FOCUS ON RECONCILIATION AND NOT RESOLUTION - A DEVOTIONAL BY RICK WARREN

“There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5 NIV)

When you have conflict in your life, focus on reconciliation, not resolution. There’s a big difference in those two words. Reconciliation means re-establishing the relationship. Resolution means resolving every issue.

Resolution probably isn’t going to happen, because you’re never going to agree on some things. Nobody on this planet agrees with you about everything, so you’re never going to have resolution on all your issues.

Can you have a loving relationship without agreeing on everything? Of course you can. If you learn to disagree without being disagreeable, that’s called wisdom. If you learn that you can have unity without uniformity, that’s called wisdom. If you learn to walk hand in hand without having to see eye to eye, that’s called wisdom.

You don’t have to agree on every issue to come to reconciliation. If you focus on the relationship and not the issues, you’re going to find that some of the issues you’re arguing over are just not that important. Some things just aren’t worth arguing about. You need to let it go!

One of the greatest things you can do with your life is be a bridge builder, not a wall builder. You are most like Jesus Christ when you are reconciling people. You are most like Jesus when you’re building bridges, not walls. That’s exactly what Jesus came to do! He’s the great reconciler. God sent Jesus to Earth to reconcile us because we are in conflict with God.

It’s always more rewarding to resolve the conflict than to dissolve the relationship. It’s not easier, but it’s more rewarding. There are people in your life you want to just wash your hands of because the struggle is not worth it. You can do that, but you don’t get any rewards in Heaven for that. You don’t get any joy on Earth for that. You don’t get any character growth and development for that. It’s always more rewarding to resolve a conflict than to dissolve a relationship.

But you cannot make peace with other people until you make peace with God. And maybe that’s part of the problem — you’re not at peace with yourself because you’re not at peace with God. First you’ve got to make peace with God. Then you get the peace of God.

1 Timothy 2:5 says, “There is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (NIV).

That’s the starting point: You need to get peace in your heart by letting the Prince of Peace inside.

Would you pray this to God in your heart? “God, you know the conflict in my life. I’m tired of it, and I want to make peace. I want to have your peace in my life so I can offer peace to others. So I accept your peace today. I open my life to you as best as I know how. Fill my life with love, not anger, and with patience, joy, and peace. Come in and fill every area of my life with your peace, and help me to be a bridge builder and not a wall builder. Help me to take the initiative and not wait on that other person. Help me to find the right time and place, and then help me to have the courage to confess my part of the conflict and to be humble. Instead of attacking the person, help me attack the problem. Help me to consider the other person’s perspective. Help me to speak the truth, fix the problem and not the blame, and to focus on reconciliation instead of resolving all the disagreements. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.”

This devotional ©2013 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

LIKED THIS A LOT - TAKEN FROM THE WEB

THE ANOINTING OF GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT WILL BREAK THE YOKE THAT WAS UPON YOUR LIFE

“It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.” – Isaiah 10:27

In the university where I work, a spiritual assembly session will be conducted every day morning. It will be conducted in a big auditorium and each class of students will be allotted a bay. For several years my bay was on the back end of the auditorium. Sitting at the back end I always struggled to look onto the person who stands on the stage to preach.

So I used to watch the people who were on the stage through a LCD screen that was close to my bay. Several days I watched like this and soon it became a habit to me. After some days I forgot to look onto the stage at all. I was addicted to watch the proceedings through the screen itself. 

In this year my class was allotted a bay which was very near to the stage. Sitting at the front end it was very easy for me to look into the stage directly. As days passed I understood that I am doing something differently. As everyone who sits with me look onto the stage directly I was the only one who looked to the LCD screen that was kept on that bay. 

I found out this strange behavior and told myself to look onto the stage directly but I could not do that at all. Whenever I tried that I failed within a few minutes. Then I felt that I was addicted to the habit of looking through the LCD screen even when I sit near to the stage. It took me somedays to change that behavior and nowadays I look into the stage directly without looking the LCD screen. 

Many a times in our life we do something wrong casually and then it becomes a habit. After some days without our knowledge we get addicted to that wrong habit. Even today you might be having a yoke upon your life. It might be smoking, drinking, adultery or any kind of bad habit.

Today Jesus Christ wants to pour out His anointing to remove the yoke that was upon your life. You can never break the yoke with your strength. 

Our Heavenly Father says in Zechariah 4:6, “…Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit…”

You can never come out of your burden through your own might or strength. Only when God’s Spirit come upon you, you will be redeemed from the bondage and yoke. 

My mom was a prayer warrior and she pray with tears for everyone. When I was a teen, I had seen my family facing several problems and whenever we face a problem my mom used to go to the prayer room and pray for long hours. After few hours when she comes out of the room she will be feeling sad thinking about the same burden or problem for which she prayed for. 

