Victory247

“A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly”  Proverbs 14:29 (NIV)

Something that I can proclaim with certainty over my 50 plus years of life is that people will bother other people. We will get upset by someone’s words or actions in the course of daily living. It’s hard to control that feeling of being bothered. But we can control our response. Being patient with others is not natural, it is supernatural. Many times, while gritting teeth, I find myself pleading with God to help me not let a certain person bother me, to help me forgive, or help me understand how to get through my anger. The more I attack these issues, the more I find myself able to endure and understand.

The most difficult times of allowing God to get me over my bitterness toward offenders are when certain people get under my skin. They don’t even have to do anything directed at me. I only have to see these certain people, and just their way of handling themselves grates at me.

One day I came home with chiggers. They are little bugs that burrow under the skin and leave a trail of small bumps. They have to be suffocated to get rid of them. Nail polish or even ammonia kills them off. Prayer to God can harden our skin so that irritating people won’t burrow under our skin. And asking God for the strength to forgive and understand our offenders will suffocate the intruders.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, I need Your strength to forgive and be patient with those who get under my skin. Thank You that You promise to give me ‘great understanding’ if I work on this. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“…and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”   2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

All of us have what I call a “self talk” going on in our heads. Some refer to it as our “thought life”.

Many times we just let it happen, but we need to realize we can interrupt that stream of thinking, or stop our wandering mind, and even make an effort to “self talk” correctly.

I can catch myself complaining in my head about everything that bothers me about my wife, friends, boss, parents, co-workers, kids, or even the dog. Sometimes I keep it “in”, and sometimes I snap at those around me. My insides boil and I have no inner peace.

Stopping that process and sound track can change our whole outlook.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, remind me to stop those thoughts that erode my relationships. I need to give those thoughts over to You to ajust. Also, help me to put the skids on any angry, impure, and lustful thinking. I want Your blessed inner peace. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously”   2Corinthians 9:6 (NIV)

It only makes sense that if we sprinkle just a few seeds (‘sow’), then we can only harvest (‘reap’) a small amount. On the other hand, if we throw out a bunch of seeds, we have the potential for a bumper crop! I’m not a farmer or gardener, but I always thought the term “bumper crop” sounded like a whole lot.

The context of this verse is the Apostle Paul writing to the believers in Corinth about a gift they are planning to give. “Giving” is the sowing in God’s economy. The more we give our money, time, helping hand, possessions, encouragement, advice,…, the more seeds we are sowing. This gives God a chance to produce a bumper crop of blessings and rewards in our lives.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, help me to look for opportunities to give of myself so that You can take care of all my needs and more. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God”  Genesis 6:9 (NIV)

When Noah was living his pre-ark, normal daily life, he “walked with God”. He did that even when pretty much everyone else wasn’t. As a matter of fact, they weren’t even close, which is why God wanted to do the “Great Start Over” and wipe them all out.

All the people were living for pleasure, lust, greed, hate, sexual perversion, selfish ambition… Yet Noah walked with God. He had no accountability partner, bible study group, Christian counselor, Sunday school class, Pastor of Arking, or any other support in his quest to walk with God.

I guess the everyone-else-is-doing-it excuse gets all shot to heck with the life of Noah.

“Walking with” anyone infers a relationship, a comfort of being together, an intimate communication while moving through the daily routine.

Walking with God is a chance to hang out with the Creator of the universe that just so happens to long to weave into our lives.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, teach me to walk with You as I go through the pressures of life. Give me an intimate communication with You. Guide me, comfort me, strengthen me, especially when it seems, like Noah, that I am all alone in my journey. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful”  John 14:27 (NASB)

When I see the word “troubled”, I think of a song written by Paul Simon, “Bridge over Troubled Waters”. I picture looking down at a cold river with choppy, swift waves, crashing into the walled banks, splashing high into the air and pouring over to the land. A ‘troubled heart’ can feel like this type of angry current.

I remember my 6th grade teacher teaching one practical lesson that I have carried with me over the years. He was a tall young man that didn’t seem very motivated. We played a lot of spontaneous games of dodgeball that year. It was a privilege to be picked to get him his two cups of coffee from the office. Two of us came back one time with the ever present spills running down the sides of the mug. He explained to us that if you look at the coffee while walking it will spill. If you look ahead, it won’t. IT WORKED! Don’t tell me why, but it worked. To this day I use that principle.

