In My Father's House Women's Ministry

In My Father's House Women's Ministry In My Father's House desires to lead, encourage, and uplift all women. Our mission is to touch and affect the hearts of women for lasting change.

01/08/2020

Happy New Year from In My Father's House Women's Ministry!

07/16/2019

This is my beloved and this is my friend. — Song of Solomon 5:16

DAY 30
One of the best pieces of advice my mother ever gave me was that I should not only love the man I married, but I should also consider him to be my friend. I took this advice to heart. My husband and I were friends for a year before we ever dated, and we’ve continued to cultivate this friendship. Over the years, that has meant participating in activities we both enjoy, laughing over funny YouTube videos, praying together, and setting aside time to share about our days—the highs, the lows, and the mundane.

This friendship doesn’t always come easy. When we’ve been apart for extended periods of time, are in a rough season, or feel the strain of living in a sinful world, it can be easy to drift apart. So we have to be intentional about making any needed course corrections to get our relationship—and our friendship—back on track.

As you end this 30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge, think about ways you can cultivate your friendship with your husband. Don’t assume he knows that you value this aspect of your relationship; let him know he is both your sweetheart and your best friend.

If you’re feeling distant from your husband, pray that God would help you connect in new ways. God is the One who first brought you together, and He can deepen and breathe new life in your relationship with your spouse.

PRAYER: Jesus, thank You for the friendship You’ve given me with my husband—for taking our two separate lives, making us “one flesh,” and enabling us to understand each other in ways that no one else can. Thank You for how You’ve used these last thirty days in our marriage. May the blessings we’ve experienced as a result of this challenge grow in the days ahead. And continue to deepen my love for my husband, that he may know he is my beloved and my friend.

07/15/2019

Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor. — Proverbs 21:21

DAY 29
As you near the end of this challenge, take time to think about your husband’s responses to the wickedness of the culture, the media, and the world. Does your husband recognize and turn away from evil? In what ways is he pursuing righteousness—living according to the standards of God in response to his covenantal relationships with Him and with you?

Understanding that sin is first and foremost against God should prompt us to walk in righteousness instead, like Joseph in the Old Testament, who fled from the wicked advances of Potiphar’s wife (Gen. 39:9). Seek to know more of God’s character and His ways together with your husband. From a short discussion about your pastor’s message in the car on the way home from church to reading through a book of the Bible together, there are many ways you can help each other better understand God’s righteousness. Then, through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, you’ll be able to walk in a manner worthy of our calling (Eph. 4:1).

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, strengthen my husband’s resolve to stand strong against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect him from evil and remind him of his need for Your help to flee it and walk in righteousness. Keep him hungry for You so that nothing else satisfies. Help me to praise his choices that display and honor You.

07/14/2019

The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. — Proverbs 15:33

Day 28
Humility is a difficult quality to walk out because it requires relinquishing our rights. Humility enables us to honor our husbands when we know they are wrong. Humility empowers us to refuse to retaliate when we feel hurt by our husbands. Humility fits our mouths with words of affirmation when we’re tempted to criticize. Finish this month strong by asking for an extra dose of humility today. And remember, God gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5).

Now, ask the Lord to help you see the humility in your husband. Does he willingly celebrate the victories of others without boasting about his own? Is he able to learn from others, at work or church or elsewhere? Does he submit to the Word of God with joy? Does he set aside his preferences for the sake of others? Is he open about his failures and his need for God’s grace? Today, point out and celebrate any expression of humility you’ve seen in your husband, no matter how small.

A humble man is a trustworthy and safe man but not often the type of man our culture celebrates. So let your husband know how meaningful his expressions of humility are to you and what a privilege it is to be married to a man who values this Christ-like characteristic. Thank him for setting an example for you to follow.

PRAYER: Father, give me the strength to humble myself today. Show me areas of hidden pride, and give me the grace to confess my pride to my husband and seek his forgiveness. Give me eyes that search for expressions of humility in my husband today rather than failures or shortcomings. Help me lay aside my rights as You did, Lord Jesus, and serve my husband with joy today.

07/13/2019

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord! — Psalm 31:24

DAY 27
You have almost completed the 30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge! Perhaps it has taken a tremendous amount of courage to refrain from criticism and consistently speak words of encouragement to your husband. This kind of courage is only possible when we place our trust in God and wait on Him. And it’s this kind of courage we want to look for and celebrate in our husbands.

Courage isn’t being a “tough guy,” and it isn’t the absence of fear and anxiety. Courage is at work when someone does the right thing despite the presence of fear, anxiety, and negative consequences. Where do you see your husband doing the right thing even though it hurts? Does he stand up for the rights of others, even when it’s unpopular? Does he work hard to change injustice? Is he a stickler for the truth? Does he experience losses to protect you or your family? Point out the ways he is courageous currently and has been in the past, and thank him for setting an example for you.

And ask God for the courage youneed today. Keep your eyes on God, and wait on Him to bring about the changes you hope to see in your marriage. Like the holy women who didn’t “fear anything that was frightening,” keep hoping in God (1 Peter 3:1–6). He will not disappoint you.

PRAYER: Father, thank You for the way my husband cares for our family and others. For every expression of courage in him, whether big or small, I am grateful. Help me to see new ways to strengthen him with my words and build him up. Wherever he is afraid or facing anxiety, help him to trust You and lean on Your strength.

07/12/2019

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.— Luke 2:52

DAY 26
In a recent meeting with our church staff, my pastor talked about the myth of balance. To illustrate his point, he used guitar strings as a visual of this reality of life: tension. Life isn’t so much about striking a balance; instead it’s striking a chord with constantly adjusted tensions. When we try to balance our life, we inevitably find that it’s like trying to balance a teeter totter by running from one side to the other. In Luke 2:52, we see Jesus striking a healthy tension between favor with God and favor with man. The same tension must be sought after in our relationships with our husbands.

As followers of Christ who are also married, we’ll experience a tension between our desire to serve God and and our desire to have a great relationship with our husbands. Marriage is a gift from God, and we should honor it, stay faithful to our vows, and seek to glorify God in how we love our husbands. But while we tune the strings of our lives to bring a beautiful sound to God’s ears, our marriage shouldn’t compete with tuning the strings of growing in our faith and love of God.

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7, we shouldn’t focus only on our marriages but on pleasing the Lord in all we do. When we tune our lives with a healthy tension like Jesus, we grow in favor with God and man and strike a sort of balance that otherwise could never be achieved.

PRAYER: Father, help me to follow Jesus’ lead in loving my husband and growing in my love for You. Help me to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, and by doing so, may that help me love my husband even more. Give me wisdom as I live out the tensions of life so that You would be glorified in my life and in my marriage.

Address

4331 Saint Barnabas Road
Temple Hills, MD
20748

Telephone

+12024224155

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when In My Father's House Women's Ministry posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category