Category Archives: Christian Living and Practice

Gourmet Meal or Crumbs?

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Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Ephesians 5:22, 25

“Love makes the world go round” is a cute adage that is simple in its message but deficient in explaining exactly how that works.  Love is as the poet says a “mysterious thing” and something that is both fleeting and enduring. Love has the capacity to satisfy the soul like a gourmet meal or it can starve the one who receives only crumbs.

Let me cut to the chase here folks.  How would you describe your relationship with your spouse? Would you give it a thumb up or a thumb down?  I don’t mean is everything going great right now because truth is, almost every marriage has a few pot holes every now and then.  What I am asking is this – is your marriage on solid footing?  Is the foundation of your spousal relationship solid?

If you cannot say “yes it is,” then let me encourage you today to begin the process of evaluating why. The decision to begin to build a solid foundation for your marriage may be an individual one, but to make it happen takes team work.

Taking the necessary steps to construct, restore, or repair a damaged marriage must begin with determining to love your spouse even though they may be behaving in an unloving way.  Let me issue a caveat here – I am not suggesting that you should accept abusive behavior in the name of love, and that includes physical, verbal, or emotional abuse. But I am suggesting that you live the truth that love is not primarily an emotion. It is a decision in the biblical sense.  So determine to honor your covenant vows to love your spouse through the thick and thin of life.

Next, determine to be honest and transparent with your spouse. This will require a generous amount of trust.  Some information will be hard to share and the fear of being judged can be a tremendous weight.  Press on anyway.  If not initially, your spouse will in time see that your love for him/her outweighs the hurt, because the goal in being honest with one another is to begin to build accountability, which ultimately leads to trust.

When trust is an integral part of the marriage relationship then you are able to overcome those things that previously were stumbling blocks.  In effect you are being equipped to demonstrate love in the biblical sense. Friends, your spouse deserves the best you can give not the left over crumbs.

That is a transforming truth.

Mike’s Mix For January 23, 2015

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Here are some of the many sites I visited this week and the articles I read.  What have you been reading lately?  Share that in the “Leave a Comment” section above.

Dan Doriani serves Covenant Seminary as Professor of Theology. He writes “How Preachers Read the Bible For Themselves” posted on The Gospel Coalition.

Mike Leake posts something similar to my “Mike’s Mix” on his blog Borrowed Light entitled Today in Blogworld.

Facts & Trends addresses some strategies to minister to college age adults in “8 Ways to Keep College Students in Your Church.”

Chad Hall posts “4 Kinds of Fake Faith” on the Transformed blog. A good reminder to evaluate ourselves constantly in light of the Scriptures.

I recently completed a five-part series about the necessity of men praying for their wives as a part of my Transforming Moments spots for radio, so this article by Logan Merrick caught my eye – “Men Do We Really Love Our Wives?”

Enjoy your weekend friends!

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5 NASB

*As always, references in my blog do not constitute full and unqualified endorsement of everything you might find on another blog site. Be Bereans folks. Acts 17:11

 

A Prayer for Those Battling Sin

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John Owen Puritan theologian John Owen wrote the classic work The Mortification of Sin in 1656 to analyze and apply what Paul meant in Romans 8:13 when he said, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you “put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Owen has much to share about the important topic of killing our sin including what we need to believe about our common struggle, what mortifying sin is and isn’t, and practical principles for putting your sin to death. Below is a prayer based on the book that should help us mortify our sin and live in joyful obedience to Christ:

Most Gracious Heavenly Father,

I come to you a needy and contrite sinner,
with no power on my own to put to death the deeds of the body.

Daily come to my aid making it my business
to mortify the indwelling power of sin in my life.

May I never attempt to mortify in my own strength,
forgetting that without Your Spirit my efforts will be in vain.

Lord, through Your Spirit help me put to death
the subtle and crafty strength of the enemy.

As I wake each day, give me strength to remember my task of killing sin,
and remember that sin will kill me if I do not kill it.

Keep me from ever letting up in my battle with sin,
knowing constantly that sin will take advantage.

Help my heart abound in grace that flows from your Spirit,
and destroy in my heart the consuming lust for sin.

Give me a life characterized by the mortification of sin,
and give me life, vigor and comfort
for my life and for that battle.

Lord, each day remind me to strive after total obedience,
and so weaken the power of sin upon my life.

