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Daily Devotional | The Importance of Family Time Devotion

The Secret to Successfully Conducting a Family by Nancy Nair

As I ponder all that is happening around the world it makes me think about all the bad times when I was a little girl in the 40’s. Even though the world was in chaos; as I look back, I can remember our family being strong together. Even though we didn’t have any money, my father and mother seemed to have balance in their lives. I think what is nice about what my father and mother did was they brought fun into our world. As a child I remember going to church together every Sunday, picnics, fishing, going to our grandparent’s home, visiting family members, card parties, listening to the radio together. I think being together as a family is what enables us to go through hard times without causing destruction.

The secret to successfully conducting a family, even through crisis, is to start building family togetherness. May I encourage us all to...

Helpful Tips | How Divorce Affects Children

Trouble in Paradise by Nancy Nair

I thought I would give a tidbit on my thinking of what happens to children in the home when a husband and wife are having trouble and can find no resolution.

There are four options Do nothing (grow indifferent: enduring or tolerating it.), fight all of the time or make the decision to separate or divorce. Then, of course, there is the option to find God’s solution.

When the decision is made to separate or divorce, this really affects the children as much as the parents.

If you decide to live separately in or outside the home, you can only imagine

Helpful Tips | Struggling With Financial Difficulties

Find Freedom From Debt by Nancy Nair

Do you ever feel like that hamster on a wheel just running around in circles? Every day, wake up, have breakfast, read your Bible and spend some time with God, rush off to work or work around the house. Maybe have lunch with a friend, head back to do more work. Make dinner, head home, go to bed, only to start the next day all over again.

For those of us who have a job, some of us like their job and others don’t. Some work so hard, only to watch the money disappear to pay for all of their bills. There are a few who have been blessed with money and their days are not necessarily spent worrying about paying the bills, but...

Helpful Tips | Help Your Marriage Stay Alive

Relationship Penalties to Avoid by Travis Turner

Tips to keep your marriage alive (during the football season)

No one enjoys watching sports more than me. As a former college athlete I love immersing myself in all aspects of athletics. There’s no better time of year to enjoy sports than the fall. The college and pro football seasons are starting to heat up, baseball has entered the playoffs, basketball season has begun, NASCAR fans are enjoying the Sprint Cub Series, hunting season is upon us, and golf in Arizona is to die for. The problem with all these choices; is keeping our wives from feeling like “widows”. It’s real easy to focus on all these games, races, even fantasy leagues and lose track of our spouses.

Here’s a few relationship penalties to avoid this fall while still enjoying your favorite sporting events.

Helpful Tips | Marriage 101 with Nancy Nair

Nancy Nair helps women and men understand a common problem

Concept Review | Hebrews 12:1 by Ken Nair

Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doeth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1

I think many Christians are struggling because they do not know how to identify “the sin which doeth so easily beset us…”
A significant means of identifying that sin, I believe, would be to know our Motivational Spiritual Gift. The natural-to-human-being characteristics of each person’s spiritual gift help define the human nature of each individual. Defining the human nature can spotlight the category of sin. Let me see if I can clarify this.

Helpful Tips | Helping Bring Families Closer

Listen to Ken Nair help families with difficult problems.

Helpful Tips | Spiritual Gifting Help | Helping Find What Motivates You

What Makes Each Of Us So Different?
I have a father and mother, 2 sisters and a brother. Each of us is different from the other. When we were born God placed in us a motivational gift. This determines how we would respond to life. (Romans 12: 7-8) He started preparing us for helping others right at our birth. He places different gifts within us so we can learn how to respond like Him. We are to attain all of God’s attributes so that we can be used by Him. So, as we are living our daily lives with our family while all see things a little different, we have a decision to make at that time. Are we going to hate each other or are we going to learn from each other? This way, whoever we meet as friends or whoever we work with, we should understand that they are the way God meant them to be.

Concept Review | Psalms 139:23-24 by Ken Nair

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalms 139:23-24)

As I read these verses, I realize that I am the one making this request. I am looking at being a willing participant in this search/hunt/inquiry. Doesn’t this make sense, that my life will not be benefited if God is the only one initiating this search and it is exclusively for Himself? For me to benefit, I must be deeply involved in this search.

But this verse is talking about much more than a quick investigation for general information. Let’s look at it through a word study.

