All Articles for Essentials

Christian college isn't a guarantee that students will keep the faith. A thriving relationship with God doesn't happen simply by immersion.

The nations are in desperate need of the gospel. The" least of these" are hurting, hungry, thirsty, unclothed, and homeless. The solution? Not my teen!

The first two years of widowhood, God seemed distant and silent. Then I discovered the problem.

Here are some tips for engaging with and loving the singles around you well.

Facilitating a small group study enhances your own embracing of the material, your relationship with God, and your heart for ministering to others.

One day David and his wife, Meg, realized they wanted their family to see that the world is a more diverse place than what they were experiencing.

How can the victim of sexual abuse trust the body of Christ again? How can we go back to any church body? Why should we even try?

Nap schedules, feedings, teething, separation anxiety, sickness, sports – when kids are young, it seems easier to stay home. Is going to church worth it?

People spend hours tweaking their digital persona in a search for significance. Yet is social media the best place to look?

These basic principles will help you and your family understand the biblical reasons for tragedy.

My morning strolls did more than help me lose weight; they helped me learn valuable lessons about life.

Here’s to giving your best to God—and your family—in the year ahead.

The real unexpected gift wasn’t the money or groceries, but an increase in our faith.

Thanksgiving can be a difficult reminder of the struggles we face, but there is comfort in the promises to come.

Like so many, I groaned at the disparity: Perfect, hilarious TV family. Lurid, devastating real life.

We are completely dependent on our all-powerful God, who generously gives us every gift we possess.

I noted something refreshingly real about Princess Eugenie’s choice of gown. From the front, she showed she was a princess. From the back, she showed she was a person like the rest of us.

Ministering to this group can be instrumental in reaching everyone in the home.

A creative way to connect with couples early in their parenting journey and establish a loving, caring relationship.

It’s easy to become cynical or weary about the act of prayer.

Restore your energy and zest for life with these tips.

Achieving success starts with knowing you have your father's approval.

Difficulties should push us toward God's Word, not toward redefining the rules.

God created us with a capacity for awe. Where you look for it will shape the direction of your life.

The way we love sinful people must be patterned after the rugged love God has for us.

Life is no fairy tale of magic formulas, but instead it requires walking by faith.

It is only as my view of Him increases that I will be more able to view my issues with a proper perspective.

Years later, my wife and I realized a new way God had answered our individual prayers before we were married.

Perhaps no other human emotion is so commonly experienced and yet so infrequently exposed.

Here are 10 well-known, easy-to-remember verses to help us keep our hearts trained on God.

When we live a life of constantly reaching for the next big thing, we miss the greatness God is calling us to right here, right now.

How to successfully navigate your family’s journey to a new home.

How long since you’ve had a checkup to assess your spiritual health?

Don't say something permanently painful because you are temporarily ticked off.

If we are totally focused on the material things of this life and this world, we will miss out on most of what life is all about.

As our society and culture become increasingly hostile toward Christianity, here are five spiritual qualities that become especially important.

The story of a man who stood up to intervene for the defenseless.

We need a spiritual workout center to develop our "faith muscles."

There's no gain without pure, hard pain.

Complaining shows a loss of perspective, a failure to remember who is in control.

A man needs to constantly remind himself that his real job is his wife and children.

One of the best ways to protect yourself against immorality is submitting your life to the scrutiny of another person.

The spiritual victory will go to those Christians who are willing to enter enemy territory and engage in warfare.

Ecclesiastes can help us change the way we think about life.

Four suggestions on how to overcome the sin of grumbling and complaining.

Our culture is hostile to Christian faith.

We have a hole in our hearts that only God can fill.

Knowing that God is our Provider helps us to hold our material possessions with an open hand.

Two close calls remind Barbara and me of how God is working in our lives.

Pulling weeds from my flower beds taught me an important spiritual lesson.

If you're ready to go deeper in your spiritual journey, a small group may be just what you need.

Many of us are settling for the sidelines of life—we don’t really want the Lord to give us anything too hard to do.

God has things He can teach us while He's seemingly MIA and we're wandering about or feeling abandoned.

To really experience His peace, we must come to Him with thankful hearts.

A godly vision will be fueled by what could be and what should be.

Twelve ways to respond to God in the wake of natural disasters.

As our family grew, we began to question our comfortable, normal lifestyle. Had God’s gifts replaced God Himself?

How could I invest in others if nobody was investing in me?

God likes us to do things on His terms—which, of course, goes totally against my desire for control.

Many are on a career path, but few seem to be on a character path.

God’s Word gives me a true diagnosis of whom I am.

When marriage is hard and parenting is harder, stand for the truth.

