Grace 809

Dr. Gary Chapman explains that just like people have different “love languages,” they also have different “apology languages.” If you don’t apologize in the way the offended person needs, they may doubt that you’re truly regretful, which can lead to resentment. Listen in to refine your apology skills.

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When my eldest daughter was 13, she flubbed her piano piece at a recital. The silence in the auditorium was broken only by the pounding of her parents’ hearts. She hurried off the stage, threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shirt. “Oh, Daddy.” That was enough for me. At that moment I’d have given her the moon, and all she said was, “Oh, Daddy.”

Prayer starts here. Prayer begins with an honest, heartfelt, “Oh Daddy!” Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy.

Here’s my challenge for you: every day for four weeks, pray four minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before.

Read more Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Transcript

Kirsty

Keith of Edmonton

This is episode s12e250! Yay!

Our reading today Numbers 13-16. After the reading, I’ll have some comments for you. I’m calling today’s episode “Stubborn.”  

Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn. Korah leads a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and God causes the ground to swallow up all those associated with him. And the people saw and knew that it was the Lord who did it, and that the Lord was confirming that Moses was his chosen leader for them. But the very next day the entire nation of Israel came against Moses and Aaron again! saying they “killed the people of the Lord.” Hello? Were you not listening? So once again God was prepared to wipe them all out with a plague. But Moses, with a pastor’s heart, told Aaron to quickly prepare a sacrifice for the people, and they stopped the plague before it killed everyone. 

I remember the first time I tried to read through the Bible (unsuccessfully, I might add). I had only been a Christian for about five years at this point. I said, “Right after God does something miraculous, they turn their backs on Him! How can these people be so dumb?” And the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “You do the same thing.”

Beloved, we are so much like the children of Israel. How many times have we seen God’s will, either through God’s word, a message from the pastor, or the Holy Spirit speaks to our heart, and then we, in our rebellion, go the opposite way? Multiple times. And yet, the blood that Jesus shed on the cross brings forgiveness to us again and again. His sacrifice paid the price, once…for all. 

God knows that we are a stubborn lot. He knows that just because we know right from wrong does not mean that we will always choose what’s right. That is why He paid such an enormous price for us. Because the debt was so huge, the payment had to be inconceivably large. It took the brutal death of His only begotten Son to bring atonement for my sins, and for yours. It is nearly unthinkable, but as Hebrews 9:22 says, “…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (of sins).

We can never repay the debt. All we can do is give all we can. And all we have is all we are. All I have…is me. I came into the world naked, and naked I will go out. The best I can do is give my life to Him in the time between those two events. I cannot earn salvation. I cannot pay Him back. I can only give my life back to Him in gratitude and love. And this I freely choose to do.

What about you?

A lot of guys need direction, meaning, and purpose for their lives but are struggling to find it. They hear what a man is NOT supposed to be but aren’t sure what they ARE supposed to be. Author and radio host Brant Hansen makes some brilliant observations about what women need men to be - and six key decisions men can make to set themselves apart from the rest. Alluding to the creation story, Brant encourages men to be “Keepers of the Garden” – secure, confident protectors, who are chasing after Christ.

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Jesus invites us to approach God the way a child approaches his or her daddy. And how do children approach their daddies? When a five-year-old spots his father in the parking lot, how does he react? “Yippee!” was screamed by a red-headed boy wearing a Batman backpack. “Pop! Over here! Push me!” yelled by a boy wearing a Boston Red Sox cap who scooted straight to the swings.

Here’s what I didn’t hear: “Father, it is most gracious of thee to drive thy car to my place of education. Please know of my deep gratitude for your benevolence. For thou art splendid in thy attentive care and diligent in thy dedication.”

I heard kids who were happy to see their dads and eager to speak to him. God invites us to approach him in the same manner. What a relief!

Read more Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Transcript

Our reading today Hosea 8-14. After the reading, I’ll have some comments for you. I’m calling today’s episode “Boundless Love.” 

In Matthew 22, Jesus was asked by a Pharisee what the greatest commandment is. His response was, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 

In Hosea, God judged His people because they were not faithful to Him. 

7For my people are determined to *desert* me.
They call me the Most High,
but they don’t truly honor me. (NLT)

Hosea 11:7 NLT

How many times had He told them that judgement was coming, but that He would forgive them if they would repent and come back to Him? 

1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sins have brought you down.

2Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord. Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us,

so that we may offer you our praises. 3Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.”

