I know this one sounds simple, but it’s so crucial.  The closer you are to your wife, the farther away you are from making a mistake.

After your relationship with Jesus, your relationship with your wife is the most important relationship in your life and many of us need to do a better job acting like it.  We need to continue to date our wives, love them, support them, talk to them and treat them like our best friends.

To end the week, here are some tips to keeping the bond strong with your wife:

1. Talk to her.  A lot. Tell her what’s going on in your life, what’s going well and what’s not.  If there’s a new person at work that is a little too friendly, tell your wife.  Keep her in the loop.  Communication helps her feel like she’s a part of your life and assures her you’re on the same team.
2. Date her.  Often. Just because she said “I do” doesn’t mean you should stop wooing her.  Take her out, bring her flowers, do the laundry, clean the dishes . . . whatever it takes to make her feel loved.  It’s pretty hard to chase someone else if you’re still chasing your wife.
3. Have sex.  Lots of it. I think I just got your attention!  Sex is God’s gift to married couples and is meant to increase intimacy.  It builds and maintains emotional bounds like nothing else.  Oftentimes affairs arise out of a need to have intimacy somewhere, because it’s not happening at home.  And by the way, if you are working really hard at numbers 1 and 2 on the this list, you’ll find that number 3 is much easier to keep as well.
4. Make Jesus the center of BOTH your lives. Pray together, worship together, serve together.  Marriage was designed by God and only works when he is at the center of it.

I hope this has been helpful, I know it has for me.  If you’re struggling in this area, please take a bold step here to fight for your marriage.  Tell someone you’re struggling and ask them to pray for you. If you want, email me.  I’ll pray for you.  Or we can just talk.

Just know that you’re not above falling, neither am I.  If we want to run the race God set out, we have to work at it.

Have a great weekend.

So you’re actually spending time with God.  You’re growing and listening to him.  You’ve set up some boundaries in your life to keep you from unhealthy situations.  You’re all set, right?

Wrong.

We have an enemy that wants to tear us down and destroy us. The more we seek to become like Christ, the harder he tries to stop us.  If you’re doing the two things I listed above, you’ve moved up the target list a pretty good bit.  This is where temptation comes in.

Maybe you’re flipping through the channels and you flip to the wrong movie, or maybe you’re on the internet and something you shouldn’t see pops up, or maybe you’re out and the girl that’s had too much to drink is a little too friendly . . . and on and on and on.  No matter how hard we try, temptation will find us.  When it does, what do we do?

Run.  Flee.  As fast as you can.  I’m not kidding. The Bible teaches that we have to flee temptation. We can’t linger in it, trust our will power to continue to overcome because we won’t.  Jesus told his disciples, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:14)  You want to resist the urge, you know you should . . . but eventually, if you linger around temptation long enough, you will give in.  Without a doubt.

So flee.  Get out of there, turn the TV off, close the laptop . . . whatever it takes.  If you’re really growing closer to God, he’ll be screaming in your ear, “this is bad.  Get out.  Leave.”

Just listen . . . and run as fast as you can.  Get out of there.  And then thank God that he loves you enough to protect from a terrible mistake.

No notes today.  Instead, I am going to give you some “highlights” from a few pastors that spoke at Catalyst.  These guys spoke with passion, conviction, urgency and vision.  I was moved in different ways by each of them and wanted to share some thoughts.

Craig Groeschel

Craig spoke about “it”.  You’ve all heard the phrase, “that guys just has it.”  Sometimes it’s called the “it-factor.”  Craig spoke and taught about finding, having and using “it.”  In fact, he’s written a book called It.  The best line from Craig was, “we must (as church leaders) be overcome and overwhelmed by the driving force of God’s vision for our lives.”  Good stuff.

Pastor Steven Furtick

Pastor Steven brought an amazing message on trusting in the promises of God.  He challenged all the pastors in the room to believe the promise that God has made to them and to be faithful in the process of waiting on the promise.  You all know how much I love this guy and his message spoke so clearly to me.  I know God has a clear vision for Wellspring Church and I am trying my best to be faithful in the process of building this church.

These pastors, and others, are constantly challenging me and teaching me about who I am called to be and how I am called to lead.  Whatever arena you are in, do you have folks that are ahead of you, that you can learn from and follow?  If not, stop what you are doing right now and find someone that you can learn from.  It’s crucial, not only for the spiritual life but also your jobs, etc.  We do not, and never will, have all the answers.  Learn from others.  And in turn, be generous with what you know as well.  Teach.