Showing posts with label Valentine's day. Show all posts

Monday, February 8, 2016

Are You Looking for Love in the Right Places? - RUTH LOPEZ WHITFIELD CHARISMA MAGAZINE

Where are you looking for love? (iStock photo )

Are You Looking for Love in the Right Places?

Hardly a day goes by that I don't see a TV commercial advertising a site where you can meet Mr. or Mrs. Right. Some cater to young singles, others to the more mature and still others to those of like faith or ethnic background.

I know of a few couples that actually met and courted their spouse online and have successful marriages. I'm not sure of the percentage of failed ones.

Valentine's Day is coming up, and we are bombarded with hearts, flowers, decorations, candy and sweet recipes. Restaurants and jewelry stores gear up for what will be a busy and lucrative time, while children exchange "Valentines" in school or other functions, and even "Charlie Brown" gets in on the act with a TV special.

Invariably there will be the surprise proposal with man on bended knee being photographed as he pops the question to his intended amid sighs of "Aw" and cheers from onlookers.

For some, it's an exciting time and, for others, not so much. There are those who may not hear the words "I love you" or "Be My Valentine," and for them it may be a very long and tedious day.

All of us are born with a need for love and acceptance. God made us this way. Studies show that babies who are held and loved do far better than those who are not.

Because of this innate need, many of us spend our lives looking for love—sometimes in all the wrong places. We want to belong, to be part of something or someone. We seek acceptance and a sense of belonging wherever we go.

Being driven by this need can cause all kinds of problems. It might lead us to cling to our children, smothering rather than loving them and stifling their growth and development. Or it might tempt us to live in a fantasy world, dreaming of a knight in shining armor who will fill the void in our lives.

This need may cause us to look to others for affirmation: family members, friends, co-workers and so on. We rely on their esteem to convince ourselves we are worthy of esteem.

The truth is that as Christians, we are already fully accepted in the Beloved. We are members of God's family, precious daughters and sons of the King who are totally and unconditionally loved!

There isn't anything we can do to earn this love and acceptance. Jesus assures us, "All whom the Father gives Me will come to Me, and he who comes to Me I will never cast out" (John 6:37, MEV). We are secure in Him.

We have no need to look for satisfaction anywhere else. Yet there were times I had sought affirmation from others—and felt unloved and rejected when I didn't receive it. Has that ever happened to you?

When I asked the Lord about my actions and responses, He said: "Whenever you look to others for love or acceptance, you will be disappointed. You are already loved; you are already accepted by Me. Come to Me and receive your fill, then you will be able to be a giver of love. Share My love with others rather than looking to receive it from them. As you give, you will receive because you will reap what you sow. Accept others even as I have accepted and continue to accept you—not because you're perfect but because I love you and count you worthy of the price of My blood. You are a gift to me, bought and cherished. Cherish others as I cherish you. Love others as I love you."

Wow! That gave me a new perspective, and it was very liberating. Because I am already accepted and loved beyond measure, I don't need others to love me. I can love them without any expectation of reciprocity. I can release them to be who they are without placing demands upon them.

I can set them free not to do something for me just because I did something for them. In fact, Jesus told us it is better for us to invite those to dinner who can't repay us. What He meant is that we actually receive a greater reward when we do something for people who can't or don't pay us back—it is a greater indicator of our love.

Make a decision today to stop looking for love in all the wrong places and find it in God. Then you will be a vessel through which His love can flow out to others. Receive it from Him that you may give it out—and watch how you reap what you sow!

Prayer Power for the Week of Feb. 7, 2016

As you pray this week, embrace God's unconditional love for you, let it fill you heart, express it back to Him and share it with others. Ask Him to direct your steps to those who desperately need to know they are loved so that you can be a vessel of reconciliation and acceptance. Pray for those struggling through personal and economic loss as well as the ravages of winter weather. Continue to pray for worldwide revival and the soon return of our Lord. Lift up our nation and its leaders, the upcoming elections, more laborers for His harvest fields, Israel and the persecuted church (Jer. 31:3; John 6:37; 1 John 1:4; 1 John 4:19).

For a limited time, we are extending our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Charisma. As a special offer, you can get 40 issues of Charisma magazine for only $40!

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Thursday, February 13, 2014

Spiritual Intimacy a Marriage 'Game Changer' - CBN News

Spiritual Intimacy a Marriage 'Game Changer'

- CBN News

Paul Strand

CBN News Washington Sr. Correspondent

As senior correspondent in CBN's Washington, D.C., bureau, Paul Strand has covered a variety of political and social issues, with an emphasis on defense, justice, and Congress. Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulStrandCBN and "like" him atFacebook.com/PaulStrandCBN.

PLANO, Texas -- A dramatic conversation led Sam and Vicki Ingrassia to a new way of praying that's re-energized their marriage.