4The Lord says, “Then I will heal you of your *faithlessness*; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever…”

Hosea 14:1-4 NLT

The same Hebrew word is used in 11:7 “for my people are determined to desert me” and in 14:4 “I will heal you of your faithlessness“. The word means “backsliding” or “apostasy”. To desert or to backslide or to be an apostate means that at one point they were *with* God, but then they turned away. 

Notice what God said here in 14:4: I will heal you of your faithlessness, your backsliding, your apostasy. He didn’t say forgive. He said heal! Listen to what Spurgeon wrote about this: “as though he said, ‘My poor people, I do remember that they are but dust; they are liable to a thousand temptations through the fall, and they soon go astray; but I will not treat them as though they were rebels, I will look upon them as patients, and they shall look upon me as a physician.” 

After telling them that He would heal them of their apostasy, He said, “…my love will know no bounds…”. And it is because of His boundless love that he looked at their backsliding as a disease instead of a willful crime. 

Oh beloved, what a God we serve!

Even though it wasn’t easy, Brant Hansen worked to prioritize his family over his career.

Listen to the Full Program

Receive a copy of The Men We Need and an audio download of "Being the Man Your Family Needs" for your donation of any amount!

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family Minute, please give us your feedback.

A lot of guys need direction, meaning, and purpose for their lives but are struggling to find it. They hear what a man is NOT supposed to be but aren’t sure what they ARE supposed to be. Author and radio host Brant Hansen makes some brilliant observations about what women need men to be - and six key decisions men can make to set themselves apart from the rest. Alluding to the creation story, Brant encourages men to be “Keepers of the Garden” – secure, confident protectors, who are chasing after Christ.

Receive a copy of The Men We Need and an audio download of "Being the Man Your Family Needs" for your donation of any amount!

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

Jesus downplayed the importance of words in prayers. We tend to do the opposite—the more words the better. We emphasize the appropriate prayer language, the latest prayer trend, the holiest prayer terminology. Against all this emphasis on syllables and rituals, Jesus says in Matthew 6:7, “Don’t ramble like heathens who talk a lot.”

There’s no panel of angelic judges with numbered cards. “Wow, Lucado, that prayer was a ten. God will certainly hear you!” or “Oh, Lucado, you scored a two this morning. Go home and practice.” Prayers aren’t graded according to style. If prayer depends on how I pray, I’m sunk. But if the power of prayer depends on the One who hears the prayer, then I have hope.

Read more Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Transcript

Our reading today Proverbs 20-21. After the reading, I’ll have some comments for you. I’m calling today’s episode “Avoiding Strife.”  

Just a few comments today. Most of the verses, or proverbs, speak for themselves. They just need to be rolled over in our minds and made a part of who we are.

My wife, the lovely lady LeeAnn, has been in the car business for several years now, and God has blessed her. She is the director for the internet sales department at her dealership, and every month she’s almost always the top sales person because she treats her clients openly and honestly. Verse 14 of Proverbs 20 makes me think of the sales process that so many people seem to want to go through. “Bad, bad,” says the buyer, But when he goes his way, then he boasts.” It’s the give and take of, not just the car business, but any financial transaction where negotiating is involved. The buyer points out the problems with the merchandise, the seller extolls the virtues. If the process is done properly, both parties are winners. The buyer comes away feeling like he’s gotten a good deal, and the seller makes a reasonable profit. 

And Verse 24 says, “Man’s steps are ordained by the Lord, How then can man understand his way?” That last part is better translated, “How can a man understand his *own* way?” It’s true. Our lives are in God’s hand. He knows where He wants us and what He wants us to do and be. We sometimes think we are planning and running our lives. And to a certain extent we are, since we do have the freedom to choose. But God’s ultimate, overarching plan for creation will be accomplished. Doesn’t it seem foolish to think that we can challenge God? Doesn’t it seem wiser to acknowledge His lordship and follow Him one step at a time, and allow ourselves to be in harmony with His plan? If our plan is in conflict with His, all our planning will be for nothing. There’s an old Jewish proverb, non-Biblical and somewhat cynical that says, “Man makes his plan, and God laughs.” I would much rather give myself to Him and have the assurance that my life will have meant something when I stand before Him at the judgement. I’ve told you many times that my ultimate goal is to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

I’m sure you noticed Solomon’s comments about living with a disagreeable woman. In some circles this is fodder for the fallacy that the Bible is anti-woman. I disagree, and h