It’s no secret; marriage is hard work. Loving your spouse unconditionally can prove difficult on the days when they’re not that lovable. Keep in mind that some days, you’re not that lovable, either.
Even still, God has a plan for your marriage, even on the tough days. He wants to rule in every aspect of your life, including your marriage. If you and your spouse are to flourish and grow according to His plan, you’ll need to know how to build a kingdom-centered marriage.
The Tony Evans Training Center is launching a fresh, new course called Building a Kingdom Marriage made up of eight modules that provide you with a biblical perspective about this most sacred relationship. It’s loaded with instructional videos and interactive content, which will both enlighten and inspire you.
Q: When we ask people to pray to God as their “Father,” the intention is to emphasize this relational side of prayer. But for some people their experience with a broken relationship with their earthly father or the lack of relationship with an absentee father impacts their understanding of their relationship with their heavenly Father. What would you say to a person who struggles with this reality in order to help them understand, pray to, and enter into a more personal relationship with God as their Father?
A: The first thing I would say is to not let your earthly father define your heavenly Father. I am sure you know other men who are good—men to be emulated, respected and followed. Look at those men as an illustration of what your heavenly Father is like, and multiply it by a billion. What you stare at will determine how you feel. You are dealing with a reality of a feeling because of things that truly happened to you. So, shift your eyes. Identify a spiritual person who can help you make a clearer connection with your heavenly Father. And then, as you try to increase your intimacy with God, speak to God in God’s own words. Pray God’s words back to Him, and assume what He says is true, even though you may not be feeling it right now based on your historical experiences. And the more you emulate from the right people and assume God is telling the truth, it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to make His reality more real in your life.
Why We Do What We Do
"My name is Caleb, and I'm from Baytown, TX. I gave my life to the Lord about 15 years ago when Dr. Tony did a revival here at Stallworth Stadium. My father is an ordained minister and has served in youth ministry all around the Baytown area for the last 30 years.
On Tuesday, June 19th, 2018, my father went to a cardiologist for a stress test and had a heart attack. Luckily, he was in front of medical professionals, and they were able to get him to a hospital. They told us that he had to have open heart surgery and a quintuple bypass on Thursday, June 20th, which ran lots of risks for complications due to him being on blood thinners. But they had to move fast.
Before the surgery, several men from our church came by to visit. My father's Sunday school teacher told me to download the Tony Evans app on my father's iPad so that he could listen to the sermons during his recovery. I downloaded the app and started exploring so that I could learn how to work it and teach him how to use it. Here is where things get amazing. As I scrolled back to the sermon that was on 6/19/18 (the day of his heart attack), the title of the sermon was 'Increasing the Flow of Grace,' and the description read, 'Removing the blockages and speeding up the current.' The whole message spoke about blood flow and related it to grace. That was God speaking.
The surgery went very smoothly. His recovery is going extremely well. The amount of prayer has been so overwhelming. God is GREAT!!"
—Caleb
