I am so glad that I have fellow Christians to give encouragement to and recieve encouragement from!! It is such a blessing to recieve a completely unexpected phone call and be told, "I just wanted to let you know that I love you and I wanted to thank you for never giving up on me!" That feels so good, because I have been in so many situations where I see someone I care about doing something totally out of character and/or detrimental to the Christian witness. Out of pure instinct I guess, I immediately feel as though I must let them know how I feel and encourage them to make changes.
On so many ocassions, more often than not, the recipient/s of my scolding (for lack of a better word) get very defensive and possibly angry with me. I am told I am not perfect and accused of having a holier than thou attitude and that I have no right to judge them. So, this person is frustrated with me because I pointed out a weakness/wrongoing, and I am frustrated because I am just trying to help and I am hesitant of doing this again.
The thing is, if I am living in a way that shows others (whether they are Christians or not) that I am not focusing first and foremost on Christ, I want my friends and/or fellow Christians to point it out to me so that I will no longer be a stumbling block to anyone.
I want to encourage you, as fellow believers to do precisely what is sometimes so hard. I know people's feelings may get hurt but eventually God will use you or someone else to reach them and they will realize you were right and whether they admit it or not, they will appreciate what you did. In as many times as I have gotten frustrated and been called judgmental, etc. I have also been thanked for staying firm and letting my friends know how I feel.
So, this all boils down to one of my favorite verses in the Bible. ~Philippians 1:19-20 says, Yes, and I will rejoice for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing shall I be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.~
I was preparing to go on a mission trip to El Salvador a few years back and things were not working out the way we had hoped they would. We ended up not being able to travel as we had planned and we were all upset. The thing is, God had bigger plans for us in our own church while we would have been gone. He worked it out for the best and we were all glad that we stayed!! A woman pointed this verse out to me and a friend and told us not to worry because God would handle everything. Philippians tells us to perservere, even when it is hard, no, especially when it is harder than we could have imagined. Go is working and if you are doing His will, the work you do will come to fruition in His glory!!
~*DoN't GiVe Up On DoInG aNyThInG gOd TeLlS yOu To Do!!!*~
On so many ocassions, more often than not, the recipient/s of my scolding (for lack of a better word) get very defensive and possibly angry with me. I am told I am not perfect and accused of having a holier than thou attitude and that I have no right to judge them. So, this person is frustrated with me because I pointed out a weakness/wrongoing, and I am frustrated because I am just trying to help and I am hesitant of doing this again.
The thing is, if I am living in a way that shows others (whether they are Christians or not) that I am not focusing first and foremost on Christ, I want my friends and/or fellow Christians to point it out to me so that I will no longer be a stumbling block to anyone.
I want to encourage you, as fellow believers to do precisely what is sometimes so hard. I know people's feelings may get hurt but eventually God will use you or someone else to reach them and they will realize you were right and whether they admit it or not, they will appreciate what you did. In as many times as I have gotten frustrated and been called judgmental, etc. I have also been thanked for staying firm and letting my friends know how I feel.
So, this all boils down to one of my favorite verses in the Bible. ~Philippians 1:19-20 says, Yes, and I will rejoice for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing shall I be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.~
I was preparing to go on a mission trip to El Salvador a few years back and things were not working out the way we had hoped they would. We ended up not being able to travel as we had planned and we were all upset. The thing is, God had bigger plans for us in our own church while we would have been gone. He worked it out for the best and we were all glad that we stayed!! A woman pointed this verse out to me and a friend and told us not to worry because God would handle everything. Philippians tells us to perservere, even when it is hard, no, especially when it is harder than we could have imagined. Go is working and if you are doing His will, the work you do will come to fruition in His glory!!
~*DoN't GiVe Up On DoInG aNyThInG gOd TeLlS yOu To Do!!!*~
1 comments:
David Jacks said...
bout time you posted again...lol.