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Tuesday June07 2011 |
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The Source of Real Power |
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"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Matthew 5:5 (NIV) Do you want to make a difference in your life but just can't seem to get there? Do you want to see a change in a situation but it just doesn't seem to happen? Where do you find the real power to make a real difference in your life? Jesus teaches us that real power is found in one of the strangest, most unexpected places. Real power is found in meekness. Now when we talk about meekness, or gentleness, we tend to think of something sweet and gentle like a lamb or a baby. But, in God's dictionary, meek does not mean weak. It means "power under control." Imagine it this way, it's like a rocket launching off a pad. If you took the same amount of energy and created an explosion, it would destroy the launch pad. But because that energy is funneled in a certain direction, it is instead able to launch the rocket into space. That's what God wants to do in your life. He wants to take the power you have in your words, emotions and drive, and put it under control. But it's your choice. You have three ways you can choose to live your life.
Can you guess which way of living will be the most fruitful? When we submit our life to God's control it will produce the fruit Paul talked about in Galatians 5:22-23, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (NIV). Tom Holladay is a teaching pastor at Saddleback Church and author of The Relationship Principles of Jesus. |
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Wednesday, June 08, 2011 |
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When You Are Confronted, Choose to Love |
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“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words cause quarrels.” Proverbs 15:1 (LB) It’s one thing to talk about living a life of gentleness, and letting God be in control. But how do you apply this practically when someone confronts you or pushes your buttons and you feel the anger rising inside yourself? Proverbs 17:14 says, “Starting a quarrel is like opening a floodgate, so stop the argument before it gets out of control” (NLT). How do you stop it? How do you break the cycle of verbal retaliation when someone confronts you? You do it by choosing to exchange harsh words for “a gentle answer [that] turns away wrath …” (Proverbs 15:1 LB). Gentle means with humility. It means you recognize where you are wrong, which is not easy to do. That’s why you ask God to give you the power to exchange your natural reaction of harsh words for gentle ones in that situation. What if you’re dealing with a person who appears hard-headed and incapable of responding to gentle words? God has an answer for that: “A gentle word can get through to the hard-headed” (Proverbs 25:15b NCV). This may mean that you stop and pray, even just a silent prayer in your mind. It may mean stepping away from the situation so that you can ask God for the right words to say. One of my favorite prayers is Psalm 141:3, “Lord, help me control my tongue; help me be careful about what I say” (NCV). This is a quick prayer that can make a difference when you feel yourself getting angry. Try it this week and see if God doesn’t show up with the power to help you respond in love. |
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Thursday, June 09, 2011 |
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When You Are Insulted, Choose to Pray |
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"Pray for those who insult you." Luke 6:28 (GWT) When it comes to being insulted, there is something Jesus said in Matthew 5 that can make us scratch our heads. "If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek also" (Matthew 5:39 NCV). Huh? In order to understand this verse, we need to understand the culture of that day. In biblical times, a slap was not an act of violence. It was a backhanded slap indicating an insult. When you slapped someone on the cheek, you were insulting that person. Many times the person would slap back with another insult. People insult you to gain control. If they can get you to insult them back, you've given them the higher ground and it puts them in control. What Jesus was saying in Matthew 5 is to just let it go. Don't play their game. Give the situation to God. It takes a lot of strength not to insult someone in return. So how do you do it? · Remember what God says about you. No matter what negative thing that person says, remember that God says he loves you. God made you, and he has a plan and purpose for your life. God's opinion is more important than any other person's opinion.
