Restoring Relationships: Listen First

As human beings we sometimes are stubborn and ego, pride, etc. get in the way of making things right with the person there is an issue with. I hope you just as encouraged as I was when I read this message from Rick Warren.

The third biblical step toward restoring a relationship is to sympathize with the other person's feelings.

If you're going to restore broken relations, you need to use your ears more than your mouth. Before attempting to solve any disagreement you must first listen to the other's feelings. The apostle Paul advised, "Look out for one another's interests, not just your own."(Philippians 2:4 TEV)

The phrase "look out for" is the Greek word skopos, from which we form our words telescope and microscope. It means pay close attention! Focus on their feelings, not the facts. Begin with sympathy, not solutions.

Don't try to talk people out of how they feel at first. Just listen and let them unload emotionally without being defensive. Nod that you understand even when you don't agree. Feelings are not always true or logical. In fact, resentment makes us act and think in foolish ways. King David admitted, "When my thoughts were bitter and my feelings were hurt, I was as stupid as an animal." (Psalm 73:21-22 TEV) We all act beastly when hurt.

In contrast, the Bible says, " A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense." (Proverbs 19:11 NIV) Listening says,"I value your opinion, I care about our relationship, and you matter to me." The cliche is true: People don't care what we know until they know we care.

Call on those things that are not as though they are!!!

WHOA!!!!! Good to read before I start my day!!!! Hope you are as encouraged as I am!! This is from a devotional with Joseph Prince!

"Pastor Prince, I feel the pain in my body. How can I go around saying that Christ has redeemed me from this sickness? How can I say that by His stripes I am healed?"

Well, God's way is to call those things that are not as though they are. And because you are made in God's image, you can also call those things that are not as though they are!

When God wanted to make Abraham a father of many nations, what did He do? He changed the way Abraham talked. At that time, Abraham did not even have a single child from Sarah because she was barren. So how could he become a father of many nations?

God changed the way he talked. How? By changing his name from Abram to Abraham, which means "father of many nations." (Genesis 17:5)

Just imagine: from then on, every time he met someone, he would say, "hi, my name is Father of Many Nations." Every time dinner was ready, Sarah would call out to Abraham, "Darling Father of Many Nations dinner is ready! Father Of Many Nations" You can just hear their  neighbors saying,  "They want a child so much they have gone mad!" But God changed the way Abraham talked so that he called forth what God saw him already blessed with.

You know, when Jesus saw the man with a withered hand, He didn't say, "My goodness! It is so withered!" He said, "Stretch out your hand!" (Matthew 12:13) He called forth what He wanted. He looked at the paralytic and said, "Rise, take up your bed and go home!" (Matthew 9:6) He didn't see the way it was in the natural. He saw the way God meant it to be and He called it forth.

Genesis 1 tells us that in the beginning, there was darkness over the face of the whole earth. God saw the darkness and He said, "Light be!" And light was. God called forth what He wanted and it became so! If it had been me or you, we would probably have said, "Whoa! It is so dark!

My friend, despite the pain, call forth your healing. It is pointless to state the obvious. So change the way you talk. See the way God meant it to be, and start calling forth your healing and wholeness!

Thought for the day:

God's way is to call those things that are not as though they are.
"As it is written : 'I have made you a father of many nations.' He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not"
Romans 4:17

Back from a youth retreat!!

Just got back from a youth retreat with an awesome group of high school students!! I had a great time! The weather was pure hot and humid, cabins with no air, extremely scorching HOT showers, well water, and on then on the last day of the retreat there was not running water, no showers, no bathroom use and it was just simply amazing!! LOL!! It was a great time really! Got to meet a lot of cool students, and hang out with them!

Life has been so busy, I don't even know where to begin! But i am so excited about what is about to take place! Some crazy things just happened, found out my cousin got engaged, found out another cousin only has a few weeks to live, and cousin is getting married this weekend!

Just started the fall league of adult park district soccer in division 1( competitive league), we won our first game 5-1 !! We are too excited about the season!!!! We are going to surprise a lot of people!! Can't wait!

Anyhow, getting late! Work in the morn, wedding in the evening! Going to be awesome to see the WHOLE family again!

