by Larry Hernandez Think with me for a moment. Do you live a life of blessing or complaint? It is so easy to grumble. It is so easy to find fault. It is so easy to be discontent. It is so easy to find things that are less than you want them to be. It is so easy to be irritated and impatient. It is so easy to groan and moan about the difficulties of life. It is so easy to be dissatisfied.
It’s the holidays of thankfulness and cheer, or is it. I think these holidays can be the most challenging for me when it comes to different needs and wants. Stores are full of sales and advertisements directed at telling us what we need. It is in these times that I need to be looking to my heavenly Father and telling him what I am thankful for to battle the desires that battle in my heart. My tendency is to grumble or complain about what I don’t have. Why is complaining so easy? Well it is easy because sin still causes us to make it all about us. Because sin really is selfishness at its core, we all still tend to shrink our worlds down to the small confines of our wants, our needs, and our feelings. We then tend to judge the good of our lives by how much of what we want we are able to actually have. If you put yourself in the center of your world, you will find plenty of things to complain about. It is also true that you live in a fallen world where people and things are not functioning the way God intended. This world really is terribly broken. Life here really is hard. You face all kinds of difficulties, big and small. People disappoint you. They make your life hard. Obstacles appear in your way. In some way, the fallenness of your world enters your door every day. Combine the hardships of life in this fallen world with the self-centeredness of sin and you have a recipe for disaster, or at least a miserable life of discontent. The Bible does not see grumbling and complaining as little things. In Deuteronomy 1, Moses recounts how the people of Israel “murmured” (grumbled) about their lives, and embedded in that murmuring were questions about the goodness and wisdom of God. God’s assessment was that by their grumbling the people had rebelled against him; they had shown they were unwilling to do what he had called and enabled them to do. The joy or complaint of your heart always shapes your willingness to trust God and to do his will. Complaining forgets God’s grace. It ignores his presence. It fails to see the beauty of his promises. It allows the display of his splendor in creation to go unnoticed. It questions his goodness, faithfulness, and love. It wonders if he is there and if he cares. If you believe in God and his control over everything that exists, then you have to accept that all of your grumbling is ultimately grumbling against him. Yes, it is so easy to complain. It is so easy to forget the daily blessings that fall down on each of us. Our readiness to complain is another argument for the forgiving and rescuing grace that Jesus, without complaint, willingly died to give us. So to battle our needy grumbling hearts, thankfulness is the key: 1 Thess 5:16-18 Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. As a Practice what are you thankful for? Reference: Tripp, Paul David. New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional
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by Evan Hunt You may be wondering why the title for this devotional has the words "bad and good" in that order. Usually when people use those words together, they say "we made it through the good times and the bad times" or "the good, the bad, the ugly". Well as far as spiritual dependency often goes, it is easier for us to reach out to God when we are in times of need or in pain (bad times) and sometimes hard to reach out when things are good. Don't get me wrong, we are definitely called to call out to God in these hard times. I know that in my life when I have felt shame or distress, reaching out to God was the only way I could actually receive real comfort. I praise God who gave me hope during those times.
Romans 15: 13 says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." And a beautiful thing about God is that his strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul mentions this in 2 Corinthians 12:9. Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 12:9 reminds us "'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." So the reason I chose this topic is because right now things are going pretty well in all facets of life. Work is good, strong relationships have developed in my life, and I am physically healthy. It is times like these when I need to constantly remind myself that I need God and that he is the source of everything good in my life. I have a tendency to rely on my own understanding and strength. But like Proverbs 3:5-6 says, I am to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. Also, Psalm 28:7 declares that the Lord is our strength and our shield. I also need to prepare myself to be strong with a firm foundation in Christ for when times get rough, because that's inevitable. I like the imagery of the "shield" in Psalm 28:7 because God is our protector in the bad times and we just need to get behind that "shield". Above mentioned verses included below for reference: Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on you own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Psalm 28:7 - The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me, My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. The Psalms are a great and abundant resource for praise songs to God. I heard this one recently. Psalm 100:1-5 1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. When times are good, it is important to remember that God is the source of all of these gifts. If this applies to you, take some time today to just praise God for whatever it is that is good in your life (people, circumstances, success, food…and the list goes on). James 1:17 - Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. by Brandalyn Graham (Galatians 5: 22-25) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. As we grow and mature more as followers of Jesus Christ our lives should bear fruit. We should have a visible change in every area of our lives once we have surrendered our hearts, minds, and bodies to the Lord. The visible attributes that define our Christian lives are known as the ‘fruits of the spirit.” In Galatians 5:22-23 these attributes are: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. As we pray and continue to seek the Lord, let we can assess our lives and hearts for evidence of growth and maturity in Christ using the fruits of the spirit. LOVE- "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16). Through Jesus Christ, our greatest goal is to do all things in love. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). JOY- "The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Psalm 16:11). PEACE - "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13). LONGSUFFERING (patience) -- We are "strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness" (Colossians 1:11). "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love" (Ephesians 4:2). GENTLENESS (kindness) -- We should live "in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left" (2 Corinthians 6:6-7). GOODNESS - "Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power" (2 Thessalonians 1:11). "For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth" (Ephesians 5:9). FAITH(faithfulness) - "O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth" (Isaiah 25:1). "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Ephesians 3:16-17). MEEKNESS - "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (Galatians 6:1). "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love" (Ephesians 4:2). TEMPERENCE (self-control) - "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love" (2 Peter 1:5-7). |
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