Here are a few ideas that can help you share your faith by using your home as a hub for Christ.

At the Weekend to Remember, I got to see how God was at work in the lives of married couples.

These simple but profound questions changed the way I talk to people about Christ.

Your past is not the final word. Let your invisible accuser drive you toward God and not away from Him.

If you look for the opportunities to be a missionary in your sphere of influence, they are easy to find.

Your words can have a profound impact on the people in your life.

If you want a stronger, healthier church, help couples grow in their relationship with Christ and with each other.

Rather than giving in to the cultural pressures and divorcing his wife, Skip Leffler left a very different legacy.

Teaching younger couples to have a great marriage may not be as hard as you think.

Jeff and Sheila Brawley wondered if God could work through them to help others.

Talking to someone about her sin isn't easy, but I found that it's beneficial when done in a God-honoring way.

Are you listening to the nudge of the Holy Spirit to talk to those around you?

Bill and Geri Masuzzo are committed to helping engaged couples learn how to be married.

One of the most exciting things for me to see is the influence that one family who is completely God's can have on others.

Quote by James C. Petty

If you want a stronger, healthier church, help couples grow in their relationship with Christ and with each other.

It is only as my view of Him increases that I will be more able to view my issues with a proper perspective.

Giving thanks is not just for God’s glory—it’s for our good.

List of Christian literature classics that address humility and virtue.

Too often in our prayers we ask God to ease our worries and satisfy our wants before adding "in Jesus' name" as an obligatory spiritual seasoning.

It doesn’t take long before rote prayers fragment your attention span and freeze your heart.

Here are two things to consider when trying to decide what delivery method to use for discipleship content.

Practical steps to take to turn your vision for ministry into reality.

Suggestions for creating a strong foundation for marriage ministry in your church.

Three steps to take if the Scriptures seem like a dry textbook and you’re no longer sure Jesus is real.

How can friends and strangers feel loved and accepted in your house?

In a weary and wavering land, your home can be a place of love, encouragement, and comfort.

It’s easy to fool ourselves about how our words can hurt others.

Many of the concepts communicated in Stepping Up resonate immediately with the prisoners in our group.

If we could handle the messes of life on our own, we’d never have to seek God’s help in managing it.

Bonita and Tazwell Thornton are leaving a priceless legacy to untold generations.

Because of what Christ has done for us, we are free to enjoy Him, to live for Him, and to confidently trust Him to meet our every need.

When troubles come our way, we can be stressed and upset, or we can trust God.

Four ways to cultivate a mindset that positively influences every aspect of your life.

If you want to experience marriage the way it was designed to be, you need a vital relationship with Jesus Christ.

Two years ago I moved to Denver.  I was pursuing the woman who is now my wife.  She was starting at Denver Seminary, pursuing a master’s degree in counseling.  I was working from home at the time, so finding work wouldn’t be an issue. I arrived in town on a Sunday, and that night EA […]

The first step in becoming complete is to stop relying on our own resourcefulness and recognize our great need of a powerful God.

What can give us the hope to believe that God still can and still wants to do something amazing with our struggles and with sexual sin?

The Holy Spirit doesn’t turn attention on Himself, but He gives you the power to pursue God's mission in your life.

My opinion was that most Christians had two brains.

When life is turned upside down, learn how to turn to God.

The new Sunday school class had 30 or more people each week instead of the usual 6-8.

Real happiness comes when I'm willing to humble myself and do what He wills with my life.

When these issues dominate my thoughts, I succumb to selfishness and fear.

What does a storm teach a child about God?

"Must I really have to see it to believe it?"

An excerpt from our FamilyLife Today® broadcast.

Resources to help you with your relationship with God.

Gaining victory in the struggle against sin.

Tips we’ve implemented during our time leading marriage ministry in our church.

Just as I love my husband more as I know him better, my feelings for God grow as I grow in my knowledge of Him.

Does He really want us to give thanks in all things?

We must train ourselves to make prayer a default reaction in all situations.

Unconfessed sin is a knife blade lodged in the soul. You cannot escape the misery it creates.

A young woman looks back on the consequences and blessings of her unwanted pregnancy.

The former special counsel to the president disproved the skeptics who doubted the validity of his conversion.

When I couldn’t talk to my mother about God, I talked to God about my mother.

What kind of pleasures will you give your heart to, and what will you ask of those pleasures?

Jesus was right: It really is more blessed to give than to receive.

If we don’t tell couples that no marriage is too broken, how will they know?

I believe that the more churches do to strengthen marriages, the more we will bring glory to God.

It's time for the church to call people back to God's design for marriage.

When we indicated we wanted to help other people grow in their faith and in their marriage the way we had, we had absolutely no idea of what God had in store for us.

