How healthy eating and an active lifestyle can affect how we serve God.
Author Gary Thomas approaches a subject that few pastors or Christian writers have dared tackle. In Every Body Matters, reaches all the way back to the apostle Paul, who wrote that we need to prime our bodies to become, an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
To illustrate the body/soul correlation, Thomas presents engaging and diverse stories that include a young mom who got fit through volleyball and reaped spiritual rewards in her marriage, a 300-pound pastor who realized his obesity was eroding his ministry impact, and a woman who gained the spiritual strength to survive a contentious divorce by training for a marathon.
In every instance, Thomas makes a direct connection between the physical challenge and its spiritual consequence.
This book is a must read for anyone seeking new and compelling motivation for strengthening their bodies and fortifying their souls.
What if God designed marriage to make you holy instead of happy? What if your relationship isn't as much about you and your spouse as it is about you and God?
In Sacred Marriage, bestselling author Gary Thomas uncovers the ways that your marriage can become a doorway to a closer walk with God and with each other. Join over one million others who have already uncovered Thomas's tips for fostering a sacred marriage.
Within the pages of Sacred Marriage, Thomas invites you to see how God can use your relationship with your spouse as a discipline and a motivation to love God more and reflect more of the character of his Son.
In addition to life-changing insights from Scripture, church history, and time-tested wisdom from Christian classics, you'll find practical advice and techniques to make your marriage happier by becoming holier husbands and wives.
In Sacred Marriage, Thomas will give you all of the tools you need to:
Thomas reveals that sacred marriages teach us to love God and others well by fostering a healthy sex life, a strong prayer life, and a rich spiritual life. God uses our marriages to help us grow in character, in prayer, in worship, and in service--we just have to recognize that the purpose of marriage is holiness, not happiness.
Each copy also includes thought-provoking discussion questions designed to spark conversation between couples and small groups, allowing you to dive deeper into the lessons that Thomas shares in Sacred Marriage.
Join the one million others who have already started on their journey to transforming their relationship with their spouses and with their Creator.
Grow in your marriage and in your spiritual life with weekly devotions that turn your heart towards God and your spouse.
Do you consider your marriage to be holy? What if holier meant having a happier marriage? Your marriage is more than a sacred covenant with your spouse. It is a relationship God uses to help you know Him more, trust Him more fully, and love Him more deeply.
In Devotions for a Sacred Marriage author Gary Thomas encourages you to build your marriage around God's priorities and explores how God can reveal Himself to you through your marriage and help you grow closer to Him as well as to your spouse.
This devotional provides:
You and your spouse will discover:
If you are married, God has called you into a delightful yet difficult, a problematic yet pro-found relationship--but through it all, marriage is more than worth the pain. Devotions for a Sacred Marriage invites you embark on a journey to experience life as God created it and has called you to live it and challenges couples to embrace the profound and soul-stretching reality of Christian marriage.
Parenting is a school for spiritual formation. . .and our children are our teachers.
The journey of caring for, rearing, training, and loving our children profoundly alters us forever. Even when the journey is a rough one, God uses the experience to train, shape, and love us.
Sacred Parenting is unlike any other parenting book on the market. This is not a how-to book that teaches readers the ways to discipline their kids or help them achieve their full potential. Instead of a discussion about how parents change their children, Sacred Parenting demonstrates how God uses children to change their parents.
Stepping beyond the overly-tilled soil of method books, parents can learn a whole new side of parenting. You'll be encouraged by stories that tell how other parents handled the challenges and difficulties of being a parent - and how their children transformed their relationship with God.
The lessons that Gary Thomas--bestselling author of Sacred Marriage--offers are timeless. But in this edition, Thomas adds in some additional insights and stories that he's learned and lived over the past fifteen years of his own parenting. He has found that the lessons have remained much the same, but there are new applications for the readers in this generation who are just now coming to his book.
