A Lifelong Love E-Book

Gary Thomas

• Herausgeber: Belle City Gifts
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 52

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

In this marriage devotional , you will find deeper spiritual and personal application for the principles in the book A Lifelong Love by Gary Thomas. Draw closer even closer together as you reflect on this devotional content. Build the Right Foundation Marriage is designed by God, a mark of His kindness because He allows us to know the joys of intimacy and family life. Yet even the best of marriages is a miserable substitute for the ultimate reality of living for God. Unless… Unless we have a magnificent obsession, an overriding purpose that ties our days together, gives comfort in the valleys, calls us forward in the suffering, highlights our joy, and even seasons our ecstasies. That's what God provides in a marriage based on Him. "If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."—John 15:5 What do you think it looks like to have God as your magnificent obsession?

Leseprobe

Belle City Gifts™Racine, WI 53403

Belle City Gifts is an imprint of the BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLCwww.broadstreetpublishing.com

A LIFELONG LOVE

Devotional Journal

By Gary Thomas with Nathanael White

Inspired by A Lifelong Love: What If Marriage Is about More Than Just Staying Together? By Gary Thomas (Oct. 1, 2014, David C. Cook)

© 2015 Gary Thomas

ISBN-13: 9781424549689ISBN: 9781424550425 (e-book)

All Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Cover and interior design by Garborg Design Works, Inc. | www.garborgdesign.com

Printed in China

Many waterscannot quench love;rivers cannotsweep it away.

SONG OF SONGS 8:7

Booker T. Washington was born a slave, yet became a surprising political force in the nineteenth century. He believed that when difficulties call out your best, they become stepping-stones instead of roadblocks.

Maybe you feel your marriage is filled with more difficulties than blessings. Perhaps you feel you have nothing to give, that your relationship is stuck in a rut, or that you and your spouse lack what it takes to achieve the happiness you desire.

If that’s you, I have good news: Marriage is not about what we have, but about what we do with what we have.

There is always hope. Your marriage, yes yours, can become an inspiration to other couples. Your marriage can become fruitful and fulfilling. Your marriage can become a source of profound joy, rich togetherness, and powerful witness.

I wrote this journal as a tool to help guide you through the process of taking what you have—difficulties or blessings—and turning them into stepping-stones for a lifelong love and a beautiful marriage. The theme for each day is carefully designed with this purpose in mind, beginning with thought-provoking content followed by a powerful question to provide direction as you journal.

This journaling is where you will find transformation. Be honest with yourself. Open your heart freely to God in this process. Allow Him to speak to you and help you. Then begin to apply the simple principles you find on each page.

Step by step, day by day, moment by moment, you will find life and joy growing in your marriage. More than that, you will find greater fulfillment in giving your marriage—and your whole life—to God.

Then, beginning with God lavishing His love on you, your marriage will grow…

…into A Lifelong Love.

Contents

Build the Right Foundation

Living for God

Starting with God’s Love

God Is Your Father-In-Law

Connect Marriage with Worship

Stop Prosecuting, Start Defending

Keep Perspective

Don’t Settle Before the Destination

“How Well Did You Love?”

Embrace the Hope of Heaven

Trust the Holy Spirit

Power for the Powerless

Stay Fueled

Hold On to Promise

Discover a Mission

Seek God’s Kingdom First

Embrace Purposeful Passion

Think Like a Monk

Seek God’s Approval

Become Gentle and Humble

Meet Sin with Grace

Protect Unity

Revere Christ

Do Your Part

Find True Happiness

Be Yourself

Find Focus

Conquer

More Than Conquer

Keep Building

Cultivate Real Intimacy

Make Your Marriage

Watch Out for Bumps

Reconnect

Say, “I Will”

Be Honest, Be Intimate

Measure Your Words

Flee Duplicity

Don’t Wait

Truly Become One

Say, “Ours”

Be a Blessing

Give Yourself Completely

Stay Thankful

Remember You Have God

Let God Help

Come to Your End

Pray!

Fix Right, Build Right

Love Deeply

Don’t Be a Spider

Answer This Question

Learn to Love

Define True Love

Tap the Source

Love Tough

Get Over Infatuation

Examine Your Love

Step Up

Separate Love from Desire

Choose to Love

Revel in God’s Love

Build Desire

Take the Time

Live to Give

Peel Off Selfishness

Remain In Love

Leave No Regrets

Build the Right Foundation

Marriage is designed by God, a mark of His kindness because He allows us to know the joys of intimacy and family life. Yet even the best of marriages is a miserable substitute for the ultimate reality of living for God. Unless…

Unless we have a magnificent obsession, an overriding purpose that ties our days together, gives comfort in the valleys, calls us forward in the suffering, highlights our joy, and even seasons our ecstasies.

That’s what God provides in a marriage based on Him.

“If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” —JOHN 15:5

What do you think it looks like to have God as your magnificent obsession?

Living for God

Nothing, not even marriage, can substitute for kingdom life, because that’s how God created us. It might be possible to offer five steps to help your marriage be a little less miserable, but nothing can substitute for keeping God’s kingdom first.

Marriage is a lot of wonderful things, but it is not our reason for being. To expect it to become that is to smother it. But when we allow God to be our reason for being and place Him first, it frees our marriages to be filled with the good God desires for them.

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” —MATTHEW 6:33

Write a letter telling God what you desire for your marriage. How does living for Him affect those desires?

Starting with God’s Love

Perhaps you feel you bring a lot to your marriage. Perhaps you feel you bring very little. Either way, when God becomes part of the equation, what we bring doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is what He brings.

Three elements—drawing near to God, pursuing real love, and intentionally pursuing each other—build a stable base upon which good marriages grow. They place our hope in God and not in ourselves.

A good marriage isn’t about us; it’s about God and what He brings. Place God at the center of your marriage today.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” —JEREMIAH 31:3

What does it mean to you that God loves you with an everlasting love?

God Is Your Father-In-Law