The Love Challenge is based on
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
Love is GOD!!!
- Day 1- Love is patient
- Day2- Love is kind
- Day 3- Love doesn’t envy
- Day 4- Love doesn’t boast
- Day 5- Love is not arrogant
- Day 6- Love is not rude
- Day 7- Love does not insist on its own way
- Day 8- Love is not irritable
- Day 9 Love is not resentful
- Day 10- Love does not rejoice at wrong doing
- Day 11- Love rejoices in the truth
- Day 12- Love bears all things
- Day 13- Love believes all things
- Day 14- Love hopes all things
- Day 15- Love endures all things
- Day 16- Love never ends (Perseveres)
These are the days of the challenge…. I will post more as they share more.
If you need it, to help you through, replace love with your husbands name… ‘Shane doesn’t insist on his own way.’ Pray it that way and stick with that throughout the day. Even on the days that you are having problems put your name there… pray that for yourself as well so you can find that strength to get through the day!
Day 1~ Love is Patient... We are challenged to remember that God is patient with our mistakes and growth, there for we will be patient with God as He works all things out for our good.
~We are also challenged to choose to see patience as a characteristic of Love in our husbands and respond to them with patience {even for those who don't see this at the moment}. :)
God Is Love = Love Is God
Day 2~ Love is KIND, which means having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature; affectionate; thoughtful. I am praying for all of us that we would remember how KIND God is to us, to speak words of faith concerning our husband's kindness, and to ask the Lord to anoint us to display HIS kindness through us toward our husbands (and everyone else!). ♥ Rebecca- The Imperfect Wives
Day 3~ Love Does Not Envy! Envy = a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc. {Dictionary.com}
Did you know that envy and jealousy go hand in hand? Envy can take us down the wrong road if we don't stop it in it's tracks. What are you envious/jealous about? Perhaps your envious of God. It may sound crazy but even this can be a stumbling block for many people. Maybe your envious of your husband and the favor God has given him. You can see his light shining but not your own. There are so many reasons why we can find our selves envying others. However, Paul is teaching us that Love and Envy don't mix.
Your challenge today, just as David did, ask God to search your heart and reveal the area's envy is residing. Once revealed, submit these to God and let Him refine you. Doing so will restore your peace with God once again. ♥
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting." Psalms 139:23-24 {NKJV}
*taken from The Imperfect Wives
Day 4~ Love Does not Boast. Love doesn't "talk about itself with excessive pride or self-satisfaction about achievements, possessions, or abilities." The sin of boasting often shows itself first in our thoughts rather than in our words, as we compare our achievements as a spouse, parent, friend, employee, or Christian to our husband. Then...when we perceive weakness, we criticize or correct, using our "success" or "gifting" as the model for correct behavior. Maybe we don't even say these things to our husbands, but instead, choose to say them to our friends or family members, building ourselves up in their eyes while diminishing our spouse.
Love means elevating our husbands and building them up. Love is not in competition with others, but sees them as God sees them, with no need to exalt itself.
Your challenge today~ Be watchmen {watchwomen} over your marriage and look for the area's you can "boast" in the Lord and all that He has done for you. Then boast about your husband to God, to your self, and to others. Hearing your self boast about his achievements, gifting's, and skills, puts him back in the right perspective in your thought life, eliminating the competition.. ~Rebecca
Day 5~ Love is not proud. In Philippians 2:3, Paul says it this way, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." Your challenge today is this: ask God to reveal the areas where pride has invaded your heart and separated you from your husband. Remind yourself that Jesus humbled Himself when He came as a man and died on the cross for YOUR sins, even when He was sinless.
Focus on the ways that your husband exemplifies humility instead of focusing on areas where he might be exhibiting pride. PLEASE comment here to give let us know how you're doing today with the challenge! We want to rejoice with you or encourage you where you feel weak. ♥ Cherie & Rebecca
Day 6~ Love is Not Rude. Rude means offensively impolite or ill-mannered, discourteous, disrespectful, curt, brusque, short, uncivil, impertinent, insolent, impudent, sharp, insulting, derogatory, disparaging, abusive, tactless, undiplomatic, uncomplimentary.
So that means that LOVE is NOT any of those things!
I don’t think it’s any accident that rude has so many synonyms. It reminds me of Matthew 7:13-14, which says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” The ‘wide gate’ is all of the things tat are rude. The ‘narrow gate’ is the way of LOVE.
Our challenge for today is to choose to be loving in being ‘not rude’. We must choose to focus on how God is never curt, short, uncivil, or impolite to us….even when we deserve it. God is always LOVING in His attitude toward us, even when disciplining us. How is your husband ‘not rude’? Praise him for it in a tactful, loving, admiring way.