El llamado de tu vida es demasiado importante para que las personas tóxicas te lo quiten. En Aléjate de las personas tóxicas, Gary Thomas, el autor best seller de Matrimonio sagrado, se basa en historias bíblicas y modernas para proveerte con ideas prácticas para lidiar con personas difíciles en tu vida y vivir fiel al propósito que Dios te dio.
Como cristianos, a menudo sentimos culpa y la responsabilidad de satisfacer las necesidades de las personas no saludables en nuestras vidas. Ya sea un hermano, padre, cónyuge, compañero de trabajo o amigo, las personas tóxicas siempre buscan frustrar el llamado de nuestra vida. Mientras buscas primeramente el reino de Dios, ellos buscan primeramente distraer tu atención y retrasar tu trabajo.
En lugar de intentar la tarea imposible de apaciguar a las personas tóxicas, es hora de que dediquemos nuestra energía al único esfuerzo que vale la pena: completar la obra que Dios nos ha encomendado. Es solo cuando aprendemos a decir no a los malos patrones que podemos decir sí al bien que Dios ha planeado para nosotros.
Gary Thomas, el autor best seller de Matrimonio sagrado, observa ejemplos bíblicos de las vidas de Jesús, Pablo y Nehemías. Tomado de los años que sirvió como pastor, Thomas comparte historias modernas y ejemplos prácticos para lidiar con personas difíciles en nuestras vidas. Cada capítulo incluye lecciones prácticas que puedes aplicar de inmediato. Descubrirás como:
No podemos dejar que otros roben nuestra alegría o nuestra misión. Es hora de fortalecer nuestra defensa, aprender a poner buenos límites y enfocarnos en el propósito que Dios nos dio.
In this six-session small group Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately), Sacred Marriage, writer and speaker Gary Thomas invites you to see how God can use marriage as a discipline and a motivation to reflect more of the character of Jesus.
Your marriage is much more than a union between you and your spouse. It is a spiritual discipline ideally suited to help you know God more fully and intimately. Sacred Marriage shifts the focus from marital enrichment to spiritual enrichment in ways that can help you love your mate more. Whether it is delightful or difficult, your marriage can become a doorway to a closer walk with God.
Everything about your marriage--from the history you and your spouse create, to the love you share, to the forgiveness you both offer and seek by turn--is filled with the capacity to help you grow in Christ's character.
In addition to life-changing insights, you'll find a wealth of discussion questions in this Participant's Guide that will spark meaningful conversation in your group, between you and your spouse, or to simply ponder by yourself. You'll also find self-assessments, activities, and highlights all created to help you engage deeply and prayerfully with the content of this study.
Sessions include:
Designed for use with the Sacred Marriage Video Study (sold separately).
Sacred Pathways reveals nine distinct spiritual temperaments--and their strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies--to help you improve your spiritual life and deepen your personal walk with God.
It's time to strip away the frustration of a one-size-fits-all spirituality and discover a path of worship that frees you to be you. Experienced spiritual directors, pastors, and church leaders recognize that all of us engage with God differently, and it's about time we do too.
In this updated and expanded edition of Sacred Pathways, Gary Thomas details nine spiritual temperaments and--like the Enneagram and other tools do with personality--encourages you to investigate the ways you most naturally express yourself in your relationship with God. He encourages you to dig into the traits, strengths, and pitfalls in your devotional approach so you can eliminate the barriers that keep you locked into rigid methods of worship and praise.
Plus, as you begin to identify and understand your own temperament, you'll soon learn about the temperaments that aren't necessarily you but that may help you understand the spiritual tendencies of friends, family, and others around you.
Whatever temperament or blend of temperaments best describes you, rest assured it's not by accident. It's by the design of a Creator who knew what he was doing when he made you according to his own unique intentions. If your spiritual walk is not what you'd like it to be, you can change that, starting here. Sacred Pathways will show you the route you were made to travel, marked by growth and filled with the riches of a close walk with God.
A Sacred Pathways video Bible study is also available for group or individual use, sold separately.
