richel:Okay, congratulations. I love it. We're definitely gonna get your wife on when we talk to our married couples for sure. So tell her she's joining us now in the next one.
Pastor Charles Maris:I definitely will.
Renee Richel:So, have you always lived with an um eternity focus inside of your relationship?
Pastor Charles Maris:No, I haven't. No, I haven't. Matter of fact, um my current marriage is actually the first marriage where I am actually Christ and kingdom, have been Christ and Kingdom focused. So this is actually my first relationship. And it's actually one of the reasons because I was the man that I I didn't really, I became the hurt that hurt me after the divorce. And so I I went on this rampage of just indulging my flesh. And uh he kept me through it all, but he taught me some valuable lessons. And so part of the reason why I wrote the book, The Intune Husband, is because when I met my wife, she had uh uh some wounds uh that I didn't create and I didn't know how to uh handle them. She was really emotional, and so I wrote the book, The Intune Husband, and because I was in search of God, how do I make this woman happy? And how do I help heal her when I'm just getting started learning to care about a woman's emotional state? So that was tough for me. So he took me on his training period, and it it has been an amazing journey, and then even to this day, 12 years later, I'm still partnering with the Holy Spirit to love my wife like Christ.
Renee Richel:So, how would you say that God healed you post-divorce?
Pastor Charles Maris:How he healed me, what he did was now I I may not have committed uh the sins that this other person did, but I did make some wrong moves, I did make some wrong decisions. What he did for me was that uh, you know how we watch commercials or movie clips, he flashed moments in that prime marriage right before my face, and he showed me what I did versus what I should have done, or what I should have said, or how I should have reacted. And so he taught me that way. He taught me through basically movie clips in my mind showing me what I did wrong, what I should have done, and and and and what I could have done to make things better. And so that's how he healed me, and I let's see, I thought about I started thinking about being more Christ-centered. I thought about being more the taking on the character of Christ more after that circumstance and that situation. If I if I needed to scream, I screamed. If I needed to to yell, I yelled. If I needed to punch punching bag or go to the gym and live, what whatever it is, the frustrations, I got out. I didn't bottle it. I didn't, I didn't say I'm okay. I admitted that I was messed up, I was broken, and and and I gave it all to him. I mean, every little bit of it that he showed me, I gave it all to him in prayer to get an exchange. And so through fasting and prayer, uh I I like to believe that I'm the the healthy man that you see before you now, spiritually healthy and emotionally healthy.
Renee Richel:Did you did you have a mentor yourself uh growing up? Or you just that's why you love what you do now because you didn't have that?
Pastor Charles Maris:I didn't have that, but I had a mother that uh she raised me to be the man that she desired to have. And so so without having a kingdom example of a kingdom marriage or a kingdom husband or a kingdom father, I had to get to know Christ in a real intimate way. I had to get to know him as my father, I had to get to know him as, and a lot of men don't like to say this, but Isaiah 54 and 5 says that your maker is your husband. I had to know him as a spouse during my single state, and a lot of men won't say that, but I had to know him in that way to be nurtured, to be mentored, to be chastised. Remember, he chastises those whom he loves. Right, and I could and I could stand during that time to be corrected because I made a big mess. Um, I remembered how Christ loved me through my rebellious state, and so that's how I'm able to love my wife. When I had him at number 25 on my list, he always kept me at number one, yeah. And he could have struck me down right where I stood, but he didn't, you know. So he had purpose for me.
Renee Richel:So God loves challenges, that's for sure, because that's when he comes in and uh makes things right, right?
Pastor Charles Maris:He does, he does, he does his best work with the least, yes, amen.
Renee Richel:I love that. So, what actions did you take to become ready for dating again after you went through all of that?
Pastor Charles Maris:Okay, now I I can tell you I was after the punching bags and everything else. After after that, I I I learned to be content with just me and God. Okay, uh, I I I learned to even in my thoughts, I learned because loneliness is a trick of the enemy to get us to settle or to get us to compromise, but I I learned in my heart and my mind and my body and my soul to be content with just him alone. And do you know that after three days of that mindset, he presented my wife to me after three days, and I was that's amazing. I was single for four years because a lot of people think that it takes all this time, but when you learn contentment in Christ, he'll bless you.
