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One of the greatest tools God has given you is prayer. Some prayers are answered within minutes or weeks. Others take forty years. When you feel helpless, confused, or heartbroken, you can still express your needs to Him. Conversing with the Lord is not a last resort for desperate people. It is the first and lasting response of faithful believers.
“I will be his father, and he will be my son.” (2 Samuel 7:14) Someone has said, “If you connect a boy to the right man, he seldom goes wrong.” I (Dr. Dobson) fully believe that to be true. The full force of my own father’s contribution hit me years ago when he lay in the hospital after a heart attack. As I stood by his bedside, I thought back to the happiest moments of my childhood—how we would rise early on a wintry morning, pull on our hunting clothes, and head twenty miles outside of town to a favorite place we called “the big woods.” He’d get me situated under a little tree, and then we’d wait for the sun to come up, watching the squirrels and birds and chipmunks. Those moments with my dad were priceless. They made me want to be like him—to choose his values as my values, his dreams as my dreams, his God as my God. Are you cultivating common ground with your son? Sharing hobbies or other interests now will encourage open communication during the turbulent times ahead. It will plant the seeds for a mutual faith—and a friendship that can last a lifetime. ...
Your son was created to lead with integrity, to love a wife sacrificially (if marriage is God’s plan for him), to labor with diligence, and to walk with the Lord humbly and faithfully. When you focus on preparing him for that calling, you’re not pushing him too hard. You’re training him for the life God designed for him.
Dr. James Dobson long reminded moms and dads that while none of us lead our homes perfectly, millions sincerely strive to raise their children according to biblical principles. Many of those mothers and fathers are now facing an unexpected reality: their grown children are walking away—not only from their faith, but from them.
My wife and I sometimes get into fights when neither of us really wants to argue. I'm not even sure how it happens. We just find ourselves locking horns and then feeling bad about it later. Why can't
Here's an idea relevant to relationships that I think makes a lot of sense. It's called "the first five minutes" and is based on a book that was published many years ago. Its thesis was that the first
Marriage is a beautiful gift. Through a close walk with Jesus and steady commitment to growth, becoming a godly husband is not only something to admire from a distance. You can attain it, by His grace, as you learn to do your job well.
Bill Haughton, who was president of a large construction firm, had hired and managed thousands of employees. He was asked, “When you are thinking of hiring an employee—especially a man—what do you look for?” His answer may surprise you. He said, “I look primarily at the relationship between the man and his father. If he felt loved by his dad and respected his authority, he’s likely to be a good employee.”
I have a great deal of resentment and anger toward my father for what he did to me and my mother when I was a child. I have struggled with these deep feelings for years; I don’t want to hurt him, but I can’t forget the pain he caused me and the rest of our family. How can I come to terms with this problem?
Dr. James Dobson was keenly aware of the spiritual battles that occur in marriage. He also taught about the benefits of this sacred institution when both husband and wife remain aligned with biblical teaching. Dr. Dobson said, “When a husband and wife are deeply committed to Jesus Christ, they enjoy enormous advantages over a family with no spiritual dimension.” In 2004, he wrote the book, Marriage Under Fire: Why We Must Win This Battle, to explain the struggle to sustain biblical unions, and what can be done to achieve that goal. As our society has aimed to destroy what God created, it’s vital that we understand how to protect it. But upholding the institution of marriage is not merely a cultural challenge—it is a spiritual battle. When most Christians think of spiritual warfare, they are reminded of Ephesians 6. We picture the invisible armor of God, given so we may “stand against the schemes of the devil” (verse 11, ESV). This protective covering includes the belt of truth, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation. But this war between good and evil did not begin in Ephesus. Its first battlefield was a garden, and its first casualty was a marriage. We tend to think the first sin involved two individuals falling. However, ...
