An extract from Joyce Meyer’s book – “Life without Strife”
PatienceStrife comes into relationships because people display impatience with each other or with themselves. Strife is the opposite of peace and love.
Kindness
Being kind to a distraught person will act as a healing salve, but harshness only increases anger. Strife always lurks around looking for a crack to crawl through. “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men: (2 Tim 2: 24). Kindness will keep strife out!
Generosity
Envy and jealousy are open doors for strife. When you’re tempted with jealousy, respond with generosity and the evil will be swallowed up by the good.
Humility
Humility is the opposite of pride. We have already seen how pride is an open door for strife. Humble yourself and God will exalt you. It would be impossible to live without strife if there was no humility. Being peace maker requires humility. Pride goes before destruction (Prov 16: 18). Many relationships have been destroyed by a spirit of strife just because neither party would humble himself and wait for God to do the exalting.
Courtesy
Love is not rude and unmannerly. It is amazing how the words “please” or “thank you” can soften a command. Those who have authority and are in a position to tell others what to do could avoid a lot of rebellion by using better manners.
Joyce Meyer encourages us to go the extra mile to be courteous with our family and closest friends. “I have found that we have a tendency to take liberties with those closest to us that we wouldn’t consider taking with a total stranger.”
Unselfishness
Jesus is love and if we intend to follow His lifestyle, it will require the development of an unselfish nature. The seed for that nature is in us by virtue of Christ being in us, but it must be developed by choice. God has planted His seed in us, but we must water and care for it properly so it grows to the fruit-bearing stage. The giving up of oneself is no easy task. The flash dies hard and fights relentlessly.
Good temper
Love is not easily provoked; it is not touchy or easily angered (1 Cor 13: 5). Love is slow to anger (James 1: 19). God is slow to anger according to the Word, and He is love. The development of the fruit of self-control is the answer to a quick temper.
We start by asking God to reveal the root of the problem. It may be rooted in various things. Past abuse of any kind can leave a person with repressed anger that needs to be dealt with. Pride is often the root of a quick temper.
Guilelessness
Wrong, evil thoughts open the door for strife. We must be accountable for our thoughts. They will produce good or evil in our lives. Each man has both the mind of the flesh and the mind of the spirit (see Rom 8:6)
We are to choose the mind of the Spirit. It produces life and peace. Love is good and expects the best of every person.
Sincerity
Love is sincere. It’s not just a lot of talk or theory but is seen in action. Love meets needs. Love is genuine. It really wants to help others.
This is the attitude we should have toward strife – we hate strife because it is evil! It comes like a raging storm and leaves destruction everywhere it is permitted to go. Defeat it by holding fast to that which is good.
Abounding love can overcome strife. Love will protect you from the devil. It is truly spiritual warfare. Satan knows this, so he fights those walking in love. He knows that if you develop your love walk, you will be dangerous to the kingdom of darkness.
Labels: Sermons and Revelatns
posted by Fleur De La Lune @ 7:37 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home