A Moment of Hope

Remember the definition of honor: "to regard with great respect, to prize, to admire, to give special recognition, to demonstrate high respect or great esteem for someone." What a rich and powerful word! I have spent the past two weeks giving husbands tools for how they can honor their wives. We wrap up our journey today. I pray these "8 Greats" give you practical ways to interact with your wife a...

Marilynn and I have coined what we call "8 Greats" for different areas of our lives that require practical, biblical wisdom. We are spending two weeks looking at 8 great ways husbands can honor their wives. Husbands, today's tool is this: use words wisely! Words are powerful.  Proverbs 18:21  says  "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits." Words ca...

Husbands, I am spending these two weeks focused on you. I want you to walk away with 8 great, practical ways to honor your wives and help your marriage be all that God wants it to be. We live in a world where marriages are falling apart. But God has given us tools to cultivate strong and lasting marriages. He wants to see healthy homes that are glorifying God together! Here is today's tool for you...

We are looking at 8 great ways husbands can honor their wives. I want every husband to have a large assortment of tools that he can use to strengthen closeness with his wife. Today's tool: share your heart! As you practice asking yesterday's question to your beloved, "How is your heart?", make sure you share your heart with her as well. There is nothing that a wife hates more than to feel like she...

I am sharing "8 Greats" for how you, husbands, can honor your wives. Each day, I am giving men a new tool for your toolbox. God wants to give you simple solutions. We know this because Jesus says in  Matthew 11:30 ,  "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  If this is true, which we know it is, then we have to take him at his word. He came to set captives free ( Isaiah 61:1 ). Here is today'...

We are taking two weeks to look at 8 great ways that husbands can honor their wives. When honor is in the foundation of a marriage, God is honored. Both people thrive. And the family gets healthier. In God's original intent for marriage, a husband and wife become one flesh ( Genesis 2:24 ). A reflection of his nature and character. A demonstration of the love Jesus has for the church - his bride....

I want to see biblical manhood reflected in the church. I want husbands to know how to honor their wives, creating strong marriages. I want to see strong, healthy families who love the Lord with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength. I believe a strong family starts with a strong marriage. And a strong marriage starts with humble men who know how to honor their wives. We are looking at 8 gr...

A toolbox packed full of different tools gives someone the confidence to step into a variety of situations and bring a solution. If you only have a "hammer" and you find a situation that needs a "screwdriver," you will not get very far. Over the next two weeks, we are exploring 8 Great Ways to Honor Your Wife. I want to give you, husbands, tools to strengthen your marriage. My prayer is that God s...

As we are coming off Valentine's Day, where commercialized love is rampant, I want to teach you principles for developing biblical love and honor within a marriage. I love pithy statements that help to easily remember things. Marilynn and I have found the term "8 Great" to be a very easy way to remember Godly principles for different areas of life. Over the next two weeks, I want to share 8 Great...

Honor. Such a powerful word. To honor is defined as this:  "to regard with great respect, to prize, to admire, to give special recognition, to demonstrate high respect or great esteem for someone." In historical biblical culture, the word "honor" carried tremendous weight. Even today, there are cultures around the world that place a high value on honor. In God's original intent, honor is a tool to...

We are wrapping up our journey of learning how to pray. Each day, you have been given a different key to open a new door that you may have never opened before in your prayer life. This week has been all about the Lord's Prayer. Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray in  Matthew 6:9-13 . We are going line by line, using each line as another key. Continuing to learn how to pray, here is your last k...

We are learning how to pray. The Lord's Prayer in  Matthew 6:9-13 is the recipe for prayer. Each line is another key I want to give you to unlock another spiritual door of understanding. Today's key is this: "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." In order for prayer to be powerful, we must forgive. It is not optional. Chances are, if you have lived any amount of life, you see why Jesus...