Concept Review | Mark 14:40 by Ken Nair

“Neither wist they what to answer him. (Mark 14:40 KJV)

As I read Mark 14:32-41, I need to imagine myself being there with Jesus and try to feel what was happening. Otherwise, I could easily miss an opportunity to increase my hope. And there is an outstanding offer of hope in that passage.

To discover the hope, we must identify the very powerful emotions taking place in this text.

These are the key words in the verses that carry the message, coupled with an amplified translation that will let you enjoy the match-up work.

Concept Review | Galatians 5:24 by Ken Nair

“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh.” (Galatians 5:24)

Crucifying the flesh, that which is more commonly known as dying to self, is a phrase often spoken by Christians with great enthusiasm.

It is a powerful Christian doctrine. It offers inner peace in exchange for the frustration we experience when we have yielded to the desires of our flesh.

Lack of peace is often proof of this truth. Lack of peace is a warning signal. Is the flesh in control?

Marriage | The Lord’s First Marriage

Adam and Eve by Nancy Nair

God so wants us to be excited about being spiritually close to Him! When I think about how close I want to be with God, I think about how fortunate Adam was when he and God would walk and talk together in the Garden of Eden. Can you imagine how glorious that was?

Among the multitude of things they must have talked about, God spoke to Adam about the one tree from which he must not eat: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam likely replied, “I won’t eat of that tree because you have asked me not to, but he probably didn’t give it much more thought.

Concept Review | 1 Corinthians 13:5 by Ken Nair

Love thinketh no evil. 1 Corinthians 13:5

This verse is often translated, Love keeps no record of wrongs.

Since Jesus said, Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28) I have asked Nancy to come to me with the same freedom that Christ offers.

When Jesus makes that offer there are absolutely no conditions people have to meet before they are allowed to come to Him. Therefore, it is easy to imagine that all people (at one time or another) are going to come to Him with offenses committed against them by another person. Then, as He hears accounts of wrongs committed, it would appear at first glance if love…keeps no record of wrongs, as though Jesus is a participant in a violation of Scripture. Are we seeing a contradiction in Scripture here? I think not!

Helpful Tips | Helping you Walk Closer to God

Is Your All on the Altar? by Nancy Nair

While going through my day, I wondered what it would take for us to see greater evidence of God working in our lives, and I found a meaningful expression in a hymn in an old song book. I’d like to share these four verses from the song, “Is Your All on the Altar?” by Elisha A. Hoffman.

You have longed for sweet peace, and for faith to increase, and have earnestly, fervently prayed. But you cannot have rest, or be perfectly blest, until all on the altar is laid.

Helpful Tips | Help With Emotions

Understanding Your Feelings by Nancy Nair

Why is it important for each of us to understand feelings I ask? I think that if we really knew how things hurt us, and what feeling it was that went on inside of us, we would be better prepared to help others when they are hurting. If we don’t get to know those feelings and what each of those feelings represent in each situation how can we help each other.

God did not just make women emotional and men emotionless, that is not how God works. God wants each of us to be able to talk to Him from the bottom of our hearts. What does that mean I wonder? It means to me that I have a wonderful relationship with God, talking spirit to spirit with Him. So I need to understand why I feel a certain way so that nothing is between me and God. If I try to hide my feeling from God there will be an emptiness that will keep me from talking to Him like Adam did when he was in the garden with God; remember when God was walking with Adam in the garden?

Concept Review | Matthew 5:23 by Ken Nair

Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. (Matthew 5:23)

This is wise advice that can lead a Christian to greater spiritual strength. Doesn’t it seem curious that God would instruct us to agree with Satan? Rather than agree with any adversary, our first natural thought would be to resist, react or reject anything an adversary had to say. Especially when it is acknowledged that the adversary mentioned here is Satan…also known as our Accuser. (Rev. 12:10) A close examination of the key Greek words in this verse helps us to clarify the value in its message. Then, rich benefits can be derived.

Concept Review | Amos 8:7; Ezekiel 18:22 by Ken Nair

If there is any question about whether or not God forgets our sins or our sinful nature, maybe the following discourse will answer that question.

Both the book of Hosea and the book of Amos record how deeply God is offended at the nation of Israel because of their evil ways. From cheating their fellow-man in business, lying, to worshiping other gods.