Renee Richel:We do an exercise with our clients that they have to literally physically hand write down what's in their heart's desire with the Lord, they're non-negotiables, and then be intentional every day to pray for. And sometimes when our clients feel like it's taking forever, I said, Well, are you intentionally praying like we are for the words that we wrote down that you wrote with God? And they'll often say, Oh, I forgot where that piece of paper is. I'm like, Well, this is why it's not happening, because you're not doing your part. We're doing our part, but we need to go.
Pastor Charles Maris:You definitely do, because I I I literally built my wife, who I'm with now, uh, through prayer. Uh the father told me, tell me what you want. And when and and every day I would pray a little bit. And so when she was presented to me, when I heard her name, uh, something in my belly leaked. And so I went on Facebook and I I searched her name, and I saw the most precious picture that I had ever seen in my life. And she was holding a little boy at the time, and he's now my son. He was he was two then, and now he's 14.
Renee Richel:Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. So back up. I want to hear this. So you had this prayer or this name that came to mind, and then you googled like her whole name or just her first name.
Pastor Charles Maris:Uh uh the the young man told me that he said, he said, I uh I've uh there's a new lady at our church, and I think she would be perfect for you. Okay. I was like, man, I was like, man, I I don't have time for that. I don't have time.
Renee Richel:So there was a little bit of matchmaking happening there.
Pastor Charles Maris:Exactly, exactly. And so he told me her name. So I went and searched her name, and I sent her a message introducing myself. Uh, it was through Facebook, uh, and she wrote me back this long message going off on me. And uh I loved it because finally I met a woman with standards, and so uh we continued to talk. She could I continue to message and she continued to uh she continued to to contact me back. So as long as I had interaction, I knew that this could be. And so um one day I gave her my phone number and I said, if if you ever feel like you need somebody to talk to, I'm here. Nothing else, just you want to talk. And so I was driving home from work one day, and then I got this this unknown number calling, and I stopped and listened to the voicemail, and it was her. And I almost almost swerved on the road and almost wrecked, and I had to pull off to the side to listen to the voice message. Yeah, yeah. Um it was something, it was something about her. When when people wonder if God is a matchmaker, I can testify that he truly is, but you have to be in relationship with him in order to be able to see what he sees and know what he knows. So when I physically saw her for the first time, I saw a better version of me. She had diamonds, rubies, gems all over her, and there was a better version of me.
Renee Richel:And oh, I love that.
Pastor Charles Maris:I I still remember the joy that I felt when she first called me, when she first told me she wanted to be my girlfriend. I I the day I went and picked out a ring, the presence of the Holy Spirit came over me and the the jury lady that was helping me purchase the ring. I mean, it was just if you've ever read Genesis 24 about Isaac and Rebecca, God was there from the beginning all through and even in the end. And so I know firsthand that God is a matchmaker.
Renee Richel:That's amazing. And through the power of his people, helps to introduce two incredible souls that he's designed every facet to meet when and where. That's awesome. I love hearing that. So, how long did you guys date? Or how long were you in the friend zone till you became into the dating zone to then get engaged and married?
Pastor Charles Maris:I'm gonna tell you, we we we were probably in the friend zone for four months.
Renee Richel:Okay.
Pastor Charles Maris:The first month I told her that you're my wife. She laughed, she laughed in my face. But I I didn't pressure her. I just kept showing up. Uh, whether it was texts, whether it was phone calls, whether it was um, you know, I would I would call her and text her like silly stuff like uh, how do I microwave this? How do I how do I cook that?
Renee Richel:Uh, you know, and any excuse to ask for some womanly advice, right?
Pastor Charles Maris:Yes, I I involved her in my life every moment of the day. And within four months, I told her that when we would get engaged, I told her when we would get married, and I let God reveal it to her because when she laughed in my face, she wasn't ready for marriage, she wasn't ready for a committed relationship. And I said, would you just let me know? Because I'm not here to rush, because I know what God has showed me, I know what He has told me, and so that's what I was hanging on to. And so uh she told me one night, uh, I'm ready to be your girlfriend, and I I I screamed, I screamed, and I started worshiping God right there in my apartment, and I'm still thanking them to this day.
Renee Richel:Oh, I love that. That's amazing. I love that. Okay, so that you can start giving the same pearls of wisdom that you have. What benefit do you believe the Lord has for someone in a season of singleness? Because we know how hard it is waiting.