This Valentine's Day when the world is emphasizing romance, they're asking couples to see if they can't improve their spiritual relationship.

Sam told CBN News if husbands will take his advice, it will increase their passion for both God and their wife.

'You Have Failed Me'

In his quick-to-read book, Just Say the Word Sam talks about when he and Vicki hit a real rough patch in their 39-year marriage.

Vicki had been praying her way through a couple of family crises and felt she wasn't getting much spiritual support from Sam.

As the Plano, Texas-based couple were talking it out, Vicki said something that hit Sam like a blow.

Sam quoted her blunt remark: "You know what, Sam, part of what I'm really struggling with is this: I've just come to the realization that you have failed me."

Vicki said she felt led of the Lord to say what she did.

"I knew that it was probably the Holy Spirit doing it. That day I just really had a compulsion to use the word 'failed' with my husband," she said.

"Those four words -- it was like an incoming rocket to my heart: 'you have failed me,'" Sam recalled.

Vicki said that rocket "spoke his language differently than ever before. And he was basically arrested at that moment."

Spiritual Lone Ranger

The huge trials they had just been through involved two of their three adult daughters, but Vicki and Sam rarely prayed together about them.

Vicki had felt like a spiritual lone ranger.

"She was just basically saying, 'I can't do this anymore like this. I'm getting tired and worn out: ministry, family, all these issues,'" Sam said of his wife.

"And then she said, 'Furthermore, besides the girls, you know what, Sam? I need to connect more with you spiritually.'"

Sam heard Vicki loud and clear and vowed to correct the problem.

"I raised two hands, saying 'guilty!' Tearfully, guilty," Sam recalled.

"But then it's like I raised one hand and said, 'Vicki, I vow -- I promise -- we're going to pray together,'" he said.

Prayers on the Bullseye

And at that moment, Sam said God gave him a revelation.

"The Holy Spirit just spoke to me in a very specific way," Sam remembered. "The revelation was, God gave me a path. And the path was simply this. He said, 'Pray with her using My Word as your guide.'"

Sam then took the message to Vicki.

"And that's what we began to do," he said.

As Sam laid this out to her, Vicki said she was excited.

"When he started laying those tracks, and said, 'This is what we're going to do, and how we're going to do it,' I felt, 'Well, this is really different,'" Vicki recalled. "'This might really take.'"

They've done this about three years. They read a few scriptures most every day to guide their prayers together.

Sam and Vicki said it's tremendously improved their spiritual life and brought God right into the center of their communication.

"I feel like we're praying on the target, the bullseye, the moving targets of life," Sam said. "The Spirit of God is showing us what to pray. Now the prayers are as fresh as the flow of the Word of God itself."

Tragic Answers

Sam is in a ministry that involves him preparing and helping Americans go on short-term missions trips overseas. This leads him to interacting with hundreds of Christian leaders.

He began telling them his story and asking them if they felt they were praying enough with their wife.

All felt they were falling short.

"The answers are tragic," he said. "They're like 'never, rarely, occasionally, hardly ever, when needed, not enough.'"

Sam said he's helped lead many of these men to new levels of spiritual intimacy with God and their wife in both his book Just Say the Wordand on the website justsaytheword.net.

He revealed that the same men who confessed they rarely prayed with their wife also admitted she'd most likely be overjoyed to hear her husband dedicate himself to regular prayer with her.

"'She'd say, 'Hallelujah.' She'd say, 'When do we start? She'd start crying'" are some of the answers Sam said men have shared with him.

'Show Me the Tracks'

At the website justsaytheword.net, an amusing two-minute cartoon Sam narrated sums this up.

"We know that our wife desires this spiritual intimacy," the video says.

"Men often need a path to follow: Show me the tracks. That's the purpose of 'Just Say the Word.' It's a journey of intentional spiritual intimacy in marriage. With marriage under attack and families falling apart, it's time to wake up and Just Say the Word."

Sam recommends couples anxious to enjoy this spiritual intimacy should head to the New Testament.

"If you take this 30-day plan: pray with your wife through the Book of Philippians, I'm telling you you're going to catch a model; you're going to catch the tracks," Sam promised.

Increased Passion

Sam and Vicki said their prayer time together has improved both their relationship and their romance.

It's the reason Sam subtitled his book, "A Simple Way to Increase Your Passion for God and Your Wife."

Vicki said the whole process has given her tremendous peace, and she knows for certain her husband is really in the game with her for the prayer burden for their family and ministry.

"We really are one with this. It isn't me carrying the burden and him kind of abdicating the burden, but we're joining together as one," Vicki said.

Sam added, "I tell you, it became a game-changer."

Click here for Sam's book and more information: justsaytheword.net