InstaEncouragements Blog

5 Signs of a Functional Family: Children who Obey and Honor

10/8/2019

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ this is the first commandment with a promise” (Ephesians 6:1-2).

This is the final post in our 5 Signs of a Functional Family series. We've looked at An Attitude of Service, Intimacy Between the Husband and Wife, Husbands Who are Loving Leaders and Parents Who Both Teach and Train Their Children. All of these are signs of functional families. While the first four signs are primarily directed to parents and must be parent lead, the fifth and final sign is one which children bear the responsibility.

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5 Signs of a Functional Family: Parents Who Teach and Train

9/17/2019

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5 Signs of a Functional Family: Parents Who Teach and Train

Over the past few weeks we have been looking at signs of a functional family. We've looked at An Attitude of Service, Intimacy Between the Husband and Wife and Husbands Who Are Loving Leaders. These are all signs of functional families, however there is yet another—parents who are teaching and training their children.

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

In order to clearly understand the full scope of this directive, there must be an understanding of the words nurture and admonition. The ancient Greeks used to say that nurture and admonition were the two wheels on which the chariot of child-rearing rolled. While it would be ludicrous to attempt to drive a chariot with only one wheel in operation, it is equally as futile to attempt to rear children without both nurture and admonition.

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5 Signs of a Functional Family: Husbands who are Loving Leaders

9/10/2019

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5 Signs of a Functional Family: #3 Husbands who are Loving Leaders

“For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior” (Ephesians 5:23).

We've been looking at signs of a functional family the last couple of weeks. The first week we looked at An Attitude of Service and last week we looked at Intimacy Between the Husband and Wife. Today we will look at Husbands who are Loving Leaders.

An attitude of service, intimacy between the husband and wife and husbands who are loving, godly leaders are all signs of a functional family. God made women and children with a need for leadership. Any man who has been blessed with the privilege of leading a family should give careful consideration to how he is accomplishing this God-given role.

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Holiness in the Daily Grind

8/30/2019

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Holiness is not a popular subject today, but it is an essential biblical quality each of us should pursue.

Nancy DeMoss in her book Holiness writes,

“Holiness isn’t exactly an easy subject to ‘sell.’ It‘s not one of the top ten topics people look for in a Christian bookstore, there aren’t a lot of hit songs about holiness; and I can count on two hands the number of messages I recall hearing on the theme.”

In the book The Hole in Our Holiness author Kevin DeYoung it states,

“The hole in our holiness is that we don’t really care much about it. …Believers want ‘community acceptance’ not to be called legalistic, prudish, narrow-minded, old fashioned, holier-than-thou, or worst of all, a fundamentalist.”

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5 Signs of a Functional Family: An Attitude of Service

8/27/2019

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This post is the first in a 5-part series of studies on the family. Much is said in today's society about functional and dysfunctional families. It goes without saying that God’s plan for the Christian family is one of functionality, harmony and love. In the midst of all the pop culture and psychobabble of the day it is necessary to go back to the Word of God for a complete understanding of exactly what is a functional family.

In his book, Five Signs of a Functional Family, Gary Chapman discusses five key elements that are present in every family that is honoring God. All five of these signs are addressed in the post Come and Gather: Family Time With God.

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How to Write a Book in 4 Simple Steps

8/13/2019

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How to write a book in 4 simple steps:

Experience a life-changing tragedy
Get outside of your comfort zone
Find an editor that believes in the message
Become discouraged and put the project away for 17 years

Seriously, this is how it happens sometimes. At least this is how it happened for me. And if I’m completely honest, none of that was simple. The Heart That Heals is coming to Amazon September 1, 2019. Today I want to share with you how it almost didn’t happen.

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The Red Sea Rules: Week 10

8/6/2019

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Today, we are concluding our Summer Book Club-Style Bible Study with Robert Morgan's book The Red Sea Rules.

Week-by-week, since early June, we have been thinking about what it means to live by faith. Each week we've studied a biblical principle and thought about how to apply it to our lives when we are going through difficult times. The final rule is a simple one: Don’t forget to praise Him.

Still need to get the book? Click here to order or download your copy (less than $10 for the hardcover and less than $2 for the Kindle version).

Need to catch up?
Read Week 1 here, Week 2 here, Week 3 here, Week 4 here, Week 5 here, Week 6 here, Week 7 here, Week 8 here, and Week 9 here.

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