· Instead of retaliating, God wants us to break the cycle in a different way. "Don't retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do, and he will bless you for it" (1 Peter 3:9 NLT). How do you return an insult with a blessing? Pray. "Pray for those who insult you" (Luke 6:28 GWT). How do you pray for somebody who has hurt you? King David, a man after God's own heart, prayed for people who insulted and rejected him. You can find many of those prayers in the book of Psalms. What I love about his prayers is that he begins many of them by telling God his honest feelings about the people who hurt him. That's how our prayers should start. Don't pretend to be pious; God knows what is on your mind anyway. Tell God how you honestly feel. Admit you are struggling to pray for the other person, but then ask God to bless him or her. Honest and humble prayers have the power to make a difference in this world. |
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Friday, June 10, 2011 |
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When You Are Neglected, Choose to Encourage |
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“Encourage anyone who feels left out, help all who are weak, and be patient with everyone.” 1 Thessalonians 5:14 (CEV) When you are feeling neglected, overlooked, or ignored, what is your natural reaction? It depends on your personality, but you will probably either want to withdraw and take the approach of “you ignore me and I’ll ignore you,” or you’ll seek out a way to get that person’s attention. Either way, it’s all about you. God wants you to choose a different reaction. With his controlled power, he wants you to make the gentle choice to focus on others. If you’re feeling neglected, chances are somebody else is feeling that way too, and you have the opportunity to do something for him or her because you can empathize. Finding someone to encourage will get you out of the downward spiral of self-pity; you are now looking out for others and seeking to make a difference in their lives. As today’s verse tells us, it’s important to look for someone who most other people wouldn’t encourage. A lot of people like to encourage or help powerful people because it might give them a leg up on something. But God wants us to “encourage anyone who feels left out” and “help those who are weak” (1 Thessalonians 5:14 CEV). Who do you need to encourage? Take a moment to consider someone you know who might be feeling neglected or overlooked. Maybe it’s somebody in your office, school or neighborhood. Then take some time to follow Hebrews 10:24 and “think of ways to encourage one anther to outbursts of love and good deeds” (NLT). Maybe write them a quick note or take them out to lunch. Those small acts have the power to change not only their lives, but yours as well. Instead of turning inward and allowing neglect to eat away at you, turn outward and use God’s power in your life to serve others. It’s ministry, it’s powerful, and it makes a difference. Tom Holladay is a teaching pastor at Saddleback Church and author of The Relationship Principles of Jesus. |
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Saturday, June 11, 2011 |
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When You Are Rejected, Choose to Forgive |
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“You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” Colossians 3:13 (NLT) It’s tough being rejected, especially when it is by someone you love. It might be one of your kids, your spouse, or a close friend. But the Bible says you need to forgive that person because God forgave you. The key to being able to forgive somebody is in today’s verse. It’s the word “remember”. When you remember what Jesus Christ did for you, then you have the power to forgive somebody else. If you hold on to the hurt, it will only end up hurting you. When you don’t forgive others, it creates bitterness and anger in you. It will eat you up on the inside and drain you of your energy, leaving you tired all the time. Every time you start to feel bitterness towards someone, remember Jesus on the cross, how he loved you enough to give his life so your sins can be forgiven. He was rejected and insulted as he hung there, but he looked at everyone and prayed, “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34 NIV). In complete meekness and humility, Jesus gave his life because he loves you. He wasn’t thinking of himself; he was thinking of you. Peter says, “They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things straight” (1 Peter 2:23 MSG). The definition of forgiveness is found in two words in that verse: “let God.” You let God set things right. Forgiveness is not about trusting the person again or forgetting everything that happened. It’s about putting the situation in God’s hands instead of seeking revenge or holding a grudge. As you read this, someone might be coming to mind. Don’t wait. Take a moment right now to pray this prayer: “God, I am giving you this hurt right now. I am letting it go to you. You’re in charge. Enable me to forgive the person who hurt me.” This probably won’t be the last time you pray that prayer. If it’s a deep hurt, you might have to pray that 70 times a day as you struggle with it. But keep doing it, and then maybe next week you’ll only have to pray that prayer 30 times a day, and maybe only 10 times the week after that. And eventually, there will come a time when you realize that you haven’t thought about the hurt for several months. That’s how you let go and let God. |
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Sunday, June 12, 2011 |
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When You Are Applauded, Choose to Hope |
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“All that’s left now is the shouting – God’s applause!” 2 Timothy 4:8 (MSG) If you live for applause, then you are living for something that won’t last. The Bible says, “Though a man calls himself happy all through his life – and the world loudly applauds success – yet in the end he dies like everyone else” (Psalm 49:18-19 LB). Our focus should be on what will last – the hope we have in Christ. When you are applauded, thank God in your mind. It helps you put the applause in perspective. In the end, all praise will go to God. Now some people, when they receive applause, will say, “Oh it wasn’t me; it was God.” This actually bugs me for two reasons – First, what they did to get the applause came from a gift God gave them. If God had done it himself, something miraculous would have occurred because God’s ways are so much bigger than anything we can do. Second, saying this insults the person who gave the compliment. I know people don’t mean it this way, but they’re basically saying, “Oh, you shouldn’t be giving me a compliment.” I know some people aren’t very good at receiving a compliment. They think it might make them prideful. But the right thing to do when complimented is to receive the compliment and thank God in your mind. When you do that, you hope. You look toward eternity, remembering what you’re really working for in life. The Bible says, “All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize” (1 Corinthians 9:25, NLT). Tom Holladay is a teaching pastor at Saddleback Church and author of The Relationship Principles of Jesus. |