Ask God to reveal to you phrases, habits, attitudes, body language, facial expressions, and anything else that you do or say that conveys an attitude of being rude instead of loving. As He does, remember that these nudges to be different are not for the sake of condemnation, but because He loves YOU and wants you to be changed from glory to glory so that you can better reflect His love for those around you. He does not want you to change in order to take from you, but to give you even more abundance in life. As you lay down things that are not bearing good fruit in your life, you will begin to see a greater harvest of righteousness in your life.
If you have been rude to your husband, prayerfully consider apologizing to him. You might be pleasantly surprised by his gracious response to this kind of apology. ~Rebecca
Day 7~ Love is Not Self Seeking
Self seeking means; the seeking of one’s own interest or selfish ends. {Dictionary.com} Have you found yourself in a place where every decision you make is to cover yourself or to further your own plan, leaving your husband out or even behind? The Bible tells us to deny ourselves and lay down our life for others. This means our marriages as well. Some times we are this way because of fear. Other times because we want what we want {plain and simple} and don’t want to submit to their leading.
Your challenge today~ Ask God to show you the area’s you are self seeking. I imagine He has already brought a certain circumstance to your thoughts. Be brave and take responsibility for your actions. Then, repent and ask God to show you where you can show love to your husband and to God in this area. ~Cherie
Day 8~ Love IS Not Easily Angered
Israel really tested Gods love for them at Sinai {Exodus 32:9-11; Deuteronomy 9:8, 19}. My KJV states that God calls them "stiffnecked people". They tested His love again in the wilderness {Deuteronomy 9 paying special attention to vs 22 where we see His anger building}. Take a moment to read these passages. Then ask your self this question; Can I see my self in the Israelite's requests and responses?
God Loves Israel. They are His chosen people. And though He gave and gave they continually provoked His anger against them. What was His answer in reply? John 3:16 "For God so LOVED the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that who so ever believe on Him should not perish but have Ever Lasting Life!
Could God look at you and see a stiffnecked wife? Can I encourage you to lay down your list of wrongs against your husband and allow your love to flow freely, without strings. Jesus answers this with the Cross. Peter encourages us to do the same in 1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." {NIV}
Day 9~ Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs
Micah 7:19 (ESV) says, "He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." God keeps no record of wrongs! His compassion crushes our sins under His feet and puts them at the bottom of the ocean where He cannot see them. How grateful I am for that! And even more than that: He sent JESUS to pay for our sins. Romans 3:22 says that we have righteousness from God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ.
This not an excuse to sin freely without thought of consequences, but a reminder that God is compassionate and merciful to us and, as His children, we need to display that same compassion and mercy.
Today's challenge is this: do you keep a record of wrongs that your husband has committed against you? Do you "rehearse" (in your heart or with your friends) all of the bad/mean/awful things that you see in his life and look at him through the filter of those wrong things or do you see him as God does...with righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ? Do you keep a list of wrongs for other people? That list-making can become a habit for us if we do not guard ourselves against that temptation. Assigning blame is so easy, as it can make us feel self-righteous free of responsibility.
Do you feel that your husband has such a list against you? Ask the Lord to change his heart about "record keeping" and trust that the Lord will make that change. But...in the meantime, model the behavior that you desire to see in him. Because, really, isn't that what God has done for us?
Day 10~ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Have you thought or even said the following? "I wish everyone knew "who" he truly is!" or "If I could, I would shout out all of his wrongs so his friends will finally know the man I know him to be."
I'm sure many of us would have to raise our hands when asked if we have wanted to do this. I have. satan knows their faults and continues to promoted them in our thoughts until each one gets under our skin. Everything they do from this point on works to prove how wrong they are and we just cannot wait to "blow their cover". What is this called? Delighting in evil. Check out what Isaiah has to say on this subject.
"For the foolish person will speak foolishness, and her heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and she will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail." Isaiah 32:6
Your challenge today: STOP!!! Stop uttering their faults to God. Take those thoughts captive. Their purpose is to kill your love and respect for your husband. Though it can be hard the first few times around, it is never wrong to chose the truth over evil. God delights in truth. Stop letting satan promote negative thoughts in your mind. Choose instead to believe the truth of what God says about your husband and rejoice in his good qualities, praising him to others.
Day 11~Love rejoices with the truth
What is truth? Things that are true are fact or genuine. I've written "True Love Tuesday" for about a year now...with an eye to what is the real truth of married love in light of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us. Sometimes the situations we experience make us doubt whether we will experience the truth of God's Word concerning ourselves, our husbands, and our marriages. What we observe with our five senses in our physical surroundings sometimes (often!) makes us believe that the truth of God's Word isn't something we can attain or have manifest in our lives, especially when we face a challenging circumstance.
