It seems that my house is a buzz of constant noise these days. Whether it’s from the sheer volume of six people constantly interacting, the energy of multiple teenagers, our revolving front door that welcomes a regular flow of neighborhood kids, or it’s dishes clanging or music playing or football fans cheering… the amount of conversation and volume that flows through this place on a daily basis is staggering.
A lot of times we get it right (and have a whole lot of fun in the process).
But sometimes we get it wrong. Personal expectations and opinions rise to the surface. We’re tempted to convince ourselves of half-truths that promote our personal agendas. The sinful overflow of our hearts comes gushing out of our mouths before we have a chance to filter or stop the words we wish we would have never said.
We love Jesus in this house.
Every single one of us. And we love each other deeply. But we’re a passionate lot, and it’s a daily battle to slow down, take our thoughts captive, weigh our words carefully, and replace any selfish and sinful motives with the content and tone of the fruit of the Spirit.
You too?
If we struggle to stay humble, kind, and to live out God’s Word as believers in our own homes and churches, how much more challenging is it to stand strong in a world that vehemently opposes the very God we serve?
Culture will tempt us to compromise God’s truth. It will distract us with a thousand different political, social, and personal worldly agendas. If we’re not on guard and grounded in the Word, we’ll miss opportunities to be salt and light in the darkness because we’ve allowed ourselves to be sucked too deeply into the current foolish controversies at hand.
[I’m going to bet you can rattle off a few foolish controversies that have touched your lives even this week.]
The question isn’t whether or not we will face them. It’s how we respond in the face of controversy that has the potential to either cause further division, or shine the opposite-world love of Jesus into the darkest places.
“Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness…” – 2 Timothy 2:23-25
There’s a time to speak up. But when we speak, let’s make sure we speak life…
Spread kindness.
Teach truth.
Endure patiently.
Correct gently.
“Because through your witness, God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth…” (vs. 26)
And if you don’t feel confident that you can speak with kindness, truth, patience, and gentleness? Friend, then maybe you’re not quite ready to jump into the conversation.
Delete that text.
Backspace that comment.
Step away from the noise.
Don’t call that meeting just yet.
Instead, nestle into that quiet place where you and Jesus meet. Open God’s Word and invite Him to speak life and healing and truth and holiness into the rough places. Repent of sinful pride and of words misspoken. Ask for God’s wisdom to replace man-made wisdom, and ask for a true, Spirit-led heart transformation. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will prepare you to speak truth in love when the time is right.
Let’s talk: In what circumstance do you find it most difficult to live out today’s verses? Our team would be honored to pray for you today…
At His feet,
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We’re in Week 5 of our 1 & 2 Timothy study! You can find our women’s and corresponding kids’ journals here:
Women’s journal: http://amzn.to/2uPvmOS (aff)
Children’s journal: http://amzn.to/2ub0VAA (aff)
Please pray for my daughter and our family. My daughter and her husband are trying to adopt a baby. The baby has been in their home since he was 2 weeks old, he is now 9 months. The baby was the son of the husbands sister who was addicted to drugs, even while pregnant. My daughter and her husband have recently split up, due to his verbal abuse (somewhat physical), and his lack of being a man and working to provide for the family (hasn’t worked in over 2 years). BTW, my daughter is only 21! The husbands family are people that are all on SSI (the grandma, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, everybody!) Everyone lives in one house. Nobody in that family has raised their own children. Now my daughter is going to try to adopt and raise this baby on her own. Her and the baby have moved back into our home, which is a BIG change for us. We’ve been married for 23 years, and our youngest daughter just moved out and into college. We were only able to enjoy an empty nest for about a month. My husband works in the oil field, and has been laid off for 2 years, unable to find employment due to the fact that he was a safety man, and made over 6 figures a year. Nobody will hire him! We’re living off of inheritance money from my parents, and that is nearly gone. By the way, my mom, dad, and father-in-law, all died in the year before my husband lost his job. We’re going through the fire! We need many prayers for our family. For my daughter to be able to adopt this baby, for my other daughter to do well in college, for my husband to find gainful employment, and for my mental and physical health. (I have 4 “invisible” diagnosed diseases) Life is so hard right now, and keeping my faith is hard some days. Thank you for the prayers! Love in Christ, Rebecca 💜
Praying for you and your family Rebecca
Praying for you Rebecca
Thank you!