Without her knowledge somehow she will be thinking about the problem and it became like a yoke in her life. She doesn’t know to stop thinking about the problem or trouble which she had surrendered to the Hands of Lord. One day as she was praying God anointed her with His Spirit and from that day on her faith increased. Now as I see her she is not under that yoke and she never feels sad for any problem which she had surrendered to Lord’s care. 

My dear young friend, Even today you might be under the yoke of sin or unbelief or disease or worldly problems. If you ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit, He will pour out His Spirit upon you and deliver you from all the bondages and yoke. You will be set free by the anointing of God’s Holy Spirit. 

Get filled by the anointing of God’s Holy Spirit and stay free. God bless you.

YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING - DEVOTIONAL TAKEN FROM A FORWARDED MAIL

“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” - Matthew 17:20

Here we see one man asking Jesus Christ to heal his son. He tells that His disciples could not heal him. When Christ rebuked the devil, the son got healed. The disciples, went to Jesus and asked Him, why they could not rebuke the devil? Jesus said, that it was because of their unbelief. He also explains that, if you have faith you can do everything. Dear people, you can do everything with faith. Apostle Paul says that, ‘I can do everything through Him who gives me strength’.  Today, you are coming to God with many expectations – like your problems to be solved, to be redeemed from your sins and to lead a Holy life, to be free from your debt and many things more. If you are asked to be in faith that God will do them for you, you will say that you have faith. Merely saying the words is not going to change your life. “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can tell this mountain to move” says Jesus. This explains that we have to speak out our faith like Him. It is true that you have faith and when it comes out in words, and you accept it, this becomes real. “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:14).

 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.(Gal 3:14) You can receive Abraham’s blessings, only if you have faith. Abraham got all those blessings only because of faith. He openly confesses God’s promises that were given to him from the beginning. “And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”(Romans 4:21). Every time he believed God’s promise and gave glory to God, his faith went on growing. Your faith will be exposed through the words you speak. You have belief in God so you must fill your heart with words full of faith. When your heart is full of faith your mouth will talk of faith. “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”(Matthew 12:35). If you have faith, you can do everything. Your life will be peaceful. You will not worry about anything. Today God is speaking to you saying those who have faith, can do everything.

“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” - Mark 9:23.

QUOTES ON TOP - 2

“There is something very worrying in the church of our day. It is the near total absence of worshipers. Many believers, even after five, ten or twenty years in the Lord may never have truly worshiped Him even once. There are number of reasons for this. Since deliverance from sin and being filled with the Holy Spirit are pre-requisites to worship, and since many believers remain in the Kindergarten of God struggling with sin all their lives, they never get to the place where they can worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness and their holiness. Secondly, the practice of most churches is to ask people to rattle some words to God at fixed moments in the service, regardless of whether or not they are in tune with the Lord and they call this worship. Believers are therefore, deceived to think that what is not worship is worship. They therefore never press on for the real thing. Thirdly, the sad lack of true worshipers whose worshiping lives can serve as an example for others to learn from and who can teach others both the theory, the act and the practice of worship. May the Lord Jesus, the Head of the church, act in might, and may He act rapidly to raise some worshipers in His church, so that the present day of starving may end.”

-         Zacharias Tanee Fomum

TO REFLECT

RELATION & RELATIONSHIPS - 2a (SPEND TIME WITH YOUR LOVED ONES)

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1

There lived a judge in a country who was so famous for his knowledge and judgement. He had a great knowledge in the law and he had written so many books on law which was the main reference for so many people who were practising law. On a particular day his son was caught for a crime and brought to the court. The judge asked him about his family members and as soon as he heard that the young guy’s father was the famous judge he asked him, “Your father was a famous judge who wrote so many books on law. Being his son how you got into this crime.” To that the young guy replied, “Whenever I face a trouble or temptation I used to run to my father for help. But every time I go to him he used to tell that he is doing some work and he will meet me later at some other time. But that time never came and since he didn’t spend some time with me I became like this.”

In our day to day relationship with God or with our loved ones we need to spend some time with them and only then our relationship will grow better. Many people are heading to divorce because they could not spend time to sit and sort out the problem between them. 

If you are a husband or wife you have to spend some time with your spouse. If you are a parent you have to spend some time with your children. If you are a child you have to spend some time with your aged parents. If you want to strengthen the relationship with the person whom you love, you have to spend time with them. 

When I got married I used to spend lot of time sitting in front of the laptop and doing some spiritual work. From my workplace I return to home at late evening and immediately I used to sit in front of the laptop. At that time my wife used to come and sit near to me to tell me all the things that happened in her workplace or in the life of someone she knew. Actually she wanted to share some of her heart’s feeling to me. But I was so ignorant at that time and I