In Hosea 7:2 He says, And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness…” And in 8:13, “They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the Lord accepteth them not; now will He remember their iniquity…”

Concept Review | Psalm 90:12 by Ken Nair

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
Apply (Hebrew: bow, bo) abide, attain, bring (forth), illustrate, call, carry, enter, have indeedWow, what a request! Imagine how easy it would be to respond if someone asked you, “what do you think is God’s will? especially if God has granted you the understanding that request provides.

The promise of this verse makes being needy a good thing, especially since we have a loving Father who longs to impart wisdom to us. The product of His wisdom is the following: We will be able to discern what He wants to accomplish in and through each of us.

Have you ever been asked, or have asked yourself, this question: What do you think is God’s will for you in this _______________________?

Marriage | Accomplishing Your Marriage Resulotions

Are Your Resolutions Never Accomplished? by Nancy Nair

Have you ever found that your New Year’s resolutions are never accomplished? Let’s say that your New Year’s resolution is that you want to have a happy marriage this year. You need to decide that there are a few things you will need to do to make that happen.

Each day you wake up, you pray, read the Bible and do your Bible study for the week. You are so busy trying to get time in with the Lord that your other tasks around the house were not accomplished… then in walks your husband. He looks around, sees that you didn’t get the things done that he thought should have been. Just by his look, you know that he is not happy with you. Since you are trying to have a happy marriage, you try hard not to let it bother you and refrain from saying anything to make the situation worse.

Marriage | A Common Marriage Situation

Listen to my Heart by Nancy Nair

When life seems like there is no way out and you have done as much as you can to change the situation (whatever that situation is and there are a lot of them) you need someone to come along side you and listen to you. I know that when I was trying to let Ken see how much he had hurt me and the children I just needed for him to understand how he had hurt us. When I shared and he didn’t hear what I was saying it left me without hope.

Helpful Tips | Daily Devotion Help

I think daily devotions are as important to our walk with God as breakfast is to our digestive system. During the night, while sleeping, our digestive system has been digesting all the food we put in it. When we wake up, we need to replenish the supply so we can face life’s challenges. This is the same with our daily devotion with God… If we don’t replenish our supply of God’s Word, we will not be prepared for the day’s challenges.

Helpful Tips | Helping Women see Hope

The Feeling of Hopelessness by Nancy Nair

While reading letters , which I receive from ladies, I think to myself, they must feel like they are in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. They are in horrible times. We all seem to experience times like these yet they will all look different at various times in our lives.

We will try to share these hard experiences with others, but most of the time the person listening will take up an offense to the person that we are having trouble with and we don’t want that. This gives us a feeling of being alone… no one to just talk and pray with. In this alone time God moves in and comforts us. He promises us that He will never leave us, which means He is right there next to us. (Psalms 25:15 My eyes are continually toward the Lord, for He will pluck my feet out of the net)

Helpful Tips | Helping with Loneliness

The Feeling of Loneliness by Nancy Nair

The other day a lady asked me: I am so lonely… my house is full of noise and things going on all around me, but me…. inside of me I am all alone. What can I do about that? I have tried to share this with my husband who wants to just sit and watch TV in the evenings because it helps him to unwind. I guess that is what he needs but I need him to want to do things with me. When we were younger and taking time for each other I didn’t feel this lonely feeling inside of me. It has been such a long time since we have done something together I don’t even know what I want to do. Can you help me?

Helpful Tips | Help with Devastation

What does a wife do when her husband decides to leave her? by Nancy Nair

It seems like each day, I get a call from a wife who wants to find an answer for this problem. She is devastated, crying, and hopeless. It seems like whoever she calls gives her advice on how and what she should do. Often, the husband has left her for another, possibly younger, woman. She knows she is different than when she was a carefree single or newly married woman. But now, life is different! She is tired out, kids act up, house is a mess, and her husband is angry that she doesn’t meet his needs like she used to. Yet, she wants him to treat her like he did when they were first married. But now he uses that special, romantic treatment on another woman.

Helpful Tips | Marriage and Family Help

A useful tip by Ken Nair to help your family.

Helpful Tips | Helping with the Problem of Anger

Watch Ken Nair talk about Anger and how it can benefit you.

Marriage | Difference in Dating and Marriage

Have you ever wondered… Whatever happened to the guy you were dating? He was once your Mr. Wonderful, but now he’s Mr. Disappointment by Nancy Nair

Something happens to us girls at the time we start dating a guy. We think, “Wouldn’t it be great to be married to this wonderful guy for the rest of our lives? We will be in love forever, our marriage will be the greatest and we will have the most wonderful children.” However, once it goes from dating to marriage something changes.