Praying for you and your family as well. May you take courage in your heart and hold fast to the hopes God has given you knowing He IS in the waiting. Remember his great failthfullness and that HE always finishes what He has begun in you and your family.
Thank you!
Rebeca,
My dear sister in Christ what burdens you are carrying. I can tell in your writing how weighted down that you feel. Remember, we have been studying this is Pauls letters to Timothy CAST ALL YOUR CARES ONTO HIM. Give Jesus your worries, your anxieties, your fears, your illnesses…Everything! In one of the blogs the writer said something to the effect that Jesus can take it, dump it all on! This is why Jesus died on the cross and was risen again so that we no longer have to suffer. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit. Allow Him to wrap his arms around you, hold you and give you the comfort you need. He will never desert you, so do not desert Him. I have prayed for you and your family I will continue to pray for you. God Bless.
Thank you!
My mom has dementia. We have had issues most of my life, so being her caregiver is so difficult. She is difficult. I leave at times feeling like I missed the mark. Most times. I need to show her love no matter what, because I’m the only one she has contact with some days. She needs to see the love of Jesus in me. Please pray for her and me as well. Thanks!
Stephaine,
I’m so sorry to hear that. I haven’t had to go through anything like that so far in my life, praise God. So I have no words of wisdom for you. But it does sound like you feel alone in this. As long as you have God by your side you are never alone. You also have your Christian family that can be there to uplift you and pray for you whether it be those from your church or sisters from LGG. I will pray for you. Hang in there. If you need to talk reply to this message and I will happily give you some contact information. God Bless.
I love today’s devotional. I currently have a 1 month old and a 21 month old and I find that sometimes it can be very overwhelming to make sure all their needs are met, including discipline for my toddler. I need God to give me the wisdom I need and a true heart transformation so that all that comes out from my mouth is love, patience, and kindness. My husband and I are also going through somewhat of a rough patch and recently in his honest confession to me, he informed me that I can be very bitter most days (mostly when am stressed and tired, I think). I don’t want to be a bitter wife! Please pray that God can give me the love I need to fill my home with kindness and warmth. Thank you.
Ana,
Wow that IS an overwhelming situation. I have been there, but I wasn’t a Christian then so you can only imagine what came out of my mouth. lol While I was praying for you, the Holy Spirit told me that you need to breathe. When you are feeling irritated and overwhelmed, just take a moment to breathe. Think about the words that are about to come out of your mouth. If they do not line up with God’s Word, you have that chance to rethink those words. Your husband says sometimes you come across as bitter. You need to figure out what exactly is making you feel bitter and pray about it. I wish you the best. God Bless!! xoxo
The hardest place for me to speak love, with gentleness, avoid arguments, correct gently and
The hardest place for me to speak this truth is right here at home. I have a sister who believes knows it all and she needs to have the last word. So speaking the truth with love and gentleness, enduring patiently usually ends up for me to be closing my mouth and not saying anything. I know that god would prefer that I show her what God’s word says and correct her gently, but I cower instead.
Shirley,
I can completely identify with your situation. I am 47 yrs old and I am back living with my mother whom I clash with on a constant basis. She’s “always right” too. The screaming and yelling and disrespect became too much for me. She is not a Christian anymore. She blames God for the way her life turned out. She takes Zero accountability. So it’s super hard for me to keep my mouth shut. But, I have been doing a lot a praying and asking God to be a better daughter and to accept that no matter the situation, she is going to want to argue. So I have learned to just hold my breath when my retort is coming. SO HARD. But, I have found that if I don’t engage her, she will go away. That in itself is a WIN for me because I keep my bad words to myself, replied in a calm and loving manner and it was almost like she was disappointed and went away to her room cause I was boring her. LOL. This was and IS super hard to do. But, I asked the Holy Spirit to help me, to make me aware when things are escalating and to help me to just be quiet. It’s swallowing your pride… and what is pride? A sin. I hope this helps a little. Good luck and God Bless xoxo
Oh yes, please pray. My workplace is the hardest right now. I disagree with some office politics going around. And man, do I want to whine about who is wrong and how I feel. So todays message and this week’s study have been huge in how I’m handling things. Especially since a lot of non believers are involved. Please pray I put His will and His words first! Thank you and God Bless!
Thank you for this Whitney!!!
