Though We Suffer Loss

 

Whoever offers praise, glorifies God (Psalm 50:23). We praise Him in our victories, our successes, and our blessings, as well as in our diseases, our worries, our fears and our setbacks (Job 13:15).

There are many times when things do not go our way. We feel frustration, remorse, defeat and hopelessness; yet, we rejoice in the God of our salvation, who is our strength (Habakkuk 3:17-19).

This connection with God acknowledges that He is in control of our life at all times. It humbles us and causes us to shift our focus from our self and our problems to Him, our Problem Solver.

The more we establish and maintain our unity with God, the fewer trials and negative experiences occur in our life. When they do come, as trials always have a way of infringing on the best of times, the trauma is short-lived because of our positive attitude.

We see the daily blessings in the negative situation, and we see the hand of God working in the details to bring us encouragement and support as we suffer loss and ill health.

Job knew the power of prayer. He lost more in one day than most people lose in a lifetime. He suffered anguishing emotional, mental, financial and physical loss all at the same time. Yet, he chose to praise the Lord.

Sitting in the pile of ashes, scraping his boils with broken pieces of pottery, his trust in God never faltered. He endured endless days of torment and suffering with His hope planted firmly in the Lord.

Prayer:

Father God, the length of Job's suffering discouraged him and caused him to question You, and to wish to die and end his misery; but You sustained him through those harsh and unwarranted issues and blessed him with more than he lost. We thank You that regardless of the circumstances we experience You are always in the midst of them with us.

It is encouraging to see that Satan has no power over us. There are only two ways that he can inflict us: if we open the door to him by our attitude and behavior, or if You give him permission. We know that if we walk uprightly before You, anything we suffer will result in more blessings in the end. Therefore, we praise You, even if You decide to slay us (Job 13:15; Daniel 3:8-18).

Thought for the Day:

When we experience the challenges of life, we learn to trust in the Lord with our whole spirit and soul, and to walk in His will rather than in our own goals and plans (Proverbs 3:5-8), as we live each moment by faith in His faithfulness, and guided by His Holy Spirit.

Creative Conflict in Marriage

A good marriage takes effort. When two - usually opposite - personalities combine under one roof, they often end up donning the boxing gloves and duking it out! Of course there is a simpler solution.

God gives us these diverse personalities and gifts, because together we can make wiser decisions. When we are at an impasse, we take the best from both of us and make a third, mutually agreeable choice which makes so much more sense.

By keeping our eyes on Jesus, we find God's perspective and will, and we walk together in peace through His Spirit. We find comfort and wisdom from God's Word and encourage one another (Psalm 119:71, 75-76).

We join our strengths and help one another to overcome our individual weaknesses. This takes humility, and pride will only gum up the works. Having to be right and the need to have one's own needs met first are no basis for wise decisions - they are part of our insecurities.

Together we help each other overcome our idiosyncrasies and failings and guarantee that our unified decisions are in God's will. Rather than accuse and fight when we disagree, we can brainstorm for that third alternative.

Trials and tribulation are easier to handle when faced together. Our frustration, discouragement and disappointments are shared by someone who loves us unconditionally. We comfort each other in our self-doubt.

God has a purpose in every trial, and He plants the seed for a miracle in each one of them (1 Peter 4:12). He works out all of them for our ultimate good. Both partners in the marriage are blessed as we keep each other strong and face life's devastating events as lovers and friends.

Our intimacy with God and with one another strengthens through every trial, which we face together. We learn to depend on one another rather than to fight one another; and together we depend on God's goodness more than on our own resources.

Prayer:

Father God, the difficulties and perplexities of life often wear us down and cause us to adopt defense mechanism, which cause negative issues in our marriage. Help us to heal from our personal, unresolved conflicts and to dwell with each other with understanding (1 Peter 3:7). Satan may influence our past, but we do not have to allow him to continue to hinder our present or future life. Help us to draw near to You and to resist Satan's lies, so he will flee from us (James 4:7).

Thank You for linking us with a mate who will strengthen our weaknesses, help us to heal from our past hurts and challenge us to seek Your joy and comfort. Teach us not to attempt to change our mate, but to change our self and to rely on You to meet our needs. Help us to work together as a couple to live in unity with Your Spirit and with one another.

Thought for the Day:

Momentary trials lead to long-term blessings, which last a lifetime when we depend on one another and on God to see us through them.

Nursing Negative Emotions

When we nurse a negative emotion, we amplify it in our mind, cement it in our thinking and establish the roots of it in our soul. Yet, this only ends up hurting, rather than helping us.

Paul recommends that we think and meditate on only positive thoughts and emotions. He even gives us a list of acceptable ideas to consider and contemplate, and on which to focus.

This verse suggests that we think only on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). If it does not meet these requirements, we ask God to help us to change our focus about the issue.

Grudges, depression, jealousy, anger, hurt feelings, suspicion, frustration, shame, grief, etc. usually come from lies, which Satan whispers in our ear. However, if they are founded in fact, we can use the Serenity Prayer to resolve them.

We either change the circumstance or give it to God to deal with; but whatever we do, we change our attitude about it to keep our soul encouraged by the positive that is going on in and around us.

Paul goes one step further and encourages us to rejoice in our tribulation. I never could figure out how to do that, until I realized that God plants the seed for a miracle within every trial.

Now, I simply praise our Father God with gratitude and faith in His faithfulness through tribulation, and I look at it as an adventure in Christ rather than as just another negative encounter with life.

Our attitude during trials is the greatest witness to the world around us of the Christ within us (1 Peter 2:12). We can "preach" to them until we are blue in the face, but what we "say" with our actions and attitude speaks more about the love of Christ than our words.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that the result of us maintaining positive thoughts and attitudes is Your peace within us (Philippians 4:7). Your peace is the precursor for all of our thoughts, words and actions; and our thoughts, words and actions can disturb Your peace within us quicker than anything. We often imagine the worse-case scenario, which rarely happens, and this slides us right down into the pit of worry and depression. 

You give us Your wisdom to deal with each moment of life, which we encounter. Your wisdom is pure, filled with peace, loving, considerate, easily surrendered to, full of mercy and grace, produces good fruit in and through us, and is impartial and sincere (James 3:17). Help us to stay focused on Your blessings and provision in our life.

Thought for the Day:

There is more potential power in gratitude and praise than in nursing negative emotions.