Pastor Charles Maris:Yeah. We we the thing, the thing is that I I I learned and I understand is that singleness, people the world views singleness as a a curse or or something bad, that uh uh you're lonely. What's wrong with you? Why, why, why are you single? Why don't you have anybody? Why, why this, why that? And and and that singleness is actually a gift because it gives you time to work on you as an individual, because sometimes we can be healthy enough for um a healthy relationship or even a healthy marriage, and then sometimes we can be unhealthy enough for a relationship, but still desire to be in one, and that's where we mess up at because we're unhealthy. Because if you have a defective male and you get a defective female come together, they're gonna have a defective marriage. But the healthier that male is, the healthier uh that female is, the better the marriage can be. And so I I think that single state is so important. I always say use your single state time wisely because it's the difference and it will determine. Because everything that you didn't address in your singleness is definitely gonna get addressed in your marriage.
Renee Richel:It's so true. Like we have a course called Love Starts With You with God. And the truth is, don't look for somebody that's gonna complete you. I always say Jerry McGu Maguire, that movie screwed it all up to say you completely. I'm like, that's what people think, but no, if you're not complete with the Lord first, you are so right. You will bring it into the next relationship. And people wonder, why do I always attract the not the good ones? And then, like, because there's certain things in yourself that also need to be healed so that you can attract and see the good ones, right?
Pastor Charles Maris:Absolutely, because you you gotta think. Uh, remember in Matthew 19, where the Pharisees asked Jesus, uh, can a man divorce a woman for any reason? Jesus didn't eventually, he didn't address marriage, he didn't address the divorce, he addressed what God created in the beginning. He created a whole male, he created a whole female. That's what he joined together. Now, when we get in verse chapter three, that's when you see the fall, and they stray away from what he originally created. Created even in marriage, now, even now, me and my wife, we are getting back to the end-the-begin-male and female before the fall. So that is a difference. And see, I was 39 years old. I had two young boys, and I was paying an arm and a leg for child support. So I was thinking, like, who is gonna want me? And God said, Do you trust me? I said, Yeah, I trust you. Because you know, a lot of a lot of women think that, okay, I'm this age, I want to be a mother, and I'm not married, and I'm not in a serious committed relationship. I'm I'm I'm past my time. But Abraham had a child late, Sarah had a child almost 100 years old. So we put our own limitations on ourselves that God hasn't placed there. So we need to embrace what he's doing. And I got a wife now that loved my two sons at the time. They were uh eight and five, they're now 21 and 18, and have a great relationship with her. So God will bless you with somebody that will love you. And if you have children, they will love them as well. So we have to take the limitations off.
Renee Richel:Yeah, I couldn't agree more because I get that all the time with my women or men saying, oh, they're too old to have children, or you know, they're just that biological pressure. But at the end of the day, exactly what you just said is what we try to remind everybody that the goal is not to be what everybody else believes should be, right? The goal is to trust the Lord that He has a much better plan and sometimes doing it differently and not following what everybody else is doing. It's so much greater of a plan because of your patience. And it's so much more uh, I guess I would say well-deserved for the ones that then are patient through it all.
Pastor Charles Maris:That's right. That's right. Because the Bible tells us that patience, let patience have its perfect work in you so you are complete and lacking nothing. If you can have patience and let God get you to the point to where you're healthy, because I didn't know that God was building me and removing some things from me for my wife, because she had been cheated on in every relationship prior to her, and she's beautiful. So God was putting faithfulness in my heart, trustworthy, honesty, consistency, constance. And so sometimes you, your, your your spouse that God has for you might be a dummy. I say that, but room for improvement is what I am calling. They may take a little longer to get it, but they're gonna get it.
Renee Richel:Yes, yes, and the best thing anybody can do, instead of being angry or upset at somebody, I always say pray for them, even pray for your enemies, right? Like pray for the ones who've done you wrong, pray for the ones who in the future will do you wrong. Because at the end of the day, all you can do is believe and know that God's got this, it's not our design. So I love that. Okay, so how do you instruct singles, of course, before needing one true match in what we do? How to look for the one.
Pastor Charles Maris:Oh, how to look for the one. A lot of people are you you can decide what you want to deal with and what you don't want to deal with in life with a person. We gotta understand that we're all imperfect, we all have flaws, we all have some things, but there's some you you gotta have some deal breakers to where you say, Okay, no, I'm I'm not dealing with this. And the thing that really got me was when me and my wife were in our biblical court phase, she told me that in order for this to work, that you are going to have to show me Christ. That hit me like a ton of bricks. I had no idea what that meant. But I was I I began a journey at that very moment. I was driving home and and I was puzzled and I didn't understand. But until you get into a real relationship with Christ, I mean he's got to be number one. Because if we expect for an imperfect human being to be more to us than who God is to us, then we run into a problem of idolatry where we start worshiping that individual over God. Now, even in marriage, God meets your deepest need. So we have to understand that you have to be and to know the inner workings of God, you have to know what he wants and what he desires for you. So I had to show my wife the character traits of Christ in order for her to even begin to feel comfortable being with me. And in order for me to to display, I had to know Christ for myself in a real way.