What is interesting is that it is also a principle that God is encouraging us to use in life. If we keep our eyes up on Him, He will calm the waters. Even in the midst of hard times, He calms the waters of our hearts. Peace is there for us. We need to walk with Him without staring down. We can ask for His calm and peace, for He says, “My peace I give you”.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, remind me to look to You instead of down at the problems. Give me Your peace. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps”  Proverbs 14:15 (NIV)

At times it seems that we just go through our “day to day” and go along with the crowd, or float through our routines. God cares about our daily grind, and He wants to weave into it!

A basketball coach will go home after a game and watch the game again on video. This video session helps him focus on what his team did and didn’t do well. That way he can prepare a good practice for his team to correct specific flaws and build on strengths.

We need to daily have ‘video sessions’ with God. Quietly talking to to Him and reflecting on our day. The nice thing is that we don’t have to make the adjustments on our own. And it’s refreshing to gratefully focus on the good things about our relationships, possessions and events.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, help me to make time to sit down with You in prayer. Show me what to confess and give me the strength to change. Remind me of the things I can be thankful for. In Jesus’ Name. Amen

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death”  Proverbs 14:12 (NIV)

Many times we want things to be okay to do, or not to do, based on what we feel is best for our own interests. We can tend to twist our thinking that God would surely endorse or not mind some of our decisions and choices. A lot of students pick a major or career path based on what they think they need and want, and not based on any counsel through the Bible and faith based people, or counsel that can come through persistent prayer.

Old time comedian, Henny Youngman, actually had some insight when he stated, “a self-taught man usually has a poor teacher and a worse student”.

Realizing that God cares more about us than we even care about ourselves is vital. Pleading for His guidance is a way to show that we don’t know our needs and how to meet them better than He does. Sure there are many times we make good choices, but going to God grows our minds and opens us to direction that will ‘pleasantly surprise’ us in the long haul.

We need to constantly seek God’s ways(“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  Isaiah 55:8). The old comedian also said, “a doctor gave a man six months to live. The man couldn’t pay his bill, so he gave him another six months”. What is the basis of our choices?

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, I want Your way instead of my short minded source of making decisions. Remind me to seek You in all I do. Thank You for the blessings that will follow. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is the man who gains riches by unjust means. When his life is half gone, they will desert him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool”  Jeremiah 17:11 (NIV)

Throughout our lives we will experience unfair situations. People may get promoted or hired over us, even though we know they aren’t as qualified. Others may get honors that we should have gotten. Some get awards that we know we are much more deserving. Sometimes we are even unjustly criticized.

I personally have experienced these disappointing and frustrating unfair situations. From being overlooked for a job that I trained the person for, to being cut from a middle school baseball team. I look back over my life and realize that this is common. The key question isn’t, “how can I avoid this happening to me?”. Life happens, then the question becomes, “how do I handle this when it happens to me?”.

Anger, frustration, disappointment, feeling like a failure, are all natural responses. But recovering strong is supernatural. Living in anger or discouragement eats us up over time. I have found that quickly venting to God for advice and comfort has built my character and ability to work through unfair situations. My skin thickens and expectations of people being fair are lowered.

‘Unfair situations’ are like a rock. If we stay angry, stay discouraged, slander, gossip, hate, or get depressed, the rock will crush us. If we give our natural response and unfair situation over to several conversations with God, then the rock becomes a stepping stone to higher ground.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, thank You that You know I am unique and special even when I don’t get what I deserve. Help me to get past my natural responses from experiencing unfair situations. I need You to raise me to higher ground. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take”  Jeremiah 31:21 (NIV)

American Heritage Dictionary defines guidepost, “a post with a sign giving directions for travelers, usually placed at a crossroad“. We are always looking for guidance and direction. There are small and major decisions that seem to be always pressing our way.

What should I do tonight? Who should I ask out? When should I leave? What occupation should I pursue? Should I change jobs, schools, girlfriends…? How we use our time is a continual issue. Our direction is based on what? Feelings, what most people expect, pleasure, ease…?

If we really think about it, this process can send us into a tailspin of frustration. Psychics make a lot of money from people who just want answers. We impatiently jump into decisions to avoid more stress. Alcohol and drugs are easy escapes from decisions that pound our brains and force our hand.

God wants to give us a healthy guidepost. “Good direction in life is obtained by the building blocks of  daily, Godly choices”. The WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) mentality of decision making can effect the right now, and where we end up.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, I want the most out of life. Give me a clear mind and conscience as I seek Your direction. I know You know what will truly fulfill me. Help me to be patient as I choose to do what’s right in Your eyes, so that I can relax in knowing that it makes it Your responsibility to getting me to the best situation. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil” Psalm 37:8 (NIV)