So we've all got that one person, or two, in our lives that just seem to annoy the heck out of us. It's inevitable that they produce themselves in our paths right at the very moment when we don't want to see them. They say things that get on our last nerves. They make comments when they should just stay quiet. And some of them are not going anywhere anytime soon. So what do we do? How do we react to the them?
We need to realize that everyone has this person in their lives and in return we are that someone in someone elses lives. We, as Christians, have been commanded to exhibit the fruits of the spirits. One importantly being that of patience. Patience allows us the opportunity to do nothing but sit back and begin to pray for a good dose of patience in regards to this person. It's not our job to change these difficult people but rather to change our perspective about them. I like to call these people, Sandpaper people. They are abbrasive and they rub us the wrong way. We prepare ourselves for how sandpaper will feel agasint our skin before it ever touches us, and that is how we act towards these people too. Before they ever get near us we have already prejudged them. We anticipate how they are going to treat us, what cruel thing they are going to say or do. This is where we go wrong. Instead of us assuming how they will be we need to see them the way Christ sees them. They are beautiful, important and worthy in His eyes. So, why not in our eyes?
3 things we need to do with these people;
1. Choose to love them. Look beyond their faults and see their worth.
2. Choose to encourage them. Be their cheerleader - privately or publicaly. Find one good aspect about them and focus on it. You can do this by complimenting them or just remembering that they have a good quality amongst their bad ones and constantly look for it.
3. Choose to be thankful for them. Difficult people are gifts from God. Hand picked for us and wrapped in God's love. He brings them in to our lives to smooth out rough edges in our own character. While dealing with people we have a hard time getting along with it makes us seek God for help. The end result, we begin asking God to give us patience, the ability to show kindness, etc and our relationship with Christ begins to strengthen as does our maturity in how we handle people around us.
The prayer to pray is simple. "Bless them. Change me."
We need to quite focusing on their faults and realize that maybe God just needs to do a good work within us. And when you are praying for someone, it's a little hard to be angry with them. And once you are handling them the way God would have you handle them, then you can not be responsible for the way that they act. You are only responsible for your actions towards them. Romands 12:21 says Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
I asked everyone to do something this week.
Find something that you can do to encourage your difficult person this week. And everyday pray for them. After one week, report back in on how your attitude has changed in regards to them. Prayer is powerful, changing everything and everyone who comes in contact with it.
Luke 6:28 Bless them that curse you, pray for them which despitefully use you.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Patience, Kindness, Goodness
I spoke this weekend at a retreat for high school girls on the the 3 fruits of the spirit...patience, kindness, goodness.
It's amazing how the difficult people in our lives can cause us to not exhibit these fruits. It's not the people hindering us from using these traits but rather the choice we make to allow our annoyances with them to hinder us from exhibiting these traits.
A statistic I found said that 90% of all mental illness could have been prevented from a single act of kindndess. If we could only get out of the self-centered mode our western culture has created and realize that there are hurting people all around us that need just a touch of kindness, a smile and most importantly someone to pray for them.
We all need patience, we could all stand to be more kind and it never hurts us to do something good for others.
Next Tuesday, October 30th, we are going to touch on this more. The act of having patience and kindness in our lives while dealing with the difficult people that surround us.
Til then.....BE SWEET!!
It's amazing how the difficult people in our lives can cause us to not exhibit these fruits. It's not the people hindering us from using these traits but rather the choice we make to allow our annoyances with them to hinder us from exhibiting these traits.
A statistic I found said that 90% of all mental illness could have been prevented from a single act of kindndess. If we could only get out of the self-centered mode our western culture has created and realize that there are hurting people all around us that need just a touch of kindness, a smile and most importantly someone to pray for them.
We all need patience, we could all stand to be more kind and it never hurts us to do something good for others.
Next Tuesday, October 30th, we are going to touch on this more. The act of having patience and kindness in our lives while dealing with the difficult people that surround us.
Til then.....BE SWEET!!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Prayer
Tonight at church we commissioned 4 people to the mission field. It was a sweet time as I knew 2 of the young people going. I am brought to a new awareness of how risky being a missionary is but I'm sure how very rewarding it can be also. My prayers go out to them and their families as God uses them in places and ways we will only know in Heaven.
At the end of the commissioning service, our pastor, Dr Brunson, asked for the families of these people to gather around their loved ones. Then he extended the invitation to the church body and asked for anyone who would committ to pray for these people to come down and surround them as well. My heart overflowed with emotion as litteraly thousands crept out of their comfort zone aisles and started flocking to the front. They were offering their prayers to God on behalf of these people. Some of these people are strangers to these missionaries, some they know quite well but regardless of the relationship, they were all praying. It was a beautiful sight! I was standing there in the choir loft watching, tears streaking my face when it hit me. I thought to myself, so this is what it looks like when people are interceeding for me in prayer! You know we hear the words quite often from people "I'm praying for you" "You're in my prayers" "I prayed for you today" We all love to hear that but have you ever stopped to think about what it looks like when people are praying for you? I saw it tonight. I thought about the times I've asked for prayer from people who began praying and then turned around and asked others to pray for me as well. Maybe hundreds at a time were praying for me, I have no idea. But I know now that at some point in my life, I've been standing on a stage surrounded by people flocking out of their comfort zones interceeding in prayer for me. Some people I knew, while others were complete strangers. But they were all praying just for me. I Timothy 2:1-2 (The Meesage) The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.
Who have you promised to pray for today? I know I have a list, so what do you say I meet you on a stage in about a minute...
At the end of the commissioning service, our pastor, Dr Brunson, asked for the families of these people to gather around their loved ones. Then he extended the invitation to the church body and asked for anyone who would committ to pray for these people to come down and surround them as well. My heart overflowed with emotion as litteraly thousands crept out of their comfort zone aisles and started flocking to the front. They were offering their prayers to God on behalf of these people. Some of these people are strangers to these missionaries, some they know quite well but regardless of the relationship, they were all praying. It was a beautiful sight! I was standing there in the choir loft watching, tears streaking my face when it hit me. I thought to myself, so this is what it looks like when people are interceeding for me in prayer! You know we hear the words quite often from people "I'm praying for you" "You're in my prayers" "I prayed for you today" We all love to hear that but have you ever stopped to think about what it looks like when people are praying for you? I saw it tonight. I thought about the times I've asked for prayer from people who began praying and then turned around and asked others to pray for me as well. Maybe hundreds at a time were praying for me, I have no idea. But I know now that at some point in my life, I've been standing on a stage surrounded by people flocking out of their comfort zones interceeding in prayer for me. Some people I knew, while others were complete strangers. But they were all praying just for me. I Timothy 2:1-2 (The Meesage) The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.
Who have you promised to pray for today? I know I have a list, so what do you say I meet you on a stage in about a minute...
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