Dating to a man means something completely different. It’s not dating to him; it’s trying to conquer something and the “something” is winning you over. Yes, he does enjoy you and when he says I love you , he truly believes he does. However, without knowing it, a man puts on a show causing us to believe he is “Mr. Wonderful”. You start believing he is a charming and sensitive man. But remember he is trying to win you over, hoping when he can pop the famous words, “Will you marry me?” that you will say yes. Then once he becomes your husband, he’s accomplished his goal… you are now HIS for the rest of your life.

Helpful Tips | Help Getting out of Depression

There is Light at the End of the Tunnel by Nancy Nair

When we are in the deepest, blackest place in our lives, it feels like there is no way out.

As we are walking in this lonely place and there seems to be no help, we usually want to cover our heads with a pillow and not look at it. But, if we do that, the grief will be so great that we will feel like we can’t make it another day.

Marriage | Basketball Word Picture to Help Your Marriage

This is my favorite quote of all time from Winston Churchill. It is said that this was the entirety of a speech given at a graduation ceremony. Whether or not this speech actually happened is irrelevant. The content is to be absorbed and used as fuel for our perseverance. Giving up should never be an option.

Marriage | Marriage 101 Episode 2 with Nancy and Carol

Nancy and Carol talk about how long does it take for your marriage to get good. Also, they go over why sometimes it takes so long?

Marriage | When Men Think Everything is Fine… But its Not… Marriage 101 Episode 3

Carol talks with Nancy about how there can be an issue in a marriage but the husband doesn’t see it. They discuss how a wife (helpmeet) should help her husband see the problem in a Christ-like way.

Marriage | Staying Brave Through the Hard Times in Marriage

Let’s start out by confessing I’d rather give birth than visit a dentist. My last dental experience involved a less than patient doctor. As he started drilling to fill a cavity, it was painfully obvious that the Novocain hadn’t worked its magic. He wasn’t very subtle in his disdain to alleviate my suffering. See that Dr. again? No thanks! My heart vowed to become an oral hygienist Nazi and monitor my own dental dilemmas with OCD flossing and brushing. Hence the reason you will always find on my person both of the aforementioned items.

Marriage | Emotions are important in a Marriage

I think that if we really knew how things hurt us, and what feeling it was that went on inside of us, we would be better prepared to help others when they are hurting. If we don’t get to know those feelings and what each of those feelings represent in each situation, how can we help each other?

Helpful Tips | Help Understanding II Chronicles 16:9a

I was reading II Chronicles recently and came across verse 16:9a about God looking to and fro, across the earth, searching for those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. I thought to myself, “Wow! If God looked to and fro across the earth in those days, I am sure that He is still doing that today.

Concept Review | Mark 14:32-40 by Ken Nair

32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and He saith to His disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.

Marriage | Testimony of Feelings in a Marriage

Would God conspire to use a 15-year-old dishwasher and a home warranty company to help me love my wife, Lori, as Christ loves the Church? I think so, and this is my story.
Eighteen months ago, when my wife, Lori, and I bought our house, a home warranty was included. During that first year, we used the warranty to have the dishwasher repaired. When the policy expired after the first year, I decided to renew it for about $400. A few months into the second year of the warranty, the dishwasher broke again, and someone was sent out to fix it. A couple of weeks later, the same thing broke again. This happened another six or seven times.

Helpful Tips | Marriage 101

Marriage Help/Tips from Nancy Nair and Carol Turner

Concept Review | 1 John 4:4 by Ken Nair

Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

As Christians, is it possible that we have assigned more power and influence to Satan over our lives than he really has? Have we been led to believe he can even control the circumstances or character in a Christian’s life without permission? Is it possible that he is such an accomplished liar that he has convinced us that he has that kind of power over us? Is he successful because we are so ashamed when we sin that it is easy for him to accuse us and make us feel like failures? Do we not experience more victory because we do not know how to bring our sin nature under the Lordship of Jesus, yet?

Marriage | Seeking the Lord in Marriage

A Touching Testimony by Ron

It's always uplifting to receive an encouraging letter. But this one is an exceptional communication because it was sent to another person who forwarded it to me. That extra effort is extra meaningful.

