Michael - Created to Be His Help Meet: Discover how God can make your marriage glorious

Discover how God can make your marriage glorious

Created To Be His Help Meet
Copyright 2004 by Michael and Debi Pearl

ISBN: 978-1-934794-89-0
EBook: July 2010

ISBN: 978-1-934794-90-6
EPub: July 2010

ISBN: 978-1-892112-60-6
First printing: December 2004 - 20,000
Second printing: March 2005 - 30,000
Third printing (revised): May 2005 - 30,000
Fourth printing: September 2005 - 50,000
Fifth printing: December 2005 - 50,000
Sixth printing: September 2006 - 50,000
Seventh printing: April 2007 - 50,000
Eighth printing: May 2008 - 25,000
Ninth printing: December 2008 - 25,000
Tenth printing: December 2009 - 15,000
Eleventh printing: April 2010 - 10,000

This book is also available as an unabridged audiobook on CD and MP3 CD.
Visit www.NoGreaterJoy.org for information on this and other products produced by No Greater Joy Ministries.

Requests for information should be addressed to:
No Greater Joy Ministries Inc. 1000 Pearl Road, Pleasantville, TN 37033 USA

I All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Holy Bible.

Reprinting or online posting of our books, booklets, transcriptions of cassettes, videos, DVDs, or CDs is prohibited.

Cover design by Clint Cearley, Lynne Hopwood
Cover photos by Erin Harrison
Interior design and layout by Clint Cearley
Model for cover photo, Shoshanna (Pearl) Easling, youngest of the Pearl children.

Printed in the United States of America

Acknowledgements

There is not a day of my life that I do not wake up and thank God he gave me the wonderful task of being a help meet to Michael Pearl. I know God has used that man to instruct me, mold me, and love me into being the woman I am today. This book is as much his product as it is mine. He encouraged my sloppy beginnings, rewrote my half-hearted second tries, cheered me on when I grew weary and wanted to quit, and then gave me weeks free from my responsibilities as his help meet so that I might finish the task.

My son-in-law Gabriel Anast and my daughter Rebekah Joy Anast gave me the idea and much of the information for the section on the three types of men, which made understanding men so much simpler. Beka also provided examples, ideas, and Scripture included in the other parts of this book. I consider her co-author of this book. It is her voice that you will hear on the audio reading of Created to be His Help Meet.

The daily letters I have received during the last several years have instructed me and caused me to seek the face of God for answers. By seeing the heartache and/or the truimph of thousands of women, I have been able to identify patterns of success and patterns of destruction. Also, hearing from so many hurting women has given me growing urgency to share what God has taught me. A big thank you to all of you whose letters I have used in writing this book.

This book has been ten years in the makingfour years in its actual writing. It is at my encouragement that my wife wrote it. Many times as she was going verse-by-verse through the Scripture, she would say to me, Im not going to include these verses because if I do, the ladies of ______ (some religious group) will not like or promote my book. I would tell her, If God thought it was important enough to put it in his Word, then you shouldnt exclude it. So she would cringe and add one more controversial subject after another. I am proud of the great job she has done.

I have long wanted other women to have the benefit of her profound wisdom and grace, and I want other men to experience the blessing of being married to a heavenly-gift bride. Debi is my sweetheart and best buddy, my best friend and my only confidante. She is not by nature a passive, lie down and roll over woman. In our early marriage, she challenged my authority and occasionally stood against mesometimes with reasonable provocationand sometimes because she was just stubborn and self-willed. Admittedly, we didnt start out with a perfect marriage; we grew into it together. Debi has strong opinions that she solidly believes in, but she has learned to be her husbands helper in every way that a man needs a womans support.

I have never met or read another author who I thought was more qualified by life and experience to write a book to women on how to become the help meet God intended. She exemplifies all that she has written. Every word of this book comes with my blessing and wholehearted agreement.

- Michael Pearl - husband and blessed lover

Once upon a time there was a silly young girl who grew up to learn what it means to be a help meetGods secret for a heavenly marriage. I start this book with the words Once upon a time because it really is a wonderful story come true. It should, and could, be your story too. It is Gods gift to every woman.

My wife story began 34 years ago with the ringing of the phone. I was sitting at the desk where I worked, when my pastor called, asking me to go with him to a gospel meeting that evening. He occasionally called on me to go with him to counsel the girls while he dealt with the men. I was a single, twenty-year-old girl, and my pastor was a single, twenty-five-year-old hunk of a man. Of course, I said I would love to go and help. He had been my goal since I was 13 years old. Although I thought that he occasionally cast his eyes at me, I had despaired of ever getting my trophy. With that simple phone call, my despair turned to hope once again.

A few hours later, my old VW Bug buzzed into the church parking lot. I grabbed my Bible and climbed into his oversized, overpowered station wagon, and we were off to a Bible study with a crowd of hippies. This was during the height of the hippie revolution and the Jesus Movement. The birth-control pill was a new and heady thing that drove the hippies into an era of non-responsibility. AIDS was not yet a factor. The theme of the 60s was, If it feels good, do it. Young people could be seen sleeping in parks or on roadsides, switching partners as the night progressed. Drugs dulled their conscience and destroyed their dignity, but in the midst of all this sin and shame, God poured forth his Spirit, and thousands of those heartsick kids began to seek God. To me, it was a privilege to live in a time when the Spirit of God moved so freely. The Bible tells us in Romans 5:20, But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

That evening, our gospel meeting was held in an upstairs apartment where a group of used-up druggies had gathered. The room was crowded with young hippies dressed in worn-out jeans and tie-dyed T-shirts. My pastor began to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they listened as if every word were straight from God. It was a simple, quiet, powerful message of forgiveness and hope. Pastor Pearl never gave an invitation, because he did not want anyone to respond to him, only to Christ. But he did tell them that if anyone wanted to pray, they were free to join him. That night, in one accord, everyone fell to their knees and began to pray. The Spirit of God began to move, and I could hear several young men cry out for mercy. In the midst of this movement of God, I felt my pastor reach over and take my hand. Talk about electric shock! I knew there was a strange and wonderful thing happening, because he was ordinarily a real prude! He wouldnt even let the old ladies shake his hand after Sunday morning service. Now he was holding mine during a prayer meeting! I just knew my time had come!