What Do You Expect?

 If we allow our minds to expect someone behave negatively to us, we may rehearse what our negative response will be. That's having a bad expectation and it isn't walking in love! Remember  Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (I Cor. 13:4-7)






*Luke 6:45

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Half-way To Happy

Stop! Wait a minute! You're almost there! Well if you are seeing the glass half-empty. We have to choose our outlook. We either choose to give in to negative feelings or we choose to find the good in things.

As believer's we are to think about things that are above and not beneath. We are to be thankful in all things. It's hard sometimes, but it is a lesson we all need to learn and sometimes re-learn.

Find a reason to be thankful. Then really meditate on the goodness of that thing. Tell the Lord you are thankful for it and praise Him, even in the midst of your pain. Before long you will find your outlook has changed. You will have hope again and the glass? Oh that will be more than full!



Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine,  But a broken spirit dries the bones.   Philippians 4:8   Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.   Ps. 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil;  My cup runs over.

Oh Be Careful Little Mouth What You Say

We must learn to be quiet! So much of what we hear is really not worth repeating.





Psalms 34:13 NLT Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies!

Proverbs 17:28 Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.

Ecclesiastes 3:7 NLT A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

 

Make Me! - The Robot Mentality

Many of us have prayed for the Lord make us do or be  something.  But God has given us the gift of free will. Its okay to pray that prayer but we must be willing to walk that prayer out.

 He has promised there will never be any temptation that we can't bear. There will always be a way to escape. That's a promise! We just need to look for the Way.





*John 14:26 NKJV “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

*I Corinthians 10:13 NLT The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

*John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

How Big Is God?

It's all about perspective. God, the Father has always been. He is a spirit. He is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. There is nothing too big for God. He's got this!





Isaiah 40:22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,  And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,  Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,  And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.



Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened,  That it cannot save;  Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.

Self-pity

From the moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and savior we are engaged in spiritual warfare.  Satan wants to us neutralize our relationship with Jesus so we are ineffective.

One way he can accomplish his goal is to get us to look at ourselves and our circumstances more than we look to Jesus. Trials come and we feel like we've been thrown under the bus. We feel we've been victimized. We feel, and feel and feel. Ultimately we feel so sorry for ourselves we can't move forward. But the Word says... Now let the weak say I am strong!

We will go through difficulties and we may agonize over some of them. But that grief should cause us to call out to Jesus instead of constantly looking into the mirror of self-pity.





Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords  And your pruning hooks into spears;
Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ”

Psalms 107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,

Perfectly Exasperated!

At our house if the shower lever is not turned off as soon as the water is turned on my bath has officially become a shower!  It is not a pleasant thing and I find it exasperating! Why oh why must this be an issue! But is it really an issue or is it an opportunity to grow in grace?  Isn't it just as easy to check the lever myself? Sure it is. 

James 1:4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Colossians 3:12-  Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

 

 

 

 

 

Prayer: Father please help us to put on love. Let us realize that perfection is a work that you do within us and forgiveness is what we do for others.