It's not that we don't want to be disciplined physically, mentally, and spiritually. The challenge seems too hard, and the motivation more about duty than desire. When it comes to our Christian walk, we don't want to be legalistic and just follow some set of rules. That's not what it's all about, right?Barbara Hughes answers with this encouraging reality: The true heart of spiritual discipline is a relationship with God. As you grow in that relationship, embracing your heavenly Father and his ways, you discover that discipline is your lifeline to him. It is how he gives meaningful shape to all the days of your life.The "dread" of a disciplined life will be replaced with desire and anticipation as you find that there is no greater purpose than loving Him in every moment, every activity, and every thought. Using poignant stories and faithful reminders, Barbara opens her own heart to help you find the joy of full surrender. Her honest and encouraging look at the Word of God reveals the keys to living a truly godly life. And to strengthen your walk day to day, she offers hymns and praise psalms for your devotional times, a long list of recommended books that will lift your spirits, and Bible study helps to remind you that you're not alone.

    And as Jesus' favorite and most powerful teaching tactic was the parable, it is appropriate that Mary Kassian walks the reader through the compelling tale of the wild versus wise woman found in Proverbs 7. By using 20 points of contrast, the reader will be able to discern the difference between wild and wise. Is she living as a wise, biblically savy woman' Or has she bought into the one our culture holds as ideal: the wild woman'Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild will captivate, convict, and challenge women to become decreasingly wild and increasingly wise. Includes questions for personal reflection at the end of each chapter.

    Your stomach churns, your heart aches, and the tension in your marriage is making you feel weary and a little crazy. The constant criticism, disrespect, cruelty, deceit, and gross indifference are eroding your confidence and breaking your spirit.       For any woman caught in an emotionally destructive marriage, Leslie Vernick offers a personalized path forward. Based on decades of counseling experience, her intensely practical, biblical advice will show you how to establish boundaries and break free from emotional abuse. Learn to:   ·         identify damaging behaviors ·         gain the skills to respond wisely ·         promote healthy change ·         stay safe ·         understand when, why, and even how to leave ·         recognize that God sees and hates what is happening to you   Trying harder to be a perfect fantasy wife won’t help fix what’s wrong your marriage. Discover instead how you can initiate effective changes to stop the cycle of destruction and restore hope for the future.  “Women in an emotionally abusive marriage do not need another book on how to have a good marriage; those books rub salt in raw wounds. No, they desperately need this book so that they can diagnose just how bad their marriage is and then, with Leslie’s clear expertise, develop a plan that will either begin to turn their marriage around...or give them a wise route of escape.” —Dee Brestin, author of Idol Lies and The Friendships of Women

    But when we pursue the more and better that the world offers above our pursuit of Jesus, we fall into dangerous parenting habits. In Becoming a Spiritually Healthy Family, Michelle Anthony unpacks six common dysfunctional parenting styles that we fall into out of habit, lack of attention, or just oversight due to busyness. If you long to show your children Jesus but don't know how to do it, you'll find hope in this practical guide to creating a relentlessly grace-filled home that is focused on God as first in charge. Includes Scripture guides, reflection questions, ideas for family rites of passage, and other real life family examples.Michelle Anthony is the vice president of Learning Resources and Family Ministry Architect at David C Cook and the author of Spiritual Parenting, Dreaming of More for the Next Generation, A Theology of Family Ministry, and The Big God Story. Michelle has graduate degrees in Christian education, theology, and leadership and over twenty-five years of church ministry experience as a children’s and family pastor. She lives in Colorado Springs and loves a good book and a cup of coffee.

    Written from the perspective of two mature Christian wives and Bible teachers–women who you’ll come to know as teachers and friends–Intimate Issues is biblical and informative: sometimes humorous, other times practical, but always honest. Through its solid teaching warm testimonials, scriptural insights, and experts’ advise, you’ll find resolution for your questions and fears, surprising insights about God’s perspective on sex, and a variety of practical and creative ideas for enhancing your physical relationship with the husband you love. With warmth and wisdom, authors Linda Dillow and Lorraine Pintus speak woman to woman: examining the teachings of Scripture, exposing the lies of the world, and offering real hope that every woman’s marriage relationship can become all it was intended to be in God’s design.

