Jim Daly

Dr. Tony Evans: How to Raise Kids With a Kingdom Perspective

What kind of legacy do you want to pass on to your children?

Your answer to that question is important. When parents don’t pass down a good legacy, future generations suffer the consequences.

People often say that today’s kids are a lost generation. Dr. Tony Evans says that they’re actually the product of a lost generation. The problems our children are facing in the world are far greater than the problems we experienced.

The number of children being raised in single-parent families has increased, so has teen suicide, juvenile delinquency, and sexual promiscuityamong young people.

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Does Your Dog Feel Your Pain?

According to Emily Sanford, the lead author of a new research study, the typical family dog has an uncanny ability to empathize with its owner.

“We found dogs not only sense what their owners are feeling, [but] if a dog knows a way to help them,” she said, “they’ll go through barriers to help them. Every dog owner has a story about coming home from a long day, sitting down for a cry and the dog’s right there, licking their face.

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Why Our Words Never Die

Deborah Pegues is the author of the book 30 Days to Taming Your Tongue. The idea for the book came to her after she didn’t control her tongue with a friend.

She thought she was helping when she told somebody else something she wasn’t supposed to tell. Her attempt to help backfired, and she discovered firsthand what happens when we don’t use our words wisely.

That’s when Deborah decided to go on a “tongue fast.” For 30 days, she refused to speak negatively about anything – not the traffic, not the weather, nothing that she couldn’t directly positively influence.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, relationships

Focus on the Family Best Seller List

Week ending July 13:

Sharing God’s Big Love with Little Lives (by Jean Thomason)
The 10 Best Decisions Every Parent Can Make (by Bill Farrel)
Letters from My Father’s Murderer (by Laurie Coombs)
From Anger to Intimacy (by Dr. Gary Smalley and Ted Cunningham)
Raising Kingdom Kids (by Tony Evans)
Parenting Your Powerful Child (by Kevin Leman)
Growing Kids with Character (by Hettie Brittz)
Kingdom Marriage (by Tony Evans)
The First 9 Months (by Vicki L.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, marriage

Should Christians Criticize Other Christians on Social Media?

According to the latest research, 77% of Americans are social media users, with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest serving as the most popular sites of engagement. The growth, popularity and influence of this forum is staggering, especially when you consider that back in 2005, only 7% of Americans had any type of social media account.

Clearly, not all social media users are equal. Many of us primarily use it to stay in touch with family and friends, sharing pictures, stories and other points of interest.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, relationships

How to be Intentional and Flexible in Your Parenting

If you’re a parent, you may feel like you’ve got everything under control most days. But every now and then, something unexpected happens and nothing goes right with your kids. If that’s been your experience, we’ve got some great encouragement for you today on the Focus on the Family Broadcast.

That sense of frustration and of wondering, “What do we do now?” is something Jean and I have experienced many times with our boys.

Parenting is filled with surprises for most of us, and it’s often a lot harder than we expected.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, kids, parenting

Our Hope and Our Peace in the Midst of Struggle

Jesus is your redeemer.

I hope you believe that.

Christians say that they do. That is what good Christian theology teaches, after all. But do we believe it?

Let’s face it, some days the hill we’re climbing can seem so steep we lose hope that we can survive to the top. Life is hard. Jesus told us it would be. In John 16:33 says, “In this world, you will have trouble.” But he also offered hope to the suffering through His suffering on the cross.

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She Forgave Her Father’s Killer

On today’s Focus on the Family Broadcast we’re hearing from Laurie Coombs, who has an amazing story of forgiveness.

Luke 6:27-28 says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you” (ESV). For me, and for many of you, that verse is one of the most convicting in all of Scripture. It’s hard to live up to God’s standard in this area. In fact, without His Spirit and character enabling you, I’d say it’s impossible to achieve that depth of forgiveness.

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Did Prayer Deliver the Boys in the Cave?

The agonizing 18-day ordeal and successful 3-day rescue of 12 school-age boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand has captivated the world’s attention. In fact, there is news out today that corporate executives are already negotiating book and movie rights to the story. You can be sure that both will be blockbusters, maybe even by next summer.

Throughout the nearly three-week ordeal, both social and traditional media were replete with calls for prayer – for the boys, their coach and the Navy Seals who ultimately coordinated and assisted in their dramatic rescue.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: events, faith, pop culture

Ray Vander Laan on “Cultures in Conflict”

In set 16 of the That the World May Know series, titled “Cultures in Conflict,” Bible teacher Ray Vander Laan leads viewers on a journey with the Apostle Paul as he preaches in Athens, Greece on Mars Hill and founds the church in Corinth.

Along the way, Ray highlights Paul’s tremendous ability to share God’s truth in a way the culture of his day could understand.

In Corinth, for example, one of the most important structures was a temple dedicated to Asclepius, the god of healing.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, discipleship, faith