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Day 11 Love Cherishes Husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. – Ephesians 5:28    Consider these two scenarios.   A man’s older car begins having serious trouble, so he takes it to a mechanic.  After an assessment is made, he is told it will need a complete overhaul, which would tax his limited budget.  Because of the expensive...

Day 10 Love is Unconditional God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ dies for us.  – Romans 5:8   If someone were to ask you, “Why do you love your wife?” or “Why do you love your husband?” – what would you say? Most men would mention their wife’s beauty, her sense of humor, her kindness, her inner strength.  They...

Day 9 Love Makes Good Impressions Greet one another with a kiss of love.  – 1 Peter 5:14   You’ve covered some serious ground so far in this journey.  Learning to demonstrate aspects of love patience, kindness, and encouragement are not always easy but are certainly crucial to a healthy relationship.  So dealing with the way you greet your spouse each day...

Day 8 Love is Not Jealous Love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire. – Song of Solomon 8:6 NIV Jealousy is one of the strongest drives known to man.  It comes from the root word for zeal and means “to burn with an intense fire.”  Scripture pointedly says, “Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, but who can...

Day 7 Love Believes the Best [Love] believes all things, hopes all things. – 1 Corinthians 13:7 In the deep and private corridors of your heart, there is a room.  It’s called the Appreciation Room.  It’s where your thoughts go when you encounter positive and encouraging things about your spouse.  And every so often, you enjoy visiting this special place. On...

Day 6 Love is Not Irritable He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.  -Proverbs 16:32 Love is hard to offend and quick to forgive.  How easily do you get irritated and offended?  Some people have the motto, “Never pass up an opportunity to get upset with your spouse.”  When something goes...

Day 5 Love is Not Rude He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be reckoned a curse to him. —Proverbs 27:14 Nothing irritates others as quickly as being rude. Rudeness is unnecessarily saying or doing things that are unpleasant for another person to be around. To be rude is to act unbecoming, embarrassing, or irritating. In marriage, this could be a foul mouth,...

Day 4 Love is Thoughtful How precious also are Your thoughts to me. . . . How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. —Psalm 139:17–18 Love thinks. It’s not a mindless feeling that rides on waves of emotion and falls asleep mentally. It keeps busy in thought, knowing that loving thoughts precede loving actions. When you first fell in...

Day 3 Love is Not Selfish Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor. —Romans 12:10 We live in a world that is enamored with “self.” The culture around us teaches us to focus on our appearance, feelings, and personal desires as the top priority. The goal, it seems, is to chase the highest level of happiness possible. The danger from this kind...

Day 2 Love is Kind  Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.  Ephesians 4:32 Kindness is love in action. If patience is how love reacts in order to minimize a negative circumstance, kindness is how love acts to maximize a positive circumstance. Patience avoids a problem; kindness creates a blessing. One is preventive,...

Thank you for joining us in The Love Dare! I pray that you will be blessed and that going through this will be a vital part of your growth in your relationships and in your walk with the Lord. Thank you for being here and I look forward to your thoughts during this 40-day journey!   Day 1 Love is Patient  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love....

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.’” 2 Cor. 12:9 The other day the Lord sent me a dream that beautifully illustrated the power of His grace and how He saw the folly of perfectionism. In the dream, I was having...

Refreshing Hope Ministries began as a simple daily devotional from Pastor Dion Todd sent via email, with personal testimonies of God’s work in our lives. Our vision was, and still is, to help renew hope in the world by sharing the love of Jesus Christ. We believe that God’s people are being beaten down by poverty, cynicism and religion. In such a world, even a small light will shine in...

This article is for members who would like to start their own small group as part of this ministry. We would love to hear from any who are called to take this kind of leadership position here. Please review the guidelines below and use the link at the end to contact us! 1. Starting a Group: First, please go over the guidelines in this list. If you believe your group fits here and the Lord is calling...

Whether you are a seasoned prayer warrior or simply a person who has a heart of compassion for those in need, our Prayer Network at Refreshing Hope Ministries might be a wonderful outlet for you to be used by the Lord. We call this network "Prayer Central". The network consists of members who have chosen to be an active part of this ministry and have volunteered their time to pray for those in need....

This post is here to help newer members with questions and tips on getting around this site. If there are any questions that you do not see answered here, please feel free to contact us and we work on adding it!  1. I used to just get the Daily Devotional in my email inbox. Why do I have to click on a link now? Moving our ministry to focus on the website was a change we believed was important....