    With refreshing candor and vulnerability, bestselling author Leslie Ludy reveals how, starting today, you can experience the passion and intimacy you long for. You can begin a never-ending love story with your true Prince. Discover the authentic beauty of a life fully set-apart for Him. Experience a romance that will transform every part of your existence and fulfill the deepest longings of your feminine heart.

    Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is a resource to help church leaders improve the culture of their church and disciple men and women in their flock to read, understand, and apply Scripture to our lives in the church. Until both men and women grow in their understanding of their relationship to Scripture, there will continue to be tension between the sexes in the church. Church leaders need to be engaged in thoughtful critique of the biblical manhood and womanhood movement and the effects it has on their congregation.Do men and women benefit equally from God's word? Are they equally responsible in sharpening one another in the faith and passing it down to the next generation? While radical feminists claim that the Bible is a hopelessly patriarchal construction by powerful men that oppresses women, evangelical churches simply reinforce this teaching when we constantly separate men and women, customizing women's resources and studies according to a culturally based understanding of roles. Do we need men's Bibles and women's Bibles, or can the one, holy Bible guide us all? Is the Bible, God's word, so male-centered and authored that women need to create their own resources to relate to it? No! And in it, we also learn from women. Women play an active role as witnesses to the faith, passing it on to the new generations.This book explores the feminine voice in Scripture as synergistic with the dominant male voice. Through the women, we often get the story behind the story--take Ruth for example, or the birth of Christ through the perspective of Mary and Elizabeth in Luke. Aimee fortifies churches in a biblical understanding of brotherhood and sisterhood in God's household and the necessity of learning from one another in studying God's word.The troubling teaching under the rubric of "biblical manhood and womanhood" has thrived with the help of popular Biblicist interpretive methods. And Biblicist interpretive methods ironically flourish in our individualistic culture that works against the "traditional values" of family and community that the biblical manhood and womanhood movement is trying to uphold. This book helps to correct Biblicist trends in the church today, affirming that we do not read God's word alone, we read it within our interpretive covenant communities--our churches. Our relationship with God's word affects our relationship with God's people, and vice versa. The church is the school of Christ, commissioned to discipleship. The responsibility of every believer, men and women together, is being active and equal participants in and witnesses to the faith--the tradents of faith.

    By catching a vision of God’s original design and allowing it to shape your life, you can rediscover the joy and fulfillment to be found in the strategic role to which God in all his wisdom has called you, for a purpose far greater than you can ever imagine. Discover how understanding God’s purpose and design can empower you to be the mother you long to be.

    More than that, this book will increase people’s confidence in the sufficiency and relevancy of God’s Word to address real-life issues in a multitude of counseling situations. Readers of this book will:Understand clearly why they should embrace biblical counselingBe encouraged to trust God’s Word to provide rich insight for living in the midst of even the most difficult challengesEnjoy the relevant, pastoral, and theological teaching they have come to appreciate from such noted authors as John Piper, Mark Dever, and Elyse FitzpatrickThe 28 chapters blend theological wisdom and practical expertise. The first half of the book emphasizes a practical theology of biblical counseling; the second half highlights a practical methodology of biblical counseling.Though accessible to all Christians, the book will especially appeal to pastors and church leaders, counseling practitioners, students, and educators.