Helpful Tips | Help with the Feeling of Longing

A Letter to Whom it May Concern by Nancy Nair

The following was written by a woman attending the Christ-Quest Institute several years ago. I believe it illustrates the longing all wives have for their husbands to know — really know them, as Christ knows them. Do you agree?

My greatest desire is to be known, for someone to know me. Of course, I need this ‘someone’ to be my husband. All my life I’ve had to stand for me. No one fought for me, so I fought for me. The grief of what is missing between my husband and me is overwhelming, yet I am left to stand alone, with Christ, again. Left to stand alone. Left to defend my soul alone, alone and lonely.

Marriage | God’s Helping Hand in Marriage

To Be Near Unto God by Nancy Nair

God is only known when love for Him takes on a personal character; when we meet Him in the pathway of life; when He becomes a person in contrast with our own; when we enter into conscious, vital and personal relation with Him, so that He is our Father and we are His children; not merely one of his children, but His child in a special way. — Abraham Kuyper, To Be Near Unto God

How can we get to know Him as our Father if we go through each day without thinking about all the things that come our way?

Daily Devotional | The Ten Commandments Devotion

Looking at the Ten Commandments Through Picture

art by M Leone Bracker (1885 - 1937)

Bracker’s charcoal depictions of sin in the 1920s appeared in Pictorial Review over several months. This is the first time they’ve been published together. The additional translation at the top of each image is from the New International Version, Exodus Chapter 20.

Daily Devotional | Losing Your Identity and Living in Grief Devotion

Do Not Hide From The Truth by Nancy Nair

I see so many women who are hurting deeply but they never share it. When you are first married, you may realize that your new husband is totally different than what you thought he was and for some reason you hide the things he does to you from him. Maybe just a little push…or a very stern look that says don’t you say a word or he may say something that threatens you or

Marriage | Secrets to a Happy and Successful Marriage

Debunking marital myths reveals secrets to a rich, happy marriage by Tiffany Hopkins

A true story of how one man helps couples turn their troubled relationships into rich, thriving marriages. He shares his personal experiences and the secrets he found that have healed and transformed marriages headed for divorce.

A wedding day is filled with hopes and dreams of the perfect marriage. Friends and family gather to witness the joining of the happy bride and groom as they repeat their vows, “for better, for worse. til death do us part” Oddly enough, even with the divorce rate at a steady 49 percent in America, vows have not been changed to read, “til divorce do us part.” The reason: Couples don’t want their relationships to fail and end in divorce. Men and women want to remain married and keep their commitment. The problem is, most couples just don’t know how to perfectly blend their imperfect selves. Without proper guidelines for a successful marriage, behaviors that ...

Marriage | Make Time for Conversation in Your Relationship

Words of Encourgement by Nancy Nair

Have you ever been sitting with your husband and looking around you see another couple and they haven’t said one word to each other? Why is that, do they not know each other anymore? Have they lost the ability to play and laugh together like they did when they were young?

I believe that if a young couple will find out everything about how the other was raised, discovering how their family did things, they would get an understanding of how the other person is going respond to life.

For example, if you are a girl or a young man and you were raised in a family that just never talks, you can reasonably expect that they won’t be very talkative about things either. If their family likes spending money more than saving money, that is how...

Daily Devotional | St. Paul’s Journey to Rome Devotion

After getting to visit Mamertine Prison in Rome Italy, where St. Paul was imprisoned, I wanted to read about Paul’s journey to Rome. How he was taken by a ship which was being tossed around in the sea. Paul advised those in charge of the ship that they shouldn’t sail but they ignored him and set sail only to find themselves in great trouble. Acts 27:21(b) tells us that God was very real to

Helpful Tips | Desiring to Exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit

Five Minutes can Change your Life

By Travis Turner

Galatians 5:22-23 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, PATIENCE, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

I will never forget the first time I tasted it. It was like the sweetest thing I had every experienced. I could not get its flavor out of my mind, nor did I want to. It left an indelible mark on my spirit and it changed me forever. This was not an experience that I would take lightly. It really was a “game changer”. What had happened

Marriage | Marketing Mode - Young and in Love

Something happens to a couple after they say I DO! You can’t imagine the number of wives who havesaid they wonder if their husband had a brain transplant at the altar. He just wasn’t the same after they said I DO. It happens so many times; there is a need to understand what that “something” is.