Renee Richel:Which I love that because when we talk to so many of our female um clients and just matches in general, the common denominator of all of what they want is a man who will lead them in the house, which the Bible says, right? And it's what's missing too, because I tell all my females, I'm like, you've got to allow the man to lead. But I love what your wife said because she's basically saying, I want to see it through your eyes to lead me to lead this family, which is the opportunity and exactly how obviously the Lord made marriage to be. So I love that.
Pastor Charles Maris:Absolutely, absolutely, because you you you got to think about what did what did Adam have with God before he was given Eve? He had his presence, he had his word, he had uh kingdom work, he was he was already doing kingdom purpose. So God was saying, this man doesn't need to be alone, this kind of man. But if he doesn't love God's presence, if he doesn't know God's word, if he's not worshiping and praising God, and he's not about kingdom business, that man needs to continue to work on himself and not be ready to lead another woman into areas of life that he's not prepared to lead or to exemplify the life of Christ. So yeah, it's it's it's definitely important to have a more intimate relationship.
Renee Richel:I agree, I agree. Um, what would you say is the best for people out there that are dating the wrong people? Obviously, you both, you and your wife have experience on that. What would you say the best way to end a dating relationship with someone that isn't the one?
Pastor Charles Maris:The best way, I think, uh, and and and and and I have been teaching people about biblically courting. Biblically courting means that that the male and the female are both seeking God uh on their own, whether this union is ordained, and then coming together whether or not this union is ordained. And so through interaction and conversation, I think the best way if if when God tells the man or the woman that this is not for him, I I just think is you don't try to drag it out, but just go ahead and say, hey, I I I don't I got word from the spirit that this is not meant to be. Uh so we can be friends, but I don't want to pursue marriage. And I I think if you just go ahead and be honest and and not when you initially feel it and not kind of just drag it out, because where one person may be really heart connected, the other person has just kind of got walls put up. And so when you drag the person that's got walls and you drag the person that's got the heartstrings already attached, then you you get in a situation where uh feelings are hurt. Um you get into the situation where uh people can be really destroyed by it, their character, their their self-esteem, their emotional state. So I I think that if we start from the beginning that we're seeking God about this union and you keep it God centered, I think that's probably the best effective way to let somebody know that this is not for me.
Renee Richel:Right. And I love what you're saying because when you share with somebody, I'm dating with intention. And if you're not then sharing that with them intentionally, that you don't see forever sooner than later, which you're freeing them to find the person. I 100% agree with what you say. And also everybody that's in the their single phase, I to add on to that. I always tell everybody, just tell everybody that's bugging you, your family, your friends, when are you gonna meet that person? When are you gonna have start a family? Tell them you're in the season of dating Jesus right now. That's it, it'll stop every other question from that point on. And it's just, I mean, what are you gonna say back to that? Be proud of it because that intimate time, as you know, before you meet the one, is so powerful and so precious. Before you have a spouse and you have more family and you have kids and you have more friends, and you have all these things that come with once you are uh united with your true love, too.
Pastor Charles Maris:Definitely, definitely. And then you you gotta think that marriage is tough as is between a male and a female, and then when not now, a lot of families are are blended, and so that gets into different dynamics because, like I said, I had two sons, she had one son, and then we had our six-year-old son we had together. So we've raised four boys, and then you you know, when sometimes when you have to deal with toxic co-parents, it marriage can get a little, a little tough. And so you both have to be uh you both have to be Christ-centered, you also have to know who the real enemy is, and it's not each other, and you you you really have to hold on to God's unchanging hands and raise children up to serve Christ. And and I believe that that's what we have done, and that's what I teach others to do. And there's a lot of questions that you gotta ask when you are dating uh people with children.
Renee Richel:Yeah, it's it's true. And what even even if you're dating somebody without children, what nobody thinks about is when the holiday season starts to come around. That's why we always we teach and preach relationship communication 101 around October to equip them before they go into Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, they're all kind of blended together. Then, you know, I mean, that's the truth, is nobody thinks through. As then once you are dating somebody or you're engaged or married or have a blended family, whose family do you go to for the holidays? And how do you do it all? And now there's that many more people to please. It's something nobody thinks through until it gets there.
