National Marriage Week

National Marriage Week USA announces a new initiative for the week leading up to Valentine’s Day 2010, and is putting forth a call to mobilize hundreds of organizations to plan and prepare for awareness and activities for February 7 to 14, 2010. The goal is to elevate national attention on the need to strengthen marriage and ways to do it, and initiate new efforts to reduce the divorce rate and build a stronger marriage culture which in turn helps curtail poverty and benefits children.

National Marriage Week has long been an organized celebration around the world ( www.marriage-weekinternational.org) with large rallies, resolutions in Parliaments, concerted outreach for marriage education, and more. But not many folks know about it in the U.S. This week in 2010, a new initiative is being launched by National Marriage Week USA in an effort to build collaboration and focus uniquely on February 7 to 14 with coordination of national efforts at www.NationalMarriageWeekUSA.org.

Chuck Stetson, chairman of National Marriage Week USA says “The alarming drop in marriage rates in America combined with high divorce rates are financially costly to taxpayers and individuals, and emotionally costly to children. Marriage breakdown costs taxpayers $112 billion a year. The nation needs to pay attention.”

“Marriage works,” says executive director Sheila Weber. “Research shows that marriage makes people happier, live longer, and build more economic security. Children with married parents perform better in school. There are proven ways to repair and restore marriages–but most folks don’t know where to go to get the help they need.”

The first-ever Marriage Index, recently released jointly by the National Center on African American Marriages and Parenting (NCAAMP) and the Institute for American Values in October 2009, reveals a huge decline in national marriage indicators. One indicator shows 79 percent of adults were married in 1970, while only 57 percent of adults were married in 2008. Another indicator shows 40 percent of all children in America are now born out of wedlock; and 72 percent of African American children are now born without married parents.

“I am excited about the efforts of National Marriage Week USA to pull together business, government, and religious organizations to draw attention to solutions to the current problems created by divorce,” said marriage expert Dr. Gary Chapman, #1 best-selling author of “Five Love Languages.” “If we can help couples learn how to create loving, supportive marriages, it will not only bring marital satisfaction, but will enrich the lives of children, and create a more productive society,” said Chapman, national spokesperson for the 2010 effort.

Find resources to help your own marriage, find marriage conferences in your area, learn how to help others in your community, watch a one-hour webinar, and get lots of practical ideas for how to celebrate at www.nationalmarriageweekUSA.org.

Money & Marriage: 7 lessons I have learned so far

By Bob Lotich

1. Money issues need to be talked about

Many people try to avoid subjects (or really anything) they don’t like or are afraid of. You have to face the giants. If your finances are a mess, you have to face up to the truth. How can you expect to move a mountain that you refuse to admit exists?

2. Decide what you want to accomplish – together.

In order to succeed financially as a team, you have to have unity. You may not agree about everything, but find those areas that you are in agreement and shoot toward those goals. They will be a lot easier to attain if you are both putting focused energy towards them rather than pulling against each other for your own thing.

3. Realize that you balance each other out

This might not be the case for everyone, but for my wife and I, this was clearly one of the reasons God brought us together. We both bring different financial mindsets to the table and it keeps us in proper balance. If one is a spender and the other is a saver, I got news for you: it is probably by design. If my wife were just like me, we would be living an unbalanced life, probably saving too much for the future and focusing not enough on today. We both bring balance to each other’s life financially. In our case, we both had to make sacrifices to meet in the middle, but because of it we are living more in line with God’s best for us.

4. Support your spouse (yes, even if they have problems)

It is so critically important to cut each other some slack and allow your spouse an opportunity to grow. None of us are perfect and we all have areas to grow in. Part of the growing process involves making mistakes, so if your spouse isn’t being as financially disciplined as you are – cut him/her some slack. If you are constantly nagging your spouse about money (or anything for that matter) it doesn’t give them much incentive to change and it keeps them from being open with you about their failures. Being able to encourage each other when either one of you fails is very important.

5. A budget is necessary

Living on a budget is different for a single person than it is for a married couple. Let me say, I think everyone should use some sort of a budget, but especially married couples. The reason being is that a single person who doesn’t budget ultimately knows the responsibility for the bills, debt, consequences, etc. will fall on them. When a couple lives without a budget they both can be secretly thinking, “well I will let my spouse take care of it,” and things can fall through the cracks. Having a budget creates an unbiased system to hold both parties accountable for their actions.

6. Individual spending money is necessary

It is way too much of a hassle to have to discuss EVERY purchase you make. Each person needs a specific (and small) amount that they can spend however they choose – but just like allowance, no more when it is gone. It has worked well for us to make this cash solely for individual purchases – going out to eat, clothes, buying food for potluck at work, etc – misc things. You can look at how we manage our money, but basically 95% goes to our joint accounts to pay our bills, pay debt, common saving goals, etc. The remaining 5% gets divided between us for our individual interests.

7. Eliminate sources of strife

This was eye-opening to me. When we first got married, we paid for gas for our own car out of our individual spending money. It just seemed logical to me and seemed like it would work fine. We only had a limited amount of spending money for each of us and it would be enough to cover the gas for the week and other miscellaneous things we needed like I mentioned above.

The problem arose when in a very subtle way – we both seemed to be keeping a mental list of how often we drove places together in each other’s car. And of course, we both often thought that we were driving our car more than the other person. We really were not selfish in other areas of our marriage, but that one small thing was causing unnecessary strife. Now we pay for all of the gas out of a joint account – problem solved.