Basically, before marriage, when a man sees a woman he is attracted to he instinctively, automatically switches into “Marketing Mode.” His goal, as a man, is to sell himself to her. So instinctively, he will

Helpful Tips | Life Unexpected

Do you know that I am dying? Does anyone care?? by Nancy Nair

I get up in the morning and know that today is going to be the same as yesterday. There are many people who know me…I have a very nice home, beautiful clothes, a husband who takes very good care of me financially and children who seem to love me. Our bills are paid and we have plenty of food for us to stay healthy.

The children are playing with either each other or with friends. My husband is off to work and when he comes home he just wants to relax on the couch and watch his favorite programs. I think to myself,

Marriage | How to Share Your Hurt with Your Husband

So many times, I hear women say that it is better not to share with their husbands what is going on in their hearts. If they let them know, he may get quiet and sulk or mad. So, is it better not to really let them know what is going on? What will be the results of your silence in 10 years?
Remember nothing gets better; it only gets worse, when you leave things undone. It may seem to be the answer at the time because you don’t want to be made to feel like you are worthless but it would be best to think about the future and not the present. When your children leave,

Helpful Tips | Help with Family Fun for Cheap

Because most of the country is getting nicer outside, lets have fun this month. There are so many things we can do that cost very less or no money at all and could make our loved ones happy.

1. Because May is a rainy month, let’s think of some things to do. On one of those rainy days…have everyone put on their rain boots and rain coats and all of us go play in the rain. You know how children love to walk in a rain puddle and jump in it?

Daily Devotional | The Struggle to be Truthful Devotion

1 Timothy 1:5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

That verse stands out to me because many years ago I struggled with being truthful. I was always worried that what I might say would come back to me, and I would have to confess my untruthfulness.

Concept Review | Spiritual Power: John 10:10 Word Study by Ken Nair

Jesus said, I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)

These words should cause our eyes to widen with anticipation. Jesus is offering us a lifestyle and source of power that is beyond the normal human mind’s ability to even comprehend. And, it can only be obtained as we recognize that we are totally inadequate and undeserving of it. This lifestyle and power cannot be obtained with human cleverness nor might.

The disciple John verifies the above. The most powerful and clever religious leaders just witnessed something that illustrated the incredible power of Jesus. He had just restored the eyesight of a man blind from birth.

Marriage | Letting the Holy Spirit Take Over in Your Marriage

Do you feel the man you married changed from being a man of God to a man who doesn’t have time for God? by Nancy Nair

Let’s say that you met your husband at Bible School, or some sort of Christian work or simple saw him as a wonderful Christian man. He seemed, at the time, to be really in God’s word so much so that others were looking to him for answers. He seemed to qualify as the man your dad and mom encouraged you to look for; making sure the man you married loved the Lord and that he lived his life representing Christ. He said he was looking for a woman who could be his partner in Christ. You both were really attracted to each other. You went to Bible study every week and study Gods word together.

Let’s say you marry and after about a year, you realize that he has changed. He is not as involved as he was in college or in his Christian work.

Helpful Tips | How Marriage Can Cause Stress

Stress and How it Affects You by Nancy Nair

I looked up stress and found so much on the subject. I wish all women would go to their computer and look at all the info that is there. It is so informative that all of us can learn how damaging stress is.

I pulled up just one little thing about marriage, since that is what we deal with all day long, and it was really surprising to me.

The article said: The higher the number, the greater the stress. Well, two of the top three involved marriage. Here is how it went…

1.Death 100 points
2.Divorce 73 points
3.Marriage 50 points

Daily Devotional | Lamentations 3:22-26 Speak From Your Heart Devotion

Lamentations 3:22-26

(23) Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. (24) They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (25) The Lord is my portion, says my soul,” therefore I hope in Him!” (26) The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (The Adrian Rogers Legacy Bible) NKJV

If you woke up this morning and you’re still here-God still has a plan for your life!” (Adrian Rogers)

Have you thought about taking the time to write out what all you have gone through in your life-time so far and how you were able to walk through it with God.

Marriage | Building a Beacon of Hope

The following is a letter we received from a man who wanted to share the glorious transformation of his walk with the Lord, his marriage, and the relationship with his children.