The truth expressed in Romans 8:28 is this: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Are you struggling to see something worth rejoicing about in your husband or your marriage? Our challenge today is to rejoice with the truth...to know what the truth is about God, about ourselves, and about our husbands, and about our circumstances. Rejoice about your spiritual reality...not about the things you can measure with human senses.
The truth is that no matter WHAT you are facing, God works ALL THINGS for the good of those who love him and are called according to His purpose. That's us, dear sisters! Choose to rejoice with that truth today and, like me, you just might find that your emotions begin to line up with that choice to rejoice! ♥ Rebecca
Day 12~ Love Always Protects
Protect means to defend or guard from attack, invasion, loss, annoyance, insult, etc.; cover or shield from injury or danger. {dictionary.com}
We talk about this a lot with my group here in Beaufort. My wives are young in their marriages and just learning that our husbands need to be protected by us and sometimes even from us! If the latter half of the last sentence stings you, this means it's time to evaluate where you truly stand in proximity to your husband.
Here are three areas to check your position:
1. Are you walking before him ~ always leading the way, showing others you are in control, discouraging his leadership role in the marriage and family?
2. Are you walking behind him ~ walking broken, with a martyr complex leaving others to believe you husband is abusive or lacking in many areas?
3. Are you walking beside him ~ as his helpmeet, protecting him and guarding his heart with your thoughts and actions, letting others see your respect and love for him?
Your challenge today: Where do stand? If you don't like where your standing, Change-Your-Position. God longs to do a work in your heart!! Enough Said!
Day 13~ Love always trusts!
What is trust? Trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
Do you trust your husband? Often, we withhold trust from our spouse because we have been hurt by them or by someone else. But when we do that, we are not fully loving them.
Wow! For me, that's a tough pill to swallow. I don't want it to be that way...withholding trust seems to be a self-preservation technique that will guard my heart from being broken. But, the truth of the matter is this: when I don't trust, I don't allow God into the situation. So, even if I don't "feel" like trusting my husband, I must trust in Jesus and resist the temptation to guard my heart from being hurt.
It reminds me of the old hymn: "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. Just to take Him at His Word. Just to rest upon His promise. Just to know, 'Thus saith the Lord.' Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him. How I've proved Him o'er and o'er...Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus. O, for grace, to trust Him more."
Our challenge today: trust Jesus and ask for His grace to trust Him and your husband more!
As you meditate on Jesus' trustworthiness, ask the Lord to make you more trustworthy for your husband. As you use the hurts you've endured as stepping stones instead of material for building a wall between you and your husband, you will begin to see his trust in God and you develop, too...because God is faithful! ~Rebecca
Day 14~ Love Always Hopes
I can't help but think about the following verse where I hear the word "Hope"!
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb 11:1 {KJV}
Have you let hope die in a certain area in your marriages? Faith and Hope are intertwined. Hope comes as a result of our faith. Faith always precedes our hope.. So the question is, do you have the faith to hope for the things you desire but have yet to see come to fruition on your marriage?
Your challenge today: Allow God to breath life into your hope once again. Though your circumstances scream to you otherwise, let Hope have its way in your thoughts trusting God to bring to fruition the very thing you were hoping for! ~ Cherie
Day 15~ Love Always Perseveres
The dictionary defines "persevere" as "to continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no prospect of success."
I don't mind the first part of that definition. However, I'm not too crazy about the part that says "with little or no prospect of success."
But, then I think about how God loves each of us. His love perseveres even when we don't give much indication that we are going to give Him our hearts. he continues to pursue us, to pour out His love on us, to woo us until we willingly give Him our hearts.
Do you do the same for your husband? Do you persevere in loving him? Even when he doesn't give much indication that he cares as much about you as you want him to? Do you pursue your husband, pour out your love on him, woo him, entice him to give you his heart?
If this is difficult for you, remember what James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
Today's challenge: persevere in your love for your husband. Don't let the little things in life steal your drive to persevere! ♥ Rebecca
Day 16~ Love Never Fails
Failure = to fall short of success or achievement in something expected, attempted, desired, or approved. {Dictionary.com}
Have you notice, no matter how many times you turn from God and turn back to your sin, He is always there? This is because Gods love cannot fail. The Apostle John said this, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" {John 3:17}. He proved His love for us by laying down His sons life for ours.
The word “requirement” seems to have come up often during this challenge. God required a sacrifice to be given as payment for our sins. His unfailing love is so powerful that it transformed a dieing world and raised within it new life. Again, proving that love can not fail.
Your final challenge is this: take every thing you have learned the last 15 days, laying down your own agenda, and love your Husband. Applying these principles will change your marriage, creating in you the woman God designed you to be. Giving you a greater understanding that Love {God} Never Fails. ~Rebecca & Cherie ♥
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