Pastor Charles Maris:No, you're right, and that's something to consider. It's good that y'all do that start in October. Because yeah, that's if if if I have a tradition of going over my mom's house and she has a tradition of going over her parents' house.
Renee Richel:And Thanksgiving is both at three o'clock. What are you gonna do?
Pastor Charles Maris:Yeah, what are we gonna do? Yeah, and and and who's who's gonna get mad? What parents are gonna get mad?
Renee Richel:I know. And then it's I mean, you know, this being married. I I tell all my couples at the end of the day, in the word compromise is promise. And in the word marriage is making a promise to each other, right? So you're gonna have to compromise. Nobody likes that word. It's like the word budget, but it's just something that's part of if you're signing up for a God-given relationship with the woman that's all part of the uh the joys that come from it.
Pastor Charles Maris:It's the joys I like the so tell me, I want to hear all about your book.
Renee Richel:And I want everybody to pick up your book, men and female, because I always say if you're single, read marriage-minded books, because at the end of the day, it's important that when we're single, we learn how to be married. And when we're married, we should be reading marriage-minded books. But tell me all about what led you to write um the Intune Husband to inspire our women to read about this as well as our men.
Pastor Charles Maris:Yes, I definitely when I when I first this this is it. You can find it on Amazon. It's the Intune Husband. You can find it on Amazon, and I encourage a lot of women to read it so they understand what to pray for, what to look for in a man. Uh I I first start out in in chapters one and two, and and I and I share uh what God thinks about a wife, a woman, uh, that she's God's favor in one man's life. And if she doesn't know that she's favoring a man's life, then she, you know, I always say when you don't know the value or the worth of something, abuse is inevitable. And sometimes when a woman doesn't know her worth, she'll let a man abuse or mistreat her, not necessarily physically, but sometimes verbally and and in the attention or intentions that he doesn't show or does show. So this book it will walk a man through deliverance. Uh, if he's not fully committed, it will let uh the man know uh how closely that God holds the woman because she was created to multiply whatever God gives him. But if he don't know that, then and he doesn't have a vision, then that woman is there to help. What is she helping with? To cook, clean. No, she's here to help for kingdom purpose because kingdom purpose is what will keep a marriage going, not necessarily love, because as you and I know, people fall in and out of love every day. And a lot of people, and I'll say that I love you is the most abused phrase in all of the world. Because if I say I love my wife, but then I love chocolate cake, is that the same? No, I like chocolate cake, but I love my wife, right? So, so the in-tune husband is having the man become in tune with God first so he can be in tune with the wife. Because when I was when we were in our courting phase again, my wife she she was afraid of being hurt again, so she would emotionally disconnect, and the Holy Spirit would always let me know when she emotionally disconnects, and I would call her and I would say, Are you okay? Is something wrong? She's like, How did you know? I said, The Holy Spirit let me know that you were you were doubting it, you had some fear come upon you. I'm here to dispel all of that. So that's what that's what the Intune Husband book is about. It's about bringing the husband and wife closer to God and keeping him in the center.
Renee Richel:All right. Well, everybody that's listening to this podcast today, I need you to go on Amazon and go get the Intune Husband now and start reading it because there are so many books that we love inspiring our audience to read. Because by the time we start to match them, I need them fully whole, fully ready. And I love that you said knowing their worth. We're excited to be able to have the opportunity to start talking to Christian colleges or, you know, the kids, and you know, kind of between 18 and let's say after call through college is when they really start to do their own thing and explore and and lead away from their faith and they start to get torn down by the others, the other things in this world, right? And they they start to lose a little bit of their worth. And um, so as we all go through our timeline in life, it's important to always root ourselves closer to Christ to get the answers when we feel lost or alone, because he will reveal it the stronger we are in our faith, which it sounds like I love you have in your heart, through your heart, and you preach on to others.
Pastor Charles Maris:Yes, definitely. I there's no business. The the body of Christ has no business having the same amount of divorce rate as the world. And my whole purpose is to eliminate the divorce rate, lower it, and so that everybody, because this is how we expand God's reign and rule in the earth, is through kingdom marriages and then having godly examples raise up kids to see what it's like to have a kingdom father, a kingdom husband loving his wife like Christ loves the church, and a wife, kingdom wife, respecting her husband as unto God. Children need to see that because they're gonna grow up looking for what they saw.