Dear Ken Nair,

I am a blessed man. The past three years have been a great source of inspiration and encouragement. I would like to share with you some of the things that have changed my life as a result of my involvement with the Christ-Quest Institute.

1. Understanding, for the first time, what my spirit is and how that understanding affects my walk with the Father, as well as others. To think that at my age (50) I had never heard or understood what my spirit was so that I could identify it at any given time, and try to understand what the Father was trying to communicate to me. This has been revolutionary for me. In my thinking emotions and spirituality had no connection. How sad that this was my view for so long. But, how liberating and freeing that I can now understand my spirit, and from that develop a closer walk with God. Hallelujah!
2. The second major thing that I learned in my three years is what my flesh is and what it looks like...

Concept Review | Hebrews 4:15 Word Study by Ken Nair

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities: but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

This is a passage which clearly defines Christ’s capacity to experience emotions and to identify with my (and all people’s even wives’) emotions.

The implications of this verse offer a life that is richer than most men can imagine. It gives us an example that is essential; one which, if neglected, will result in a lack of spiritual maturity.

Helpful Tips | Growing up in an Orphanage

NOT A RECIPE FOR A DOOMED LIFE by Ken Nair

I often hear people express great concern over what is going to happen to orphaned, unwanted children or children from broken homes or who have parents who cannot care for them. Some very caring adults become troubled over the future of those children. Somehow I get the impression that those adults feel as though, if they don’t step in, the lives of those children will be damaged beyond repair. They’re doomed.

The heart in the adult who thinks like that is very honorable and lovingly kind. However those kinds of situations do not trouble me. Yes, a wholesome, Christ-centered home is God’s best, but otherwise does not spell doom. Since that’s the background my twin brother Len and I came from…a broken home. We grew up in orphanages. We spent our first year with foster parents because of post-birth complications that disabled our mother. After that, because she had to work, we would have been left alone so she placed us in orphanages.

Marriage | Five Years Later, Our Journey with Life Partners

The Testimony of God’s Grace in our Marriage by Heather Baker

When I walked down the aisle as a twenty-two year old bride, my vision for our family was one of hope, I longed to be used by God to shine a light in a dark world. I wanted to have a marriage that reflected His love and drew others into His presence. Sadly, our reality became anything but that. Instead of offering hope to others, I quickly lost all hope. I felt trapped, scared, disappointed and depressed. I look back and I remember times when I didn’t believe that our home would ever get to a place of peace. I longed for equanimity, a balance in the storms of life. I was battle weary from years of fighting, crying, broken dreams and promises.

Helpful Tips | The Effects of Peer Pressures in Today’s Society

Helping to Change the Pattern by Nancy Nair

When you are willing to do whatever it takes to get a boyfriend, are you thinking about how this can totally change your life forever? Have you already experienced this and feeling the effects of those decisions?

Starting in grade school, girls want to date at a very young age. They find out early that most boys like them if they “put out”. So, they have to make a big decision, “Do I want to be popular and have a boyfriend or take a chance by being single?” Wow, what a decision they have to make because of peer pressure, even from the girls.

Daily Devotional | Verse of the Month

Genesis 2:18: The LORD God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.
This passage talks about God creating man’s complement, a woman. By the very name God gave her, He...

Marriage | Knowing That Your Struggle in Marriage is Common

The following is a letter we received from a Christian wife and doctor who is longing to find Christ-likeness in her marriage.

Dear Life Partners Friends,

I wanted to write you and thank you for writing your book, Discovering the Mind of a Woman. It was recommended to me by a young man from Hungary at our church retreat. I frankly told him I had given up on all Christian books about how to be married. He said, “Then get it for your son so he will be able to learn a better way to be married than what he saw growing up.

Helpful Tips | Overcoming Struggles: How a Man Coped with the Death of his Child

all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

A men’s retreat I attended focused on the second part of that verse — the part about being called according to His purpose. The first part of the verse — that all things work together for good, to those who love God started more than two years ago when my 19 year old son died.

Daily Devotion | The Benefits of Knowing the Different Motivational Spiritual Gifts Devotional

I (Nancy Nair) am reading Romans 12:6-8. Wow — if we could do this, our world would be so different!

We all have different motivational gifts, according to God’s grace. If a person’s gift is prophesying, let him/her use it in proportion to his/her faith. (7) If it is serving, let him/her serve; if it is teaching, let him/her teach; (8) If it is encouraging, let him/her encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him/her give generously; if it is leadership, let him/her govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him/her do it cheerfully.

