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Day 27 Love Encourages Guard my soul and deliver me; do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in You. – Psalm 25:20   Marriage has a way of altering our vision. We go in expecting our mate to fulfill our hopes and to make us happy. But this is an impossible order for our spouse to fill. Unrealistic expectations breed disappointment. The higher your expectations, the more likely your...

Day 26 Love is Responsible When you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.  – Romans 2:1 HCSB   Today will be hard. But as you seek God’s strength and wisdom, you will be able to get through it. This day could be a milestone in your marriage if you allow it to be. So resolve to focus on what the Lord may be saying to you, and purpose...

Day 25 Love Forgives What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ. – 2 Corinthians 2:10   This one is tough – perhaps the toughest dare in the book.  But if there is to be any hope for your marriage, this is a challenge that must absolutely be taken seriously.  Counselors and ministers who deal with broken couples...

Day 24 Love vs. Lust The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.  – 1 John 2:17   Adam and Eve were supplied with everything they needed in the Garden of Eden. They had fellowship with God and intimacy with one another. But after Eve was deceived by the serpent, she saw the forbidden fruit and set her heart on it. Before...

Day 23 Love Always Protects While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. –Romans 5:6   Marriage is made up of many things, including joys, sorrows, successes, and failures. But when you think about what you want marriage to be like, the furthest thing from your mind is a battleground. However, there are some battles you should be more than willing to...

Day 22 Love is Faithful I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.  Then you will know the Lord. – Hosea 2:20   As Christians, love is the basis of our whole identity. Our spiritual rebirth came about because “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).   When asked to...

Day 21 Love is Satisfied in God The Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire. – Isaiah 58:11   Day 20 was a vitally important day in the Love Dare – and in your life. You came face-to-face with the glaring need of every human heart. And perhaps for the very first time, you became aware of how personal this need really is. You may have realized that nothing in your toolbox...

Let us acknowledge Yahweh. Let us press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain that waters the earth. Hosea 6:3 WEBDuring the long hot summer of the south, the fields can get so dry that the crops just sit dead. The one thing that they need to restore life and make everything right, is a good rain shower. Once the rain...

Isaiah 55:8-11 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the...

Psalm 103:12: As far as east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.    One of the favorite activities in our household is to put a puzzle together. We spread out all the pieces on the dining room table and we scan the many shapes and colors to determine which pieces fit together. The key in putting together a puzzle with a lot of pieces is to look for the edge...

Ezekiel 3:1-3: And He said to me, son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and He gave me the scroll to eat. Then He said to me, Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it. So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.  Jeremiah 15:16: When your words came, I ate them; they were...

Isaiah 28:16- This is what the Sovereign Lord says:  "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.   Ephesians 2: 19-20: Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizenswith God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundationof...

Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:35 WEBWhen Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them for...

1st Corinthians 13:2: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. We all have amazing talents and gifts, things that we are better at than others. We can find that something may start out like a passion that fuels us into action based on those talents. What this scripture is...

Jeremiah 49:12- This is what the Lord says; If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, why should you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but must drink it.  Luke 22:42- Saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done. Matthew: 26:27- Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of...

Matthew 10:34-39: Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law a man's enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son...

For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:10–11 WEB   February...

Matthew 12:48-49: He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers.   I coach my children's basketball team.  Over the last 3 years the Lord has blessed me with all wins, every game except one when we didn't have enough players. My focus is always on the team, and the unity of the team.  This year...

Now Yahweh's word came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.' But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. Jonah...

1st Corinthians 15:54-55:But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" When we experience a loss of a loved one, we can often go through trying times, questioning a lot of things in our own lives....

Revelation 12:11-They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. When I was a child, I went with friends and parents to an outdoor fun land. The place was touted as a total adventure. The whole underlying theme of the place was built on trust, yet there it was masked as fun and adventure for all of us to...

Ezekiel 47:9- Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Jeremiah 2:13- My people have committed two sins; They have forsaken me, the spring of Living Water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. If...

Romans 11:27-32: And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gift's and his call are irrevocable. In estate planning, the irrevocable trust is one of the most effective ways to pass along wealth, property, rights and whatever...

The donkey saw Yahweh's angel, and she lay down under Balaam. Balaam's anger burned, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, 'What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?' Balaam said to the donkey, 'Because you have mocked me, I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would have killed you.' The donkey said...

For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind. Ecclesiastes 2:26 WEBIn dog racing, they have a lure called a mechanical rabbit that runs along a rail. At the start of the race, the dogs line up and then chase this rabbit around the...

Day 20 Love is Jesus Christ While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. –Romans 5:6   The previous day and dare lead to no other conclusion that this. Thankfully, it’s a conclusion you can live with—today, tomorrow, and forever.   Jesus has come “to seek and to save” you (Luke 19:10). Everything you’ve failed at and haven’t...

Day 19 Love is Impossible Let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. –I John 4:7   The Love Dare starts with a secret.  And though it’s been an unspoken element throughout each day, you’ve likely grown more and more suspicious of it all the time.  Now that you’re this far, it’s a secret you’re discovering...

Day 18 Love Seeks to Understand How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding. – Proverbs 3:13   We enjoy discovering as much as we can about the things we truly care about.  If it’s our favorite football team, we’ll read any article that helps us keep up with how they’re doing.  If it’s cooking, we’ll tune to those channels...

Day 17 Love Promotes Intimacy He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. – Proverbs 17:9 NIV   You can be close to a good friend you’ve known since childhood or college days.  You can be close to a sibling, your parents, or a cousin who’s about your same age.  But nothing rivals the closeness that’s experienced...

Day 16 Love Intercedes Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. – 3 John 2   You cannot change your spouse.  As much as you may want to, you cannot play God and reach into their heart and mold them into what you want them to be.  But that’s what most couples spend a large part of their time trying to do...