3 John 1:2 (ESV)
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
So, how are you?
What’s in better shape, your body or your soul?
Shalom – Hebrew word meaning peace, harmony, tranquility,
wholeness, completeness, prosperity, well-being.
“When peace like a river attendeth my way . . .
It is well, it is well with my soul.”
Horatio Gates Spafford, 1873
Let’s pray that peace floods the houses of government.
Let’s pray that it will be well with our leaders’ souls.
When it comes to praying for those in authority, let’s take our cue from the Apostle John.
3 John 1:2 (VOICE)
I pray that everything is going well for you and that your body is as healthy as your soul is prosperous.
Healthy body and prosperous soul–we can’t go wrong making that our prayer.
Presidents Day—how can you honor our living Presidents?
Just a reminder: we don’t have to like someone to pray for them. Agree or disagree with their policies and actions, our living Presidents, present and past, are worthy of our prayers.
We tend to make our prayers for our leaders all about us:
Dear Lord, make them make my life better.
I urge you to pray FOR them, for their well-being, today and eternally.
Ephesians 5:24
Now as the church submits to Christ,
so also wives should submit to their husbands
I sometimes say (sorta kinda halfway seriously) that I submit to my husband every bit as much as the church submits to Christ.
Truth be told, Lord, all too often I make it all about me . . . and all too often our congregation makes it all about us. Forgive me for trespassing on my husband’s space . . . and forgive our congregation for trespassing your space. 
When it comes to a good marriage, who’s in charge?
Ephesians 5:23’s For the husband is the head stirs heated debate. No one is neutral.
I believe that God’s best plan is for the husband to the head of the home . . . and the wife, the heart. Two different, but equally essential, functions. Take the body–brain death or cardiac death, either way it’s dead.
May your marriage be alive and well, head and heart.
When I was a child, the Bible was the good ol’ King James.
Genesis 4:1 (KJV)
And Adam knew Eve his wife;
and she conceived, and bare Cain.
I giggled at that word, knew. I figured that was the King’s polite way of saying, had sex with. “How old fashioned,” I thought.
How little I knew!
The Hebrew word used here is yada, “to know.” To be known. To show and to discover. To perceive, acknowledge, clearly understand.
The same word is used in this beautiful psalm.
Psalm 139: 4 (NIV)
Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
Know your spouse!
This is a good week to think about marriage. What makes for a good relationship?
You’ve probably heard this quote, attributed to John Wooden and a host of others:
“The best thing a father can do for his children
is to love their mother.”
I know you’ve heard this one:
Matthew 22:37 (NIV)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.
What’s the best thing you can do for your marriage?
Love God. With all your heart.