Concept Review | Word Study on Romans 12:15 by Ken Nair

“Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep” Romans 12:15

Talk about fulfillment! This one lone verse is replete with it.

As the twelfth chapter in Romans begins, we are informed of the high standards God holds forth. It’s a challenge for those who represent God. And, since they have accepted Christ as their personal Savior, they are supposed to be an illustration of Him, also.

Maybe you’re like me. I have heard many sermons on verses 1-14 and 16+. But, I’ve never heard a message on verse 15. This particular verse reminds me of two stories about Jesus.

Marriage | The Testimony of a Man who Overcame his Pornography Addiction

I was 12 years old the first time I viewed pornography. It was 1972, long before cable TV or the internet and no one in my family ever had a Playboy or so much as a Pin Up calendar in the garage. My introduction was by way of hardcore porn (even by today’s standards) discarded in a common restroom in a medical complex. I was there with my mother for a doctor’s appointment and took the half dozen glossy pages torn from a magazine. Later that night, by the dim nightlight in my room, I masturbated for the first time. I was hooked. Right there, right then. Instantly. It was not a steady progression borne out of prepubescent curiosity or a path I was led down by an uncle or cousin or neighbor but a way to feel good if only for a few minutes.

Daily Devotional | 1 Kings 8:61 Keeping His Commandments Devotion

The Lord requires us to keep His commandments, His statutes and His ordinances, which He also commanded our fathers to keep. 1 Kings 8:61 says, “Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.

Helpful Tips | Help to Speak Kindly During the Hard Moments

Glorifying God in All Things by Nancy Nair

It is really hard to speak kindly when someone hurts you. It is difficult when you are hurt to not retaliate. God always wants us to represent Him; to speak kindly to everyone. Just because we speak kindly to them doesn’t mean that they will change, it only means that you are doing right before God. God is listening and He will take care of you. It may not be when or what we want, but He is looking down at the problem and knows best. Here is a list of things to say; you can add to the list if you would like to.

Daily Devotional | 1 Corinthians 13:4-8b Love Never Fails Devotion

1 Corinthians 13:4-8b Love suffers long and is kind, love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. LOVE NEVER FAILS.

Helpful Tips | Helping you Learn your Spiritual Gifts

The Door Illustration by Nancy Nair

When “life” comes knocking at your door, how do you or your family members react? Romans 12:6-8 lists different gifts that each person receives from God. See if you can find yourself or someone special in your life by reading this. Gaining understanding can help you and your family to get along better.

BOLTED DOOR… (MERCY)

1.This person may a decision about an issue, think it is a good decision, close the door and bolt it. This door is bolted shut.
2.Usually a person will bolt a door when they are afraid that someone will try to talk them out of their decision. But, when a door is bolted shut, how can a person reason together with anyone? God says to come now and reason together.
3.They may think: If people were more trustworthy, they would be good Christians.

Daily Devotional | Reflecting Daily on Christ

Colossians 3:12-13a

And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

When I read this verse, I realized why God had me caring for women. I so want the Lord to use me as I work with women.

Marriage | Results of a Christ-like Spiritual Leader in a Marriage

The Effect of a Christ-Like Husband by Ken Nair and S.M.

Often, as I am working with a husband whose wife has left him, maybe even involved with another man, he challenges his wife’s relationship with God. When he asks me, What about her? What is her relationship with God? Doesn’t she have to be Christ-like, too? I respond, Don’t worry about her. You just focus on your relationship with God. You determine you will become more and more Christ-like. You work on you exclusively and first. Let’s see if God can use that to influence her or not.

The following is testimony illustrating the influence a husband has upon his wife.

Marriage | Six Love Secrets for Your Marriage

How to Keep the Love Alive by Ken Nair

How to make your love last.

Take it one moment at a time: that moment leads to days, days to weeks, weeks to years.” Two weeks before Valentine’s Day go to a card shop and buy 6 cards that express your heart’s feelings about your spouse. Then the week before Valentine’s Day send one each day so it will arrive each day before Valentine’s Day. Then stand by and watch their heart be impressed with how wonderful you are.

Daily Devotional | Fruits of the Spirit Devotion

Galatians 5: 22-26

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (LIST OF THE FLESH verse 19-21a) … immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another envying one another.