faith Archives

Helping Children Understand How They Feel

The Bible encourages us to manage our emotions.

Proverbs 15:18 says, “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.”

Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.”

Identifying and managing emotions can be challenging for adults. How much more difficult is it for children?

Kids experience big feelings inside little bodies and can easily be overwhelmed and confused by their feelings.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, children, faith, parenting March 10, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Bringing Gospel Clarity to a Feelings-First World

The most important question we can ask ourselves about life is, “What do I really believe to be true?”

There’s one thing that’s ultimately true for any belief: it’s not a mental exercise. It’s an action.

You don’t simply believe truth. You live it.

That concept came naturally to Abdu Murray. He grew up Muslim in Detroit, Michigan. In that culture, even Muslims who don’t read the Quran, pray five times a day, or immerse themselves in the traditions of Islam consider their faith part of their identity.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith February 28, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How God Redeemed My Teen Pregnancy

“I’m pregnant.”

Would you know what to do if your teenage daughter made that announcement? It’s not a pleasant situation to think about. But that’s why you should.

It’s the moment of truth for you as a parent. When you first hear the news, you’ll feel like the floor has dropped out from beneath your family. How you react sets the tone of your relationship with your child moving forward. It’s a scary, uncertain time for you and for your daughter.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, pregnancy February 20, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Teach Your Kids About God

Note: This article by Focus on the Family President Jim Daly appears in full on Fox News.

Once upon a time, the vast majority of Americans were affiliated with a particular faith community or tradition: Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or Jewish, for example.

In recent years, though, secularism has been growing and a new wave of either atheism or agnosticism is rolling across the country. It may be true that a degree of “unbelief” has always existed, but with rising rates of people unaffiliated with any church or faith at all, the likelihood of interacting and being influenced by a person who believes in a higher power is similarly depressed.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: children, faith, parenting February 19, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Trump and Pelosi, Time to Turn the Other Cheek

Note: This article by Focus on the Family President Jim Daly originally appeared on CNN.

Inside the Washington, DC Hilton’s International Ballroom on Thursday, it was a scene straight from a script of a highly dramatic film.

Fresh off his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial and seated at the head table before an overflow crowd for the 68th annual National Prayer Breakfast was President Donald J. Trump. Seated several seats over was Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi — the very woman who led the House of Representative’s impeachment proceedings against him.

Topics: Current Events Tags: current events, faith, prayer February 12, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Becoming a Messenger for Life

We live in a culture of contradictions.

When it comes to issues of race and sexual orientation, society shouts the virtues of human dignity from the rooftops. But when it comes to preborn babies, the terminally ill, or the severely disabled, society’s tone changes. Suddenly, ideas like “choice” and “quality of life” trump human dignity.

The Bible says we were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). We all have tremendous worth and value to God from the moment of conception to natural death.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, pro-life February 10, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Are Your Five Core Needs Being Met?

Human beings are designed with five core needs – five desires of our hearts that must be met for us to live lives of wholeness.

Security – who can I trust?Identity – who am I?Belonging – who wants me?Purpose – why am I alive?Competence – what do I do well?

Each of those is in their correct order, by the way. If you feel safe and secure, you’ll feel empowered to discover your identity – your deepest passions and strengths.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith February 4, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Adorable Child Warms Hearts and Reminds Us How to Pray

There are a lot of things we can learn from children.

Often, we can become so busy with the hustle and bustle of life, that we forget to take time for what matters most. For Christians, spending time in prayer and reading Scripture can too quickly become an afterthought.

I was reminded of this recently when I came across a video of an adorable schoolboy leading his fellow classmates in prayer before breakfast.

The boy folded his hands, bowed his head, closed his eyes and, with furrowed eyebrows, devoutly prayed:

“Father God, we thank you for this food.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: children, faith January 21, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Reaching Across Cultural Divides

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his iconic I Have a Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. in 1963. Dr. King spoke of his hope that America would one day live out its creed that all men are created equal, that men and women of diverse ethnicities would join together as brothers and sisters.

My guest on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Reaching Across Cultural Divides,” author and pastor Dr.

Topics: Current Events Tags: broadcast, faith January 20, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Finding Strength in the Midst of Disappointment

Genesis says that we were created perfect in the Garden of Eden. Revelation 22 describes the end of the age when God will create a new heaven and new earth, and our perfection will be restored.

There lies the rub: Between Eden and eternity, life is filled with disappointment, and we don’t always know how to handle it well. We push disappointment aside. We ignore it. We numb it. We bury it. We doubt God’s love for us.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith January 14, 2020 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura