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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. As an additional resource, Guideposts has generously provided us with their resource, "Strength for Relationships". If you go to the page, you can either read it online, or download the PDF. Thank you for being...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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 12 Love Lets the Other Win Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests others.  – Philippians 2:4    If you were asked to name three areas where you and your spouse disagree, you’d likely be able to do it without thinking very hard. You might even be able to produce a top ten list if given a few more minutes.  And...

Day 13 Love Fights Fair If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. – Mark 3:25   Like it or not, conflict in marriage is simply inevitable.  When you tied the knot as bride and groom, you joined not only your hopes and dreams but also your hurts, fears, imperfections, and emotional baggage.  From the moment you unpacked from your...

Day 14 Love Takes Delight Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life. – Ecclesiastes 9:9 HCSB   One of the most important things you should learn on your Love Dare journey is that you should not just follow your heart.  You should lead it.  You don’t let your feelings and emotions do the driving.  You put them in the back...

Day 15 Love is Honorable Live with your wives in an understanding way … and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life.  – 1 Peter 3:7   There are certain words in our language that have powerful meanings.  Whenever these words are used, an air of respect is associated with them.  These words never lose their timeless quality, class, and...

Day 16 Love Intercedes Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. – 3 John 2   You cannot change your spouse.  As much as you may want to, you cannot play God and reach into their heart and mold them into what you want them to be.  But that’s what most couples spend a large part of their time trying...

Day 17 Love Promotes Intimacy He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. – Proverbs 17:9 NIV   You can be close to a good friend you’ve known since childhood or college days.  You can be close to a sibling, your parents, or a cousin who’s about your same age.  But nothing rivals the closeness...

Day 18 Love Seeks to Understand How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding. – Proverbs 3:13   We enjoy discovering as much as we can about the things we truly care about.  If it’s our favorite football team, we’ll read any article that helps us keep up with how they’re doing.  If it’s cooking, we’ll...

Day 19 Love is Impossible Let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. –I John 4:7   The Love Dare starts with a secret.  And though it’s been an unspoken element throughout each day, you’ve likely grown more and more suspicious of it all the time.  Now that you’re this far, it’s a secret...

Day 20 Love is Jesus Christ While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. –Romans 5:6   The previous day and dare lead to no other conclusion that this. Thankfully, it’s a conclusion you can live with—today, tomorrow, and forever.   Jesus has come “to seek and to save” you (Luke 19:10). Everything you’ve...

Day 21 Love is Satisfied in God The Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire. – Isaiah 58:11   Day 20 was a vitally important day in the Love Dare – and in your life. You came face-to-face with the glaring need of every human heart. And perhaps for the very first time, you became aware of how personal this need really is. You may have realized that nothing in...

Day 22 Love is Faithful I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.  Then you will know the Lord. – Hosea 2:20   As Christians, love is the basis of our whole identity. Our spiritual rebirth came about because “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).   When...

Day 23 Love Always Protects While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. –Romans 5:6   Marriage is made up of many things, including joys, sorrows, successes, and failures. But when you think about what you want marriage to be like, the furthest thing from your mind is a battleground. However, there are some battles you should be more than willing...

Day 24 Love vs. Lust The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.  – 1 John 2:17   Adam and Eve were supplied with everything they needed in the Garden of Eden. They had fellowship with God and intimacy with one another. But after Eve was deceived by the serpent, she saw the forbidden fruit and set her heart on it. Before...

Day 25 Love Forgives What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ. – 2 Corinthians 2:10   This one is tough – perhaps the toughest dare in the book.  But if there is to be any hope for your marriage, this is a challenge that must absolutely be taken seriously.  Counselors and ministers who deal with broken...

Day 26 Love is Responsible When you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.  – Romans 2:1 HCSB   Today will be hard. But as you seek God’s strength and wisdom, you will be able to get through it. This day could be a milestone in your marriage if you allow it to be. So resolve to focus on what the Lord may be saying to you, and...

Day 27 Love Encourages Guard my soul and deliver me; do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in You. – Psalm 25:20   Marriage has a way of altering our vision. We go in expecting our mate to fulfill our hopes and to make us happy. But this is an impossible order for our spouse to fill. Unrealistic expectations breed disappointment. The higher your expectations, the more likely...

Day 28 Love Makes Sacrifices He laid down His life for us.  We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. – 1 John 3:16 HCSB   Life can be hard. But what we usually mean is that our life can be hard. We’re the first to feel it when we’re the ones being mistreated or inconvenienced. We’re quick to sulk when we’re the ones who feel deprived or...

Day 29 Love's Motivation Render service with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to men.  – Ephesians 6:7 HCSB   It doesn’t take much experience to discover that your mate will not always motivate your love. In fact, many times they will de-motivate it. More often than you’d like, it will seem difficult to find the inspiration to demonstrated your love. They...

Day 30 Love Brings Unity Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. – John 17:11   One of the most impressive things about the Bible is the way it linked together, with consistent themes running throughout, from beginning to end. Though written over a span of 1,600 years and composed by more than forty writers of various backgrounds...

Day 31 Love and Marriage A man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. – Genesis 2:24   This verse is God’s original blueprint for how marriage is supposed to work. It involves a tearing away and a knitting together. It reconfigures existing relationships while establishing a brand new one. Marriage changes everything.   That’s...

Day 32 Love Meets Sexual Needs The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. – 1 Corinthians 7:3   Some people think the Bible has nothing good to say about sex, as though all God seems concerned about is telling us when not to do it and who not `and the blessing it can be for both husband and wife. Even its boundaries and restrictions are...

Day 33 Love Completes Each Other If two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?  -- Ecclesiastes 4:11   God creates marriage by taking a man and a woman and uniting them as one. And although love must be willing to act alone if necessary, it is always better when it is not just a solo performance. Love can function on its own if there is no other way, but...

Day 34 Love Celebrates Godliness [Love] does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.  – 1 Corinthians 13:6   From the moment you close your Bible in the morning nearly everything else you’ll encounter throughout the day will be luring you away from its truths. The opinions of your coworkers, the news coverage on television, your typical Websites,...

Day 35 Love is Accountable Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.  – Proverbs 15:22   Mighty sequoia trees tower hundreds of feet in the air and can withstand intense environmental pressures.  Lightning can strike them, fierce winds can blow, and forest fires can rage around them.  But the sequoia endures, standing firm, only...

Day 36 Love is God's Word Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.  – Psalm 119:105   For some people, the Bible seems just too big to understand.  It’s like an impossible challenge.  They don’t know where or how to begin.  But as a Christian, you’re not left alone to try grasping the major themes and deep meanings...

Day 37 Love Agrees in Prayer If two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by May Father.  – Matthew 18:19   If someone told you that by changing one thing about your marriage, you could guarantee with near 100 percent assurance that your life together would significantly improve, you would at least want to know what it was. And...

Day 38 Love Fulfills Dreams Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.  – Psalm 37:4   What is something your spouse would really, really love?  And how often do you ask yourself that question? Common sense tells us we can’t give our wife or husband everything they might like.  Our budgets and account balances...

Day 39 Love Endures Love never fails. – 1 Corinthians 13:8   Of all the things love dares to do, this the ultimate. Though threatened, it keeps pursuing. Though challenged, it keeps moving forward. Though mistreated and rejected, it refuses to give up. Love never fails. Many times when a marriage is in crisis, the spouse who is trying to make things work will go to the other,...

Day 40 Love is a Covenant Where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.  – Ruth 1:16   Congratulations. You’ve reached the end of the Love Dare – the book. But the experience and challenge of loving your mate is something that never comes to an end. It goes on for the rest of your life. This...