https://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2014/08/following-the-way-of-martin-luther-king.html
Monday, January 25, 2021
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
A Prayer for the Nation -Rev. M. D. Rogers
Our Father and
Our God, we praise You for Your goodness to our nation, giving us blessings far
beyond what we deserve. Yet we know all is not right with America. We deeply
need a moral and spiritual renewal to help us meet the many problems we face.
Convict us of sin. Help us to turn to You in repentance and faith. Set our feet
on the path of Your righteousness and peace. We pray today for our nation's
leaders. Give them the wisdom to know what is right, and the courage to do it.
You have said, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." May
this be a new era for America, as we humble ourselves and acknowledge You alone
as our Savior and Lord. This we pray in Your holy name, Amen.
Saturday, January 16, 2021
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Friday, January 1, 2021
Christian Advice For Newlyweds
Honor God
in Your Relationship
To build
a strong Christian home and family you must honor God and His Word. When you
begin ignoring the principles of the Bible then you cannot expect to have a
good relationship. Go to church. Read God’s Word. Ask God for guidance in your
marriage.
When you were dating there was a
mutual respect—otherwise you probably would not have gotten married. Don’t lose
that.
Respect
Each Other
When you were dating there was a
mutual respect—otherwise you probably would not have gotten married. Don’t lose
that.
In
general, men like to be respected for their intelligence and physical strength.
Wives, feed that ego. It may sound silly to you, but when you respect [3] this strength and ego you will build a
stronger husband who wants to do more and more to cultivate a relationship with
you.
Ladies want to be respected for
their creativity and resourcefulness. Men, respect that in her. She wants to be
an asset to your life and help build your marriage in a God-honoring way. She
is successful when she knows she helps you be successful. Praise her for that.
Let her, and others, know that you could not be as productive without her.
When you stop respecting each other
you begin to tear down the strength of your relationship.
Honor One
Another
Besides private respect you should
publicly honor your spouse. Honoring them means to defend them before others.
Speak positively and respectfully about your spouse to their friends and
family.
We have all been in too many
situations where spouses speak negatively about one another. Even at church
functions when men get together with men, or women with women, conversations
can quickly devolve to complaining about how husbands and wives do this or
that. Don’t malign your spouse before others. Build them up with honor and
respect.
Keep
Private Matters Private
Along with
honoring one another you should keep your private life private. When you have
problems in your relationship you seek help from someone qualified to give the
help you need. Don’t blab your problems to anyone who will listen. Your pastor
can help you. Or you may have an older couple in your church who you can go to
for advice. Don’t let your spouse find you have been telling your private
issues to the church gossip [4]. That will destroy the
respect and honor you have tried to build in your marriage.
Stay Out
of Debt
There is a huge problem in our
country concerning debt. It is not just that there is so much of it, but that
it is considered normal and expected for people to be in debt. The Bible warns
in many places against getting into debt. As a young couple let me implore you
to obey God and avoid debt.
Proverbs
22:7 says that the one who borrows from another becomes the servant to the
lender. Don’t take this lightly. If you are in debt then work as quickly as you
can to get out. How can you be a servant to God if you are a servant to the
bank, the car dealership, the credit card company and the rental store? If God
asked you to serve Him as a missionary [5] how many months or years would you
have to work for your credit masters so that you could serve your Heavenly
Master? You cannot completely serve God if you are a slave to the bank.
A Covenant
Not A Contract
A contract
is written to say, “if you will do this, I will do that.” Or, “if you don’t do
this, then the consequences are …” In a contract what you do is dependent on
the other person. However, a covenant is a promise: a one-sided promise that
says you will do (or refrain from doing) certain things because you choose to
do so. In marriage the covenant is made because of love[6].
It is a promise from you to your spouse regardless of what they do or how they
act.
Your marriage is a covenant with
them. It completely depends on your decisions. Marriage is not a contract that
is dependent on the actions of the other person.
Marriage
is Never 50-50
Along the lines of your marriage
not being a contract you should not see your responsibility as 50% of the
responsibility. Or, another way to put it is saying that he is responsible for
50% of the marriage and she the other 50%. Doing so causes you to base your
response on the actions of another—just like a contract. Each of you should
feel like 100% of the success of the marriage rests on your own shoulders.
Years ago I was in a class with an
older teacher. Most of the students were younger than I—in their 20s. We got on
the subject of marriage one day and the teacher commented that she always
thought the success of a marriage was 100% the responsibility of the wife. If
the marriage failed, according to this teacher, it was the wife’s fault. I
followed her comments with my own opinion. I have always felt that if a
marriage failed it was solely the fault of the husband. I really believe that
if my marriage has problems it will always be my fault. I have the power to
rectify any problem with my wife. If problems arise it is always because I did
not do right by my wife.
The younger students categorically
disagreed with the teacher and me. This was not a Christian group of students.
Every one of them said that a marriage was a 50-50 relationship. They believe
that a marriage fails because one doesn’t do right, but has no power to control
the other person’s actions.
Guess who had been married and
divorced in the class? Some of them more than once. Most of them admitted to
having had multiple bad relationships. The teacher had been happily married for
over 40 years. I am quickly approaching 20 years of marriage and couldn’t be
happier in my relationship with my wife.
Take 100% of the responsibility in
your marriage and you will have a stronger foundation for problem solving and
relationship building.
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