Insecurity is like a poison that affects every area of a person's life. Healing may be a bit painful, but it's better than being emotionally handicapped all your life. We must learn to trust God for the attention He knows we need.
If someone does not give us the attention we think we should have, then what is the Godly response? Respond with mercy and understanding. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Remember that love always believes the best of others according to 1 Corinthians 13:7.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Would you want someone to judge you harshly or show you no mercy or spread gossip about you and spread strife in your church or organization? Of course you wouldn't! And neither would I.
Peace can be maintained and strife kept out by following the example of Jesus. How would we handle the situation you are facing? Never forget that strife destroys. It destroys marriages and relationships on every level. It destroys churches, business and people's health.
Strife is a peace stealer. If we can learn to recognize and deal with strife, then we will stop a lot of intended destruction.
Strife brings stress and stress brings sickness. We are vessels created by God for righteousness, peace and joy. We were never created to house strife, worry, hatred, bitterness, resentment, rage, unforgiveness, anger, jealousy, turmoil and upset of every kind. Our bodies are built to endure a lot of punishment and still survive, but filling the temple with wrong things damages it.
A lot of disease is caused by dis-ease. The symptoms and the sickness is real, but the root cause is stress.
Strife causes much of the stress in our lives. Nothing is physically harder on us than getting angry or upset, especially if we stay that way for a long time.
Look at what the Bible says in Ephesians 4:26 and James 1:19.
Stress can be mental, emotional or physical tension, strain or distress. Stress was originally an engineering term. How much stress can be placed on the steel beams in a building structure without it collapsing? Today, more people are collapsing than buildings! We are built by God in a marvelous way to handle (and handle well) a normal amount of stress.
Everyone has some stress. If you go out of a warm house into the bitter cold, then it creates thermal stress on your body. There's a certain amount of mental stress to each person's job. We all get a normal amount of physical stress. Stress in each of these instances cannot be avoided, but we must realize that proper rest and quiet time are vital to rebuild the energies that have been expended.
No wonder God establishes that man should work six days and then have a Sabbath (one day in seven to totally rest from all his labors in Exodus 20:8-10. According to Genesis 2:2 even God rested from His labors after six days of creation.
We can handle normal stress, but when things get out of balance or excessive, then we often sacrifice our good health.
The world is a stressful place. Even the noise levels are growing at an alarming rate. Everybody is in a hurry. The sad thing is that they're going nowhere and they don't know it. All of this creates an atmosphere of stress and void of peace. The atmosphere in the world today is supercharged with stress and strife. Many families are experiencing financial pressures. Normal living frequently requires two incomes, thus both parents have to work or maybe Dad works two jobs. Many single moms work two or three jobs to pay the bills and still have all the work to run a household when they get home.
To be continued...
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Seed To Plant
In order to be successful in spiritual warfare, we must wear our shoes of peace and not just carry them around. God instructed us to put on the full armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18. God supplies us with all the armor we need to defeat the devil in every one of his strategies and deceits, but it's useless to us unless we put it on. We must keep it on because "the devil roams around like a lion roaring (in fierce hunger), seeking someone to seize upon and devour," according to 1 Peter 5:8.
Learning how and being willing to walk in our shoes of peace is one of the secrets of successful spiritual warfare. Taking authority over the devil with a loud voice does not replace simple obedience to the Lord. Look at the prayer Jesus prayed in John 17:21, "Many people live in confusion, wondering why the promises of God don't work in their lives. The promises of God cannot just be claimed. They must be inherited as we enter into a sonship relationship with our Father. Look at Romans 8:14-15 which says that the "sons of God are those who are led by the Spirit of God."
Paul instructed the Corinthian church regarding God's faithfulness. He assured them God was faithful and he taught the importance of living in harmony, unity and agreement. Look at Hebrews 12:14-25. We are to want peace and to strive to live in it. Peace is to be a primary goal for us. We're to help watch over one another. If we see a brother or sister in the Lord becoming angry or upset, then we should help restore them to peace if possible. This may be one of the ways we are peace makers.
The verses in Hebrews 12:14-25 tell us that strife (or the absence of peace) leads to resentment and bitterness and even hatred. If left unattended it shoots forth and spreads.
Strife strikes like an infection or highly contagious disease. It causes trouble and brings torment and it troubles and hinders the work of the Lord and many become contaminated and defiled by it. God works in an atmosphere of peace, but satan and his cohorts work in strife and turmoil. He sets us up to cause us to become angry with one another. He knows which buttons to push at just the right time. The devil is a strategist. He lays out a plan and doesn't mind working behind the scenes for long periods of time in order to accomplish his desired goal. He lies to people setting them against each other. He magnifies incidents and makes them appear to be much more important than they really are. A person can make a simple mistake and the devil will tell him that it was done on purpose. He will try to make you believe people have plotted against you and try to hurt you on purpose. Many times people may not even realize how they offended you.
Probably, more damage is done by the spirit of offense than any other enemy. It opens the door for multitudes of deep, dangerous problems that few know how to deal with. Such problems develop from carnal Christians-immature people who live by their feelings. They say and do exactly what they feel. They don't ask God to help them get over the hurt.
The Bible plainly states that we're to forgive those who hurt us quickly, frequently, and freely.
Insecure people carry a root of religion. They need a lot of outward assurance that they're accepted. They lack feelings of worth and value from within so they crave it from outside sources.
To Be Continued....
Learning how and being willing to walk in our shoes of peace is one of the secrets of successful spiritual warfare. Taking authority over the devil with a loud voice does not replace simple obedience to the Lord. Look at the prayer Jesus prayed in John 17:21, "Many people live in confusion, wondering why the promises of God don't work in their lives. The promises of God cannot just be claimed. They must be inherited as we enter into a sonship relationship with our Father. Look at Romans 8:14-15 which says that the "sons of God are those who are led by the Spirit of God."
Paul instructed the Corinthian church regarding God's faithfulness. He assured them God was faithful and he taught the importance of living in harmony, unity and agreement. Look at Hebrews 12:14-25. We are to want peace and to strive to live in it. Peace is to be a primary goal for us. We're to help watch over one another. If we see a brother or sister in the Lord becoming angry or upset, then we should help restore them to peace if possible. This may be one of the ways we are peace makers.
The verses in Hebrews 12:14-25 tell us that strife (or the absence of peace) leads to resentment and bitterness and even hatred. If left unattended it shoots forth and spreads.
Strife strikes like an infection or highly contagious disease. It causes trouble and brings torment and it troubles and hinders the work of the Lord and many become contaminated and defiled by it. God works in an atmosphere of peace, but satan and his cohorts work in strife and turmoil. He sets us up to cause us to become angry with one another. He knows which buttons to push at just the right time. The devil is a strategist. He lays out a plan and doesn't mind working behind the scenes for long periods of time in order to accomplish his desired goal. He lies to people setting them against each other. He magnifies incidents and makes them appear to be much more important than they really are. A person can make a simple mistake and the devil will tell him that it was done on purpose. He will try to make you believe people have plotted against you and try to hurt you on purpose. Many times people may not even realize how they offended you.
Probably, more damage is done by the spirit of offense than any other enemy. It opens the door for multitudes of deep, dangerous problems that few know how to deal with. Such problems develop from carnal Christians-immature people who live by their feelings. They say and do exactly what they feel. They don't ask God to help them get over the hurt.
The Bible plainly states that we're to forgive those who hurt us quickly, frequently, and freely.
Insecure people carry a root of religion. They need a lot of outward assurance that they're accepted. They lack feelings of worth and value from within so they crave it from outside sources.
To Be Continued....
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