    A bestselling and definitive guide to marital intimacy for Christian couples, learn how to deepen sexual pleasure and enjoy God’s gift of sexual intimacy with your spouse.It can be difficult to find biblically based sexual advice. A licensed psychologist and family therapist, Dr. Douglas Rosenau answers specific and often unasked questions about sexual topics, presenting married couples with detailed techniques and skills to deepen their sexual pleasure and improve their marriages.In this easy-to-read guide, Dr. Rosenau covers topics including:Building a biblical foundation of knowledge about sexual intimacyEnhancing pleasure and enjoying passionate intimacyOvercoming common hurdlesResolving problems and healing brokennessGrounded in Scripture and written by a pioneer of Christian sex therapy, A Celebration of Sex is comprehensive, direct, and honest, treating sex with the respect it deserves and a Christ-like foundation. An excellent tool for premarital education and counseling, it’s a must-read for Christian spouses.

    By studying the biblical character Ruth, women learn the characteristics that every woman of God should develop. This expanded edition of the original best-seller includes a personal journal and study guide.You hold in your hands a fresh and exciting way to enhance your personal life and enrich your spiritual journey. This expanded edition of Lady in Waiting includes: Original text of the best-selling book - complete and unabridged!Complete Study Guide - Learn how to apply the principles taught in Lady in Waiting. These questions, quotes, thoughts, and teachings will help you to become the woman of God that He designed you to be. You can also record your spiritual growth in a specially designed journal section. Don't miss this opportunity to become God's lady in waiting!Forty-Day Meditational Journal - This section offers profound motivational truths from some of the greatest women of God in the history of the Church, with meditative readings to help you live in the presence of the Lord every day. Quiet meditation, contemplative prayer, and careful study will help you receive the full benefit from spiritual truth - and this new edition assists with all three. When you give yourself to the Lord through the pages of this book, the spiritual truths you gain will bring you to new places in your experience with God and prepare you for deeper levels of loving relationships!

    In His Needs, Her Needs, Willard Harley identifies the ten most vital needs of men and women and shows husbands and wives how to satisfy those needs in their spouses. He provides guidance for becoming irresistible to your spouse and for loving more creatively and sensitively, thereby eliminating the problems that often lead to extramarital affairs. The revised anniversary edition of His Needs, Her Needs is a celebration of how the book has helped thousands of couples revitalize their marriages during the last fifteen years. This best-seller identifies the causes of marital difficulties and instructs couples on how to prevent them, guiding them to build a relationship that sustains romance and increases intimacy. With today's soaring divorce rate and prevalence of affairs, Harley's insights are needed more than ever before.An unabridged recording of His Needs, Her Needs, the 15th anniversary edition, is now available as an audio book.

    We need to recover the practice of honest spiritual struggle that gives us permission to vocalize our pain and wrestle with our sorrow. Lament avoids trite answers and quick solutions, progressively moving us toward deeper worship and trust.Exploring how the Bible--through the psalms of lament and the book of Lamentations--gives voice to our pain, this book invites us to grieve, struggle, and tap into the rich reservoir of grace and mercy God offers in the darkest moments of our lives.

    She is of immense value to God. She is precious to Him. She is His daughter, an heir of the promise, a co-heir of the grace of life with you. Do you feel that? Does it make your chest knot up? Do you get a little bit afraid? Maybe a lot afraid? Good. Hold that pose.In recent decades, we have essentially reduced marriage to a permanent roommate situation with sexual benefits. But marriage is not about something as low-stakes as “who gets to control the remote.” Your husband or wife is no mere mortal, but an eternal soul who is going to grow closer to God or further from Him because they are married to you. Add children to the mix—even more eternal souls! That’s why the biblical picture of the family is something far more powerful, far more dangerous, far more glorious—far more like a nuclear reactor—than anything else in modern society.No Mere Mortals: Marriage for People Who Will Live Forever shows how husbands can lead their wives, and how wives can follow their husbands, and how both together, building on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ, can shape future generations and the world.

    And it's no secret that they don't always get along because of these differences, even when they love each other. But having a successful marriage is not about finding the perfect person to marry. It's about loving someone in an unselfish, Christlike manner. Whatever we want out of marriage--unconditional love, forgiveness, passion--that is what we have to give to our spouse. Rick Johnson shows couples how to go beyond merely tolerating each other's differences to using those God-given differences to add spice and passion to their relationship.