Discover how to grow closer to the Lord in the days leading up to your wedding so you can be spiritually ready for all the days after your wedding.
The wedding is planned, but are you spiritually prepared for your wedding day?
Engagement is bursting with promise, hope, joy, and anticipation of all kinds. It can also be one of the busiest times your life. For some, planning a wedding, with all the decisions involved, can feel less like the exciting onset of marriage and more like a tedious to-do list. Amidst the busyness, this devotional is designed to encourage and guide you through the spiritual priorities and challenges that lie ahead in order to grow a joy-filled marriage brimming with love, grace, and God's blessing.
In addition to helping you celebrate the joys of marriage and become radically connected as you create an even deeper passionate relationship, this lovely book also provides encouraging entries that will help you deal with common issues such as:
With a special section on the marriage vows and thoughtful meditations for the bride and groom, Preparing Your Heart for Marriage will help you grow in your relationship as a couple on your journey from me to we.
The bestselling author of Sacred Marriage offers hope to women who want to strengthen and transform their marriages into the profoundly deep relationships God intended.
Women: you're not alone in your marriage. You never have been, and you never will be. While it may not always feel like it, God wants you to have a relationally healthy, emotionally engaged, and spiritually mature husband.
In Loving Him Well--previously titled Sacred Influence--Gary Thomas builds on concepts from his bestselling book Sacred Marriage to reveal the inner workings of a man's heart and mind. He delves into Scriptures that help women gain biblical insight to influence their husbands. Exploring the research of neuroscientists, trained counselors, and abuse victim advocates, Gary also interviews dozens of wives to find what has worked and what hasn't as they've sought to build the best marriage possible.
With new stories and fresh illustrations to help wives understand, love, and influence their husbands, Loving Him Well offers encouragement, biblically based support, and practical applications for the transformation of your marriage, drawing you and your husband closer together, the way God intended.
Perfect for . . .
You'll discover the influence you can gain and the peace of mind you can build when you go first to God for your worth, validation, protection, and provision and then learn how to use that platform to help your husband draw closer to you and closer to God.
Loving Him Well includes study questions at the end of each chapter and is also available in Spanish, Amándolo bien.
Don't let toxic people undermine your God-given calling. . .learn when to walk away.
Have you ever counted how many times Jesus walked away from toxic people or let them walk away from him? The answer may surprise you.
Drawing from years serving as a pastor, Gary Thomas, bestselling author of Sacred Marriage, looks at biblical examples from the lives of Jesus, Paul, and Nehemiah to equip you to handle toxic people with grace and firmness.
We often feel the guilt and responsibility of meeting the needs of unhealthy people in our lives--whether a sibling, parent, spouse, coworker, or friend. And most of us struggle to recognize when a relationship has become toxic and how to move beyond it.
In When To Walk Away, you'll discover how to:
Toxic relationships leave us drained, and we all experience them. If you're wondering what to do next, Gary Thomas has written this practical and helpful book for you. --Jennie Allen, author of Get Out of Your Head, founder of IF: Gathering
Gary Thomas, pastor and bestselling author of Sacred Marriage, believes that one simple word can bring hope, light, and life into any marriage: Cherish.
Most marriages survive by gritting teeth and holding on. But what if surviving marriage wasn't the goal? What if we aimed to thrive instead? In Cherish, Thomas teaches us that although there are a countless number of marriages consisting of two people just going through the motions, there are real ways this pattern can be reversed: when husbands and wives learn to cherish one another in their everyday actions and words.
The way we treat something acknowledges whether we cherish it or hold it with indifference or contempt. To truly cherish something is to go out of our way to show it off, protect it, and honor it. We want others to see and recognize and affirm the value that we see. Thomas reminds us that in a world desperate for marriage redemption, the act of cherishing is needed now more than ever.