Jesus used the Lord's Prayer in  Matthew 6:9-13  to guide his disciples in how to pray. Each line is another key I want to hand you for how to pray. We first enter into the presence of God with deep awareness and appreciation for both his Fatherly love and his divine holiness. We then ask with boldness and confidence for heaven to come to earth. We want to partner with his heart and will for this...

We are continuing to learn how to pray. The Lord's Prayer is the guide Jesus gave his disciples when they asked him how to pray ( Matthew 6:9-13 ). It will help guide us, too. Each line is another key for how to unlock spiritual doors and enter into the presence of our Daddy in heaven through prayer. "Your kingdom come, your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven." Here is your key. Ask the Hol...

Watching the disciples gives us another key for how to pray. The only thing the disciples ever asked Jesus to teach them how to do was to pray. They saw his power and concluded it was a result of his prayer life. When asked, Jesus answered, "When you pray, pray like this." Notice he says WHEN you pray. Not if. He expected his disciples to pray. He knew it was an integral part of intimacy with the...

We will wrap up this week with another key to powerful prayer. A key you can use to gain access and entrance into the presence of God. A key to open the locked places of your own heart and find healing. A key to unlock a deeper understanding of who God is and how much he loves you. Here is today's key: don't be anxious about anything. This is a hard one. Especially when it seems as though there ar...

Isaiah 22:22 foreshadows the power that would be accessed through Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Jesus was given keys to open doors no one can shut and shut doors that no one can open. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us ( Romans 8:11 ). Because of that, we have been given keys as well to use for the glory of God alone. I am sharing some of the keys that I have fou...

Keys are used as a means of gaining entrance or access to something. We are spending two weeks looking at keys for your prayer life. I am sharing a new key with you each day, ones meant to help you gain access into God's presence through prayer. Today we are looking at this key to powerful power: shameless audacity. Or as  Luke 11:8 says, "impudence." Read  Luke 11:5-8 , the parable of the friend...

I am handing you a different key each day to learn how to access the powerful presence of God through prayer. When doors seem to be locked, God desires for us to learn how to open them. His Word gives us so many insights that can guide us as we pray. Another key to powerful prayer: persistence. One definition of persistence is "firm or obstinate continuance in course of action in spite of difficul...

We are going to take the next two weeks and look at various tools for developing a powerful prayer life. I want you to picture each day as a key that I am going to hand you. This key is meant to show you a way you can open a spiritual door and access the powerful presence of God. For some of you, these may be new keys you have never known. For others, you may find that these are keys that you eith...

We are completing our two week study on suffering. This final point on suffering is one of the greatest keys I have found to overcoming suffering: have a constant awareness of the thereness of God. The presence of God changes everything. God is our refuge and strength. He is described as an ever present help in times of trouble ( Psalm 46:1 ). He is with us in the pain. His presence is the present...

We are finishing up today and tomorrow with a couple of final thoughts on suffering. I hope it has been helpful to further understand why suffering exists in our world and to know what God says about how to navigate it. These last two days aren't reasons for suffering, but rather some conclusive thoughts. Remember that suffering either breaks our backs or bends our knees. If you think it is your j...

There are so many reasons why suffering happens. While it helps give us a framework for what is going on in this broken world, it doesn't make the pain any less. In addition to some of the reasons we have been talking through, we also suffer when God disciplines us. Ouch. This one is not fun. Hebrews 12:11-13  says, "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yi...

We are exploring different reasons why suffering exists and how we can be more than conquerors with the suffering we face ( Romans 8:37 ). Many people find suffering to be the greatest roadblock in following Jesus. They simply cannot reconcile why a good God could allow bad things to happen. I pray some of these conversations help answer those questions and give perspective as to why suffering exi...

We have been exploring the subject of suffering. What does the Bible say about suffering? What causes suffering? How can we be overcomers in the midst of suffering? Let's first look at another reason for why we suffer and that is persecution for professing faith in Jesus Christ. Plain and simple, we will suffer because we love Jesus. Jesus told us in John 15:20 that persecution would happen to tho...