Be Enthusiastic in Your Work

Whoa!!!! devo with Rick Warren !!!!!!

if you want your work to be blessed by God, he first thing you must do is start working enthusiastically.

Enthusiasm is not based on how fun your job is or how much it pays; its based on why you do what you do. In fact, the word enthusiasm comes from the Greek words "en theos" which mean " in God."

If you want to be enthusiastic about your work, remember these three things:

Your work is a test from God--

"whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, but if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?" (Luke 16:10-12 NIV)

God is watching what you do, even when no one else is--

"work hard so God can say to you, 'well done.' Be a good workman, one who does not need to be ashamed when God examines your work." (2Timothy 2:15 LB)

Your attitude determines your joy--

"the diligent find freedom in their work; the lazy are oppressed by work." (Proverbs 12:24 MSG)

You can't succeed in life until you change your attitude about the work you are doing right now. Romans 12:11 says, "never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically." (NLT)

Bible verses:

ecclesiastes 9:10

luke 16:10-12

2timothy 2:15

proverbs 12:24

romans 12:11

Stop waiting!!!

Life has been crazy for me these past few months! But honestly I cant complain! I wake up in the morning and i am grateful for another day! Praise Jesus! Just realizing that things dont have to be perfect before i have to start something or do something!

A lot of times our God given vision is bigger than our current situations, circumstances, background or even education. This right here can cause us to delay in starting out until we have enough money, become more smart, or even getting a lucky break.  When in reality we have everything to get started to take that first step right in our hands! Your dream is right there to grasp if you are willing to reach out for it!

Jesus told the disciples to feed the crowd in Mark 6 but their focus was on what they did not have and how great of a task that would be. So Jesus, then asks "what do you have?" In reality the disciples only had 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to feed the thousands! So i understand why they were looking bamboozled! But what happens next is the part we need to focus on : Jesus takes what they have to God in thanksgiving before asking the disciples to share it with the crowd. The result of that was a miraculous overflow of more than enough food for crowd!

The same thing that God did with Moses, is the same He wants with us and He is asking us today,"what is that in your hand?" So take a step back and evaluate yourself and ask the Lord to reveal to you the resources, connections, knowledge, talents, gifts and helpers that He has already placed in your life to help make that first step! It might not be enough to take you all the way through your journey in life but it is most definitely more than enough for the first step!

You need to start where you are and trust in God that He will take care of all your needs to successfully make it through this journey we call life!

Mark 6:35-42

Don't Plan Without God

What a revelation today!!! Thank you Jesus!! I hope that whoever reads this is encouraged!!!

Taken from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

"commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass" Psalm 37:5

Don't plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him--that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.

In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our "spiritual face" before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.

Don't plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? "Love...thinks no evil" (1Corinthians 13:4-5). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.

Don't plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled..."(John 14:1). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command--"Let not...." To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.

Get moving!

What a word today!!! I hope you are encouraged as I am!!!

From "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers

"also...add to your faith..." (2 Peter 1:5)

In the matter of drudgery. Peter said in this passage that we have become "partakers of the divine nature" and that we should now be "giving all diligence," concentrating on forming godly habits (1:4-5). We are to "add" to our lives all that character means. No one is born either naturally or supernaturally with character; it must be developed. Nor are we born with habits--we have to form godly habits on the basis of the new life God has placed within us. We are not meant to be seen as God's perfect, bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary test of genuine character. The greatest hindrance in our spiritual life is that we will only look for big things to do. yet, "Jesus...took a towel and...began to wash the disciples' feet..." (John 13:3-5)

We all have those times when there are no flashes of light and no apparent thrill to life, where we experience nothing but the daily routine with its common everyday tasks. The routine of life is actually God's way of saving us between our times of great inspiration which come from Him. Don't always expect God to give you His thrilling moments, but learn to live in those common times of the drudgery of life by the power of God.

It is difficult for us to do the "adding" that Peter mentioned here. We say we do not expect God to take us to heaven on flowery beds of ease, and yet we act as if we do! I must realize that my obedience even in the smallest detail of life has all of the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I will do my duty, not for  duty's sake but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience all of the magnificent grace of God is mine through the glorious atonement by the Cross of Christ.