Pleas Pray for me when I am being bullied and emotionally pushed to bend my beliefs to make the other happy. Pray that I not feel the need to lash out when I am being treated this way. I know that when I go into prayer rather than retaliation the whole outcome is better for all concerned. I feel that I have reached a respectful age and I respect from the very young to the very old and I would love to know in my heart that God’s love is enough
Hey my Sister in the lord!!! I’ve learned that we have to bless those who curse us because they know not what they do as Jesus showed us when he was on the cross. I learned that compassion will flow through when we realize that people dont know who they are just yet, that people need to know how much they are loved and how much they NEED love even when they are being difficult. They need to be shown that. We as Gods chosen need to show that same love God took out his time to show us so we can do the same for someone else. I had to remember to step out the way and let God draw people in by his spirit. We cant let pride or being too proud took over our heart. The Lord said his grace is sufficient (enough) for us and that HIS strength is made perfect in OUR weakness. So pray to the lord for yourself also because he love you way more then enough and ask him to teach you HIS way of love. For we may be weak but we are being made strong in the Lord though HIS perfect love.He wants to spend time with you one on one so he can prepare your heart for HIS glory. Now THATS how much he loves you.
Stephanie,
Being bullied is a terrible thing. Jesus was bullied. Paul was bullied, Timothy was bullied. But, they all turned to God for help. God says to turn the other cheek and to love your enemies. Fight with Prayer and a smile. Bullies need to have someone to bully so if you just tell them I’m going to pray for you and no longer engage them… they will for sure go away. GOD’S LOVE IS NOT JUST ENOUGH STEPHANIE, IT IS MORE THAN ENOUGH! Amen!! I wish you luck and happiness. God bless I will be praying for you.
Thank you for this Whitney. I d be grateful for prayer for myself, and particularly my husband, to be able to deal with our very wayward teenager with the right balance of love and truth whilst trying to guide him back to the Lord. Blessings too on all of you who will pray. Thank you Sisters xxx
Dear sister I am praying. xoxo
I take notes on all the blogs. I do not have the books from amazon to study with so I just have a cute hardbound notebook with an owl on it my daughter gave me. I wrote on the cover “Getting Closer to My God.” I didn’t know what was going to become of this note book, I just knew I wanted to write things in it about God. So before I came to LGG, I was just writing my own thoughts and feelings and questions. Then it became my bible study guide where I take notes on the blogs and I do my SOAP’s and add my own thoughts. I’ve also added a prayer list at the back to remember to pray for my LGG sisters when asked. (I’ve never done that before). The point to this comment is I loved this blog so much that I practically wrote the whole thing down in my journal. lol There was so much good stuff in it. So much “meat” for me to chew on. Thank you Whitney! You are a very good writer. I appreciate you and your knowledge. God Bless you and your family. xoxo I appreciate LGG, I love it here!
I am a little behind on the study due to some long hours at work, but God in his infinite wisdom knows what he is doing! I work at a county health clinic & people can be extremely rude. Please note, this is not a socioeconomic issue- we have had a preacher come in and act terrible. Yesterday was a tough day, and then I read the words this morning, “and a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient…”. Please pray for me and my co-workers that we can be patient and show Jesus in difficult circumstances.
I am a little behind, but reading this blog this morning was perfect timing–even more so that it would have been had I read it last week. We are in the midst of some troubles at my kids’ school. There are a few bullies that seem to be getting away with anything they do. And, unfortunately, in one case, the PARENT is the one fanning the flame! Fortunately, my children have not been affected by these bullies, but they could at any time. Over the last few days, my instinct has been to fight and protect. The last thing on my mind would be to speak kindly to a parent who actually encourages her child to be a bully. I pray my children are never bullied (it’s both physical and emotional) by these kids, but will need God’s help if that were to happen to handle it with grace.
Please pray for me… I am trying to overcome talking negative not only about myself but also about others (gossip). It seems like everytime I think I got it, then someone would call me and ask about a mutual friend, there I fail again. I love my friends and I love encouraging others cse I know we all fail but God is merciful…It is just that I don’t want to gossip. I want to overcome talking about others. Please pray for me. I need a mentor to walk with me on this. Also social media, instagram etc affects my mood, as I find myself on the comments section and before I know it I have already said something I regret later….sometimes it feels like there is this push to look for trouble/negative energy. Dear Lord, help me. lead me.