Source:  http://www.christianpf.com/money-marriage-7-lessons-i-have-learned-so-far/

Raising them Right…

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  Ephesians 6:4

As believers our first ministry is to our family.  We are to consistently live and teach the gospel to our children.  These gifts are our responsibility and none of us should want to get caught with our work undone.   I was so very moved when I watched the video below.  It shares the testimony of a young man, named Brady, that came to Christ during a bout with brain cancer and how it built his faith as well as his parents’.

Documentary: The Laying on of Hands

Due to the alarming accounts of domestic violent acts on women every 15 seconds, First Family Films is attempting to expose an ongoing epidemic. The Laying on of Hands once viewed will prayerfully awaken “the spirit of Deborah” and empower women across this country to unite during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Domestic violence happens inside and outside of the body of Christ.  Many use religion to justify controlling and oppressive behaviors.  This documentary is said to be an analysis of those unspoken rules that have existed with regards to “submissive wives”and much more.

Overcoming Sexually Oriented Sin

OVERCOMING SEXUALLY ORIENTED SIN
By Anthony Osei Boateng

INTRODUCTION

Sexually oriented sins entail a special collection of sins which thrive on the sexual drive of the Christian. These sins are special because they thrive on the sexual passion (which is very strong and can get out of control), which God has placed in man to be shared in marriage. Most Christians find it very difficult to overcome sexually oriented sins. These include fornication, adultery, pornography, masturbation and other sexual perversions.

HOW TO OVERCOME THEM

Sexually oriented sins come about when one’s inherent sexual passion upon being triggered at the wrong time and for a wrong purpose goes ahead to commit the sexual sin. We can’t ask God to take the passion away because He placed it in us for us to share it with our spouse. The devil however tries to trigger this passion God has given us at the wrong time and for a sinful purpose. Due to the strength of this passion and the fact that it is in us, the Bible admonishes us to “flee fornication” (1Cor. 6:18). Hence the more time you spend pondering whether or not to do it the stronger the passion becomes, increasing the possibility for one to fall into the sexually oriented sin.

The only way to avoid sexually oriented sin is to flee. Fleeing entails an accelerated creation of a gap between the Christian and the opportunity to commit the sexual sin or the avoidance of situations that would cause a Christian to commit a sexually oriented sin. The battlefield for overcoming sexually oriented sin is the mind. The Bible says that “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). For example, one can physically ignore an initial temptation to fornicate with a man or woman, but a continual thought of the features of the man or woman or imagining a sexual encounter with the person, may cause the person to eventually fornicate with the man or woman he or she initially ignored. Hence it is important to have a pure mind always. One’s mind can make him or her fall easily into sexual sin when it is saturated with a lot of pornographic material.

Another powerful tool in overcoming sexually oriented sin is the Word of God (Bible). The devil can easily make a temptation to commit a sexually oriented sin look so unsinful. I wasn’t surprised at all when a lady Sunday school teacher asked me if it was a sin for her to have sex with someone she wasn’t married to. One wouldn’t think twice about such sexually oriented sins if he or she is firmly grounded in the Word of God. Remember that when the devil tempted Jesus, he tried to make those sinful acts look so unsinful by quoting the Bible; hence we should be firmly grounded in the Bible, as Christians.

Finally a useful tool in overcoming sexually oriented sin is prayer. God can cut down one’s temptations to fall into sexually oriented sins if he or she asks. The Bible says “and lead us not into temptation” (Mat. 6:13). The Bible also admonishes us to ask, and it shall be given unto us (Mat. 7:7). Hence if we ask God for the strength to overcome sexually oriented sins especially, when confronted with such a situation, God will be faithful, and He’ll grant us the strength to overcome it. I can testify to this so many times. MAY GOD GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH TO OVERCOME SEXUALLY ORIENTED SINS AMEN.

Anthony Osei Boateng is a Bible Study teacher at Living Hope Baptist Church in Ghana. He has written several Christian articles and helped in the preparation of Bible study materials for various Christian organisations. He is actively involved in e-evangelism. (e-mail: tonybd264@gmail.com)

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS-MAKE A WEBSITE

Christian Love Songs: PJ Morton Speaks Out

There has been an ongoing debate for as long as most of us can remember about gospel and secular music–the differences, similarities, need for separation and much more.  My husband and I recently had an ongoing conversation about whether or not love songs were appropriate for married believers. Just as we came upon what we consider to be a comfortable conclusion to our discussion it has been reignited.

Grammy, Stellar, and Dove Award-winning writer and producer, P.J Morton has released a book on the subjected.  In his first literary offering, Why Can’t I Sing About Love?  The Truth About the “Church” Against “Secular” Music, Morton challenges what some consider to be man-made doctrines that have no Biblical basis and what determines “sacred vs. no-sacred music.”

Morton, whose father is Bishop Paul S. Morton, is no stranger to this ongoing debate.  He has continually defended his position to be a musician without a genre attached.  This failure to attach a label compelled him to seek the Word of God for answers.  Morton says that his book will show that love songs are not only inspired by God, but are in fact Biblical, sans song of Solomon.  It should be an interesting read but will not end the debate.

The release date is set for August 11, 2009, however, advanced copies and more information are available at http://www.whycantisingaboutlove.com/.