Cherishing your spouse will elevate your marriage relationally, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. You will set different goals for your relationship, and you'll see your marriage with fresh eyes. Through personal stories, real-world examples, and timeless biblical truths, Thomas shares the tools you need to turn your marriage around, including:
Through the biblical act of cherishing, we can empower our spouses to become who they are called by God to be, and in the process to become more of who we are called to be, creating a marriage that feels more precious, more connected, and more satisfying. If you're ready to revolutionize your relationship, it's time to learn how to truly Cherish it.
In this six-session video Bible study (DVD/streaming video not included), bestselling author Gary Thomas draws on Jesus' example to teach us how to handle difficult relationships--and to help us discern when we should walk away.
As Christians, we may feel that imitating Christ's love means we must always meet the needs of unhealthy people in our lives and endure poisonous relationships. Many of us have dealt with toxic individuals who drain us of our joy and peace--who never seem to change no matter how long we wait or how hard we pray. It's a hard truth, but sometimes the best course is to distance ourselves from certain relationships and dedicate our energy elsewhere.
Drawing from years of pastoral experience, Gary Thomas looks at biblical examples from the lives of Jesus, Paul, and Nehemiah to give you insightful, biblical wisdom that you can apply right away to the relationships around you. You'll discover how to:
We can't let others steal our joy or our mission. It's time to follow Jesus' example to walk away from toxic people and walk toward healthy relationships. And as we do, it frees us to focus completely on the purpose that God has established for our lives.
The When to Walk Away Study Guide includes teaching notes, discussion questions, Bible exploration, and personal study and reflection materials for in-between sessions.
Designed for use with the When to Walk Away Video Study (9780310110361) available on DVD or streaming video, sold separately.
In this six-session video-based small group bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately), Gary Thomas uses a unique lens to look at parenting, moving beyond raising great children to becoming more holy as a person.
What if one of God's primary intentions for you as a parent isn't about successfully raising perfect children, but about you becoming more holy? In Sacred Parenting Gary Thomas illustrates how God can transform lessons in raising children into opportunities to grow in the image of Christ.
It will help you and your group, rediscover parenting from a different perspective: as a method of spiritual formation expressly designed by God to shape your soul in ways you could not imagine! This study will help you dig deeper into learning how God can transform dirty diapers, toddler tantrums, and a teenager's silence into occasions for becoming more like Christ.
Sessions include:
Designed for use with the Sacred Parenting Video Study (sold separately).
How to keep your marriage together when the trials of life threaten to rip it apart.
It's not a question of if your marriage will face trials. It's a question of when. Illness or injury. Job loss or financial burdens. Addiction. Anxiety. Infidelity. Loss of faith.
Whether you've been married for five months or fifty years, it's within you and your spouse's power to ensure your marriage is prepared for those seasons and situations--a place of refuge and safety for both of you.
In Making Your Marriage a Fortress, Gary Thomas, bestselling author of Sacred Marriage, guides you and your spouse in how to fortify your marriage ahead of time, so that it can withstand any storm or difficult season. You'll:
Every marriage will face setbacks and seasons of disappointment, but this book will help you keep your marriage strong. . .for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, till death do you part.
Raising children is a sacred calling--and not for the faint of heart. It shapes the parent every bit as much as parents shape their children. In Devotions for Sacred Parenting, Gary Thomas, author of Sacred Parenting, delves deeper into the conversation and contemplates the soul-transforming journey of being a parent.
Many books have been written about how to parent your children effectively, how to become a better parent, and how effective parenting produces better kids. Devotions for Sacred Parenting explores an entirely different reality: how parenting transforms you, the parent. It explores the spiritual dynamics of parenting and why caring for your children is such an effective discipline in shaping your soul and forming the character of Christ within you.
With all new material, 52 devotions explore the spiritual dynamics of parenting. These life-related devotions are creative, fresh, and encouraging, inspiring mothers and fathers to look at parenting from a different perspective--as a holy and high calling from God, and as an opportunity to grow spiritually as you strive to raise godly children. Devotions for Sacred Parenting helps you understand how God is parenting you as you parent your children.