Aid me to know the methods and occasions for sin’s success,
and to fight and contend constantly for holiness.

May I constantly be aware of the guilt, danger, and evil of sin,
knowing that without you, I fall into a seared conscience,
hardness of heart, and deception of my soul.

Lord grant that your holy law is always upon my mind,
so that it may guide me and cause me to fear you.

By the graces of Your Spirit,
implant humility to weaken pride,
purity of mind to cleanse uncleanness,
heavenly-mindedness to counter a love for this world.

May Your Spirit,
cause my heart to abound in grace and the fruits that are contrary to the flesh,
consume and expose the root of my sin,
bring the cross of Christ into my heart through faith.

For it is only by gazing at the grace displayed on the cross of Christ
that I will be able experience its sin killing power.

I pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ that is above every name,
AMEN.

Author: Kevin Halloran. You can follow Kevin on Twitter @KP_Halloran or on his blog Kevin Halloran – Books, Christ, Culture

Direct Link to this post – http://www.kevinhalloran.net/tag/prayer/

Men – Pray For Your Wives (Part 5)

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In this series of posts we have discussed the need we have as men to pray for our wives. If you’ve been with us for the first four parts in this series, you’ve learned that the biggest reason we need to pray for our wives is so we might be changed. No doubt this reasoning has taken many of you by surprise.

Men we pray for our wives so that God will fundamentally change us; so that we will have hearts in-tune with God’s heart for our wives. It is easy to develop tunnel-vision so that all we see are our perspectives, our struggles, and our needs in the marriage. We want God to incline our heart to our wife; to enable us to show compassion always, to demonstrate a respectful attitude without a hint of condescension.

Today I discuss the last two reasons we pray for our wives. The first is because she needs it. Men, here’s a newsflash – our wives are sinners too. Ok, we don’t need a headline to know that right? But in the midst of all this talk about praying for our wives so that we will be changed, lies this nugget of truth – our beloved, the one we are called to honor, esteem, and celebrate as God’s gift to us, is herself a sinner in need of forgiveness and grace. Pray God will grant her that each day.

Then secondly, we must pray for our wives because this is the primary weapon of our warfare on her behalf. Life is a spiritual struggle. The stresses we face as men are equally present in our wives’ lives. Today many wives work outside the home, juggling career with responsibilities to children, family, home, church, and community. Where will her support come from if not from us?

Men, when you read the Apostle Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians to take up your spiritual armor every day in order to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, do you read this challenge in the context of your marriage? Do you understand that one very effective strategy of our enemy has been to undermine the marriage relationship?

When husbands do not pray for their wives there is left a gaping hole in the battlements. Neglected prayer leaves a powerful weapon lying on the spiritual battlefield that we must occupy.

Men, love your wives as Christ loved the Church. This includes praying for her so that you will become all she needs you to be in Christ.

Be the transformation you want to see. God bless you today as you seek Him.

Throw A Matthew Party

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“As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.”

Matthew 9:9-10

Most of us enjoy parties. We love the friends, food, and interaction between people who are gathered together at the invitation of their host. Parties are a great American tradition where the stressors of life are momentarily set aside and a healthy dose of laughter, conversation, and encouragement is bountifully supplied.

Did you know Jesus enjoyed parties too? Our focus passage highlights one such event held at Matthew’s house. Apparently after Matthew was called by Jesus to follow Him, the first thing he did as a new disciple of Christ was to throw a party. But this wasn’t just a party with no purpose. Matthew’s party had a clear intention.

Note the invitation list for Matthew’s party consisted entirely of Matthew’s former co-workers and peers who are described simply as “tax collectors and sinners,” as well as Jesus and the few disciples who were following Him at that time.

What we see in this narrative is a heart overflowing with love for Jesus. Matthew’s life had been fundamentally changed by Christ’s love for him and so one of Matthew’s first actions was to extend an invitation to his former colleagues and acquaintances to come and experience the same life change in Christ.

How do I know this was a purposeful strategy of Matthew? By the words Jesus spoke at the party to some who criticized His presence there with sinners. Here is what Jesus said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:12-13). Jesus understood clearly what Matthew wanted for his friends.

Friends, the next time you throw a party be sure to invite some of your unbelieving friends along with some friends who are able to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a conversational fashion. Be intentional with your guest list. That is how you throw a “Matthew Party.”