Renee Richel:I know it's so true. And we're in such a new phase with what they're called the COVID babies or the Gen Z children, right? And I'm like, that it those are our seeds planted in our harvest. If we don't nurture them and we don't water them, it's so difficult because with unfortunate divorces out there, right? They just haven't seen what true love is and online and not being social for all those years. It's like they don't even know what to do. We have to continue to uh fuel them as well and remind them who they are in Christ every day. Okay, so I know that you obviously, as we keep talking about the Intune Husband book, share with me a couple other books and just resources that you offer your community to help them to be whole and ready.
Pastor Charles Maris:Okay. I have a group on Facebook called Kingdom Singleness Singledom. And uh not too long ago did a workbook, and I have a book called Kingdom Singledom Workbook, where I help singles, male and females, uh become whole. And I I explained to them what God originally intended before the fall in the Garden of Eden uh to show what because see, a lot of times we try to build a marriage on what we think it should be or what we saw growing up, and and a lot of times the problem isn't the environment, sometimes it's the home that we fall into. And so I show I show what what was created and eaten, and so both male and female, and so the closer that you get to being at that mark, because that's the mark, that's the standard, the healthier your marriage will be. I also came out uh earlier this week this week with an e-book called The True Behavior of a Kingdom Man. This book will help young men know the mark, the standard, the set of what they're trying to go to, what they're trying to achieve. And it also helps females to pray uh if they're praying or desiring for marriage, or even if they're already married, they can pray that these things come about. From a pure place in their heart regarding their spouse, their husband. And so I like you, I want to have a lot of resources for people, uh information. So that because this stuff that I'm learning that God has given me in the past couple years, I didn't have when I was 19, 20, 21. And so I want to make sure that our young people have because the better they start having, sooner they start having kingdom marriages, the better off it'll be. You don't have to get dragged through the dirt. You don't always have to get your feelings hurt, but you can't be patient and wait on Christ to send you that ordained spouse.
Renee Richel:Which I love that. So we I always say it takes a village, right, to build the Lord's kingdom. So with all these beautiful tools that you have created, I think that they are great for our youth to start reading now so they don't make the mistakes that uh some of us have, unfortunately. So I am sorry you had to go through that, but I'm so grateful that you can help so many other people that the Lord has helped you to be able to do through it.
Pastor Charles Maris:And I believe that's why I went through it. So I could be a representative that Christ can use to help bring people out of this function and into what it should be, God's original intent.
Renee Richel:I love that. I love that. So, how would you encourage our singles out there that are tired of dating and waiting and some parting words from your beautiful advice?
Pastor Charles Maris:I I was there once and I got tired of dating. Um don't let loneliness make you feel like you gotta go all out there and make something happen. Don't let your parents pressure you into thinking that, hey, I'm ready for some grandkids. When you gonna give them to me? Don't settle, don't compromise. Sit there and be content in your thinking and in your heart and within your body to serve Christ wholeheartedly because he has a plan for your life. He he's a he pays attention to the details of our lives, and all he wants to know and see is that you trust him. When you show that you trust him in your heart, mind, body, and soul, there's not nothing that he will withhold from you. And the Bible tells us that he will perfect everything that concerns you, and so you need to be able to trust his word and know that it's for you personally. The word has to become personal to you, not just a broad uh scripture just broad, but no, it's personally for Charles, it's personally for you, it's personally for you, Renee. That's how it's got to become, it's got to become intimate. That whole scripture, Bible, love is kind, love is patient. I have to embody that and I have to know that I receive it as well.
Renee Richel:I love that. That is such wise advice. And to get more advice, please, like I said, go get go out and get Pastor Charles Maris's book called The In Tune Husband Now today. And we are definitely going to have you and your wife back on to talk even some more conversations to our amazing married couples. And if you are truly ready and you have read uh Pastor Charles' book and other things to say, I am ready, then come and fill out a profile so that we know you exist as the Lord has built our kingdom with one true match to be the resource to connect his amazing hearts who are truly ready for love in this world of who and how do you trust the right one. So we are there to invest them and qualify them and make sure they're truly ready for true love. Thank you so much, Pastor Charles, for joining us today on this podcast. And I can't wait for more chat soon.
Pastor Charles Maris:Thank you. I've enjoyed myself.
Renee Richel:God bless. I look forward to our next chat. Please write in your questions and comments so I can be sure to talk about whatever it is you want to discuss in our next upcoming episode. Lots of love. God bless. XOXO.