Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

Today a man said to me, “My wife doesn’t like me to be like I was when she married me. She is always trying to remake me.” There are lots of people that way. They married “for better or for worse” but they didn’t realize how bad that worse would be. When they find out, they immediately set out to remodel their mate. This man didn&...

Here is a typical day for any pastor in America today. Received a telephone call from a young lady who recently married outside of her faith. She is now having trouble from both sides of the family.  Worked on a funeral sermon for a dear friend who passed away. Visited with a young couple. They are new here in town. She is lonely. Her parents live in a distant...

In the middle of the great Civil War, Bob Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln came to his mother and dad and said he wanted to join the Union forces and to fight for his country. But his mother refused to allow him to do so and his father supported her because they had already lost two sons and she could not bear the thought of losing a third. When they refused to let...

I have a preacher friend who tells this story and I’m not sure that it’s true, but it is a good story and preachers don’t always tell the truth when they have a point they want to make. He said that there was a lady in his church who seemed to oppose him on every issue. It didn’t matter what he said, it didn’t matter what he presented to...

In Paul and Barnabas, we find these two good men, these longtime friends, divided over a very small, insignificant question. The question is bound to come to our minds—how in the world does something like this happen?  It can happen because the best of men are not infallible. You know we need to understand that though a man is a good man, it does not mean...

Several years ago word came to me that a fellow pastor was critical of me. I knew that it had to be something in his own life because we had never had any dealings with each other before. We had never had any conflict; we had never had any differences. We had had very few dealings at all. So I just ignored the first word that came to me. Then there came a second word...

You may know couples who are loveable, likable, normal people who can get along with everyone except each other. Obviously they know how to relate well with other people because they do so. But they will not apply the same effort to their own marriage. Through the years bitterness and resentment have grown until they no longer care or try to make their marriage work....

Let’s face it: marriages do have their problems. Wherever two red-blooded people are building a home, you will find occasional spats, and now and then some fiery encounters. While occasional strife in a marriage is normal, continued conflict can be devastating. It can make life miserable and eventually destroy love. It has been well said, “Grumbling is the...

Life involves conflict. It always has and it always will. This is as true of marriage as of any other relationship. When two sinful people (and we all are sinful) have a close relationship of any kind...at home, or at work, or among friends...they have to really work at it. Here are six good ways to deal with conflict: 1. Handle the conflict as it arises. The Bible...