Articles about the dynamics of marriage and family
As a blogger Derek has the opportunity to reach a lot of people, a men’s ministry advocate with a national voice, and a columnist. One of his goals is to encourage other men to live in such a way that the Good News shines with signal clarity. One of the most effective ways we can do this is in and through family relationships.
Instructional songs are as old as humanity itself. Music has always been a powerful way to learn and remember things. Why not make up songs and use them with your grandchildren to teach God’s love and your love?
Stories do not belong to the world and its collective consciousness until they are told; and even when stories are told they have no power unless someone is listening; and then these amazing stories are not gifted to history unless they are repeated.
Stress and Anxiety will come. But what I do know is that I can be kind. I know how to smile instead of scowl. I know how to listen. I know how to pray. I know that we need one another. Regardless of politics or culture wars or race or religion.
Have you ever sat down for your daily devotions to meditate on the genealogies of Scripture? Just saying that seems odd, but if you attempted it, I think you’d be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
Believing isn’t an act of will, it is a choice of the heart. Belief is a powerful choice because it engages spiritual resources naïveté is unacquainted with.
This key attribute of God is clearly revealed and illustrated often in Scripture and in the life of His Son Jesus. God’s love and faithfulness are linked together: “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”
Ministry is hard. It’s so easy to make excuses. “I can’t take time to pray and read the Bible right now. The people need me!” We can even feel noble about the sacrifices we are making for the sake of our church. But God said obedience is better than sacrifice. That includes obeying God commands to wait on the Lord and be filled with God’s Spirit.
Derek shares a prime lesson from his grandchildren. When our grands speak, we should listen.
Many Christians of today think Sunday is the Sabbath, and if they try to follow the Sabbath rules at all, they apply them to Sunday. There is nothing wrong with resting and focusing on God on Sunday. It probably works very well for many people. But for most pastors, Sunday is not a Sabbath of rest; it’s a workday.
Peace is, at best, a byproduct of something else, rather than a practical end in itself; so our focus must be – like our quest for happiness – somewhere else. And that somewhere else is grace.
We recalled the old saying, “Time is money.” I was putting all my time into the church and the ministry. Certainly that was worth something, we told each other. God knew our situation. Certainly he would accept my time in place of my money, wouldn’t he?
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