Ken and Nancy get a visit from a Kansas, Fellow Warrior and his wife.

Here we are with Ben and Katie at the Arizona Butterfly Farm. What rich fellowship. Notice the butterfly on my knee by my hand.

Uplifting Scripture emailed to the Fellow Warriors

More encouragement found in Romans 15:1-6 and 13 (AMPC)

“1 We who are (becoming) strong [in our convictions and of robust faith] ought to bear with the failings and the frailties and the tender scruples of the weak; [we (of the Christ Quest Institute) ought to help carry the doubts and qualms of others] and not to (simply) please ourselves.

“2 Let each one of us (at CQI) make it a practice to please (make happy) his (Fellow Warrior) neighbor for his good and for his true welfare, to edify him [to strengthen him and build him up spiritually].

“3 For Christ did not please Himself [gave no thought to His own interests]; but, as it is written, The reproaches and abuses of those who reproached and abused you fell on Me. (So, are we willing to accept responsibility for the condition of our marriage relationship.)

“4 For whatever was thus written in former days was written for our instruction, that by [our steadfast and patient] endurance and the encouragement [drawn] from the Scriptures we might hold fast to and cherish hope (Because we are learning how to make application).

“5 Now may the God Who gives the power of patient endurance (steadfastness) and Who supplies encouragement, (through what we are learning) grant you to live in such mutual harmony (with my wife) and such full sympathy with one another (as I [the husband] am doing with my wife), in accord with Christ Jesus,

“6 (So) That together you may [unanimously] with united hearts and one voice, praise and glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).”

“13 May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] (and discipleship through CQI Fellow Warriors) that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.” (All upright parenthesis mine.)                      

Amen and amen!

Could I ask you to remember, we only have one goal for each of our Fellow Warriors: Christ-likeness. Here’s an important consideration, Jesus Himself, spent three years with His disciples and still needed to send the Holy Spirit to continue the job of their becoming spiritually mature. It’s so satisfying for us to watch Christ-likeness s-l-o-w-l-y (just like with the disciples) taking place.

Redirecting Rabbits

Nancy, our girls, and I moved into the house we live in forty years ago. Back then, I planted 10 rose bushes in the front yard back then. A couple of years ago they weren’t doing well so I removed them.

This year Nancy and I decided that we needed 10 more rose bushes. So, I put my 60-year-old self, with 88 years of experience, to work. 20 hours later, my 60-year-old self was ready for a rest.

But a surprise showed up. The local rabbits thought we had planted dinner or breakfast for them. So, I had to spend another 3 hours putting an anti-rabbit, dinner or breakfast fence around the roses.

This picture is from three weeks later. Can’t you just see the big smile on my face because of my fencing skills deterring the rabbits?

I just had a guy, who was in the midst of having his wife behaving hatefully alienating toward him, ask me how he could fulfill Philippians 4:4 (KJV), “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” Proverbs 8:30 (KJV), also talks about, “…rejoicing always.”

First of all, the word is RE-joice. There’s a prefix before the word “joice”. The prefix is “RE”, which means to RE-turn, RE-visit or RE-peat, “RE” says, you are doing it again. You cannot accomplish any of those “RE’s” unless you have discontinued something — then, you can employ the “RE” to another word. So, under his particular circumstances, what’s his cause in wanting to RE-joice?

Try this, since God’s Word says in Romans 8:28 (KJV), “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” For that husband to get an answer as to what the “good” is in his specific case, he’s got to discover what God’s specific lesson is in each event he faces. Of course, the lesson he needs to acknowledge is his failure to have been an illustration of Christ-like love to his wife.

So, he needs to RE-turn to his obligation as a Christian to become Christ-like. Most husbands don’t recognize that a sincere devotion to becoming a living illustration of the Christ for his wife is extremely attractive and builds security within his wife and thus his marriage.

Isn’t looking for God’s answers to life’s events and finding them cause for “joiceing” and then as he makes progress, RE-joiceing? RE-joicing automatically happens when we discover God’s thinking and lesson in each case and make application of His ways over and over again — RE-peatedly.

Christ Quest Ministries is dedicated to coaching husbands how to do exactly that.