What difference can one person make in a world filled with seven billion people?

Many of us pursue moral improvement in a way that is not founded in the centrality of the gospel and the reality of the cross of Christ.

Rather than getting easier, my faith trials become more difficult with time.

When people claim to be saved and on fire for God, it's hard to see some of them crash.

Thinking through family shepherding in the context of a single-parent home.

Through mentoring you can pass on your wisdom to the next generation of married couples.

Friends launch each other into unknown territory and walk hand in hand where there is no map.

When we stop running from God and earnestly obey Him, our messy lives become the canvas for His incredible glory.

This is one of the nitty-gritty issues of marriage and family life.

A "chance encounter" reveals how God is extending FamilyLife's outreach.

List created by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

As we interact with homosexuals, we need to balance truth with love and compassion.

FamilyLife is making a greater effort than ever before to encourage and equip people to become HomeBuilders.

Experiences like this have a way of stripping you bare and forcing you to focus on what's most important to you.

Beware of these three weeds that can choke out your harvest.

When was the last time you let your pastor know how much your appreciate him?

The Apostle Paul reminds us that we're in a spiritual race. What kind of runner are you?

Loving God with all your mind helps guard against falling to temptation.

At age five I learned an important lesson on the power of the tongue.

In the darkness and pain of personal cries, we must have the touch of our unseen Father to keep us oriented.

These three steps can help keep our complaints constructive.

Devote this coming year to becoming all God meant you to be and to enjoying Him and the great goodness He has given you.

True joy is founded on truth. It is based on our knowledge of God's goodness to us as revealed in both shallow and deep experiences, and as revealed in his Word.

It is so very easy for us to find our glory in being better than someone else.

If you believe what God’s Word says about you is true, your identity is rooted in something that can’t be changed and can’t go away.

My infertility reminded me of something we all need to learn: the source of true contentment and happiness.

The search for happiness based on our circumstances in life inevitably creates a restlessness and discontent in our souls.

A dangerous encounter on a dark back street opened my eyes again.

When loving gets hard, think on the one true Lover who is continually in pursuit of your heart.

A list of helpful hints when meeting with younger couples.

We must show the gospel to people even as we tell them the truth.

How could you more effectively impact the others within your circle of influence?

Six suggestions for clothing yourself with humility by serving others.

For regular spiritual check-ups, ask yourself these questions.

It never occurred to me to bless the person in this difficult relationship—that thought went against every natural urge within me.

Here are some challenging questions that I've been grappling with.

Regrets are scars of the soul. We carry them around, and sometimes they itch. So we scratch them--we replay our thoughtless deeds and hurtful conversations.

I believe the solution to the marriage and family crisis in our nation is found in equipping and unleashing a movement of men and women in marriage and family ministry.

Let God use you to change the life of a child, then experience the blessing of your own transformation.

God calls us to make a good impression for Him and to do a great job of representing Him to a world longing for love.

FamilyLife is making a greater effort than ever before to encourage and equip people to become HomeBuilders.

Widow Margie Rich sees her retirement home as a mission field, finding unique ways to point people to Christ.

Preparing for Marriage was the resource that helped one couple help people build a foundation for marriage as God designed it.

Our nation will change only when our families begin to reform.

In a culture of isolation, most people are honored when you open your home to them. God can use us when we practice "heavenly hospitality."

Loving her has taught me what it means to wait on the Lord.

Authentic community between believers demands that the real you is willing to meet the real needs of others.

The HomeBuilders Couples Series has done a lot for our church.

Kim and I know firsthand the difference between a terrible marriage and a healthy one, and we have a passion to help other couples.

The impact made on an entire church started when a pastor and his wife attended a Weekend to Remember marriage getaway.

How the HomeBuilders Couples Series is revolutionizing our church.

The discipline of silence and solitude is not just for those in monasteries.

Moths and butterflies can remember lessons learned as caterpillars, but they still kill themselves trying to get to the light.

Do you wonder why God seems so far away? It may be that your heart needs to be broken.

I couldn't pray for revival in our children's lives without feeling like it was an incomplete prayer—I needed spiritual renewal as well.

Many churches are missing a key ingredient to seeing marriages and families restored.

There’s one kind of accolade that really lights my fire.

Jesus Christ didn't go to the cross just so we could have happy homes and fulfill the American dream.

Three stories of couples who wanted to help marriages.

We must spend time on the nonnegotiables so that our lives may glorify God. Each principle is centered on the Lord, bringing the glory to Him alone.

At the heart of goodness is obedience. Test yourself and your family in four key areas.

The story of two couples who are having an impact on marriages in their community.