GPS to a Joyful Marriage

Whether our thoughts are from the devil or from our flesh, we need to decide not to dwell on negative thoughts. We need to choose not to take action on those thoughts. We must realize our thoughts are NOT just a part of our character we can’t control. We DO have power over our thoughts! How do we take our thoughts captive? First, we recognize that we are human. We are born with a sinful nature and need to crucify that nature and rid ourselves of fleshly thoughts, daily. We are not alone in these struggles. The Bible includes endless stories about wonderful people of God who continually battled the desires of their flesh. Then, we need to make a conscious effort to stop those negative thoughts. Immediately halt the thoughts by turning your mind to something productive. Start reading your Bible and/or begin to pray. Ask God to help you take those thoughts captive. Sing praise music! (That is the biggest deterrent to the devil!) When battling with the devil, we need to speak out

Our thoughts are a controlling power in our lives.  They can solve problems, create beautiful art, and drive us crazy.    As quoted previously in  Luke 6:45, " Out of the overflow of your heart the mouth speaks. "  Your thoughts act as a filter between what is in your heart and what comes out of your mouth.  The overflow of your heart runs through your mind before exiting your mouth. Your thoughts are the driving force behind the words you say and the actions you take.  “Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become your character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” (Author unknown) Everything begins in your mind. That is why the Bible tells us to ‘take your thoughts captive.’  II Corinthians. 10:3-5 “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary,

Communication is a very intricate part of the marriage relationship, the core of every kind of relationship. Not limited to the words we speak, we express ourselves in our body language, our facial expressions, and our actions. Every facet of a marital relationship involves communication of our feelings and thoughts in one way or another. Communication is the key factor to a successful marriage. When used improperly, a relationship is likely to fail. CONTROLLING THE TONGUE James 3:3-6  “When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets

It’s amazing we humans can communicate with each other at all. When you take into consideration what someone says, you also have to look at what they meant to say. Did the words come out precisely as they had thought? Were they able to find the correct words to say in order to relay those words as close to their meaning as possible? Did their tone of voice match the intention of the message? What about the person receiving the message? Did he hear every word spoken? Did he understand every word as the messenger intended? Was the message misinterpreted because of the tone of voice? How easy to distort a message from one mind to another. We often assume our words are received exactly as we planned. In reality, our message is often misconstrued. For example, Mary is married to Fred. They have two children, Amanda, age three, and Jacob, age one. In preparing to leave for her Wednesday evening class, Mary recites a couple of things for Fred to take care of while she’s gone. “Honey,

Happy 2012 to all of you!  I'm still wondering what happened to 2011!  Time does seem to be going faster and faster the older I get.  My goal this year is to take one day at a time, focusing on the now and present.  Spending too much time looking ahead seems to accelerate the speed of the day.  We need to live for the moment and celebrate our now. March of this year will mark the third anniversary of this blog.  In looking back at my early posts, I wrote mostly about the tools that Rick and I use in our ministry to help couples.  I want to revisit them and give you newer readers of my blog a chance to look at the core of our beliefs for a successful marriage.  I'm always touching on these important tools throughout my postings, but I want to focus on the keys to a successful marriage again.  I will spend the next few weeks talking about communication, the main key for a healthy relationship. COMMUNICATION While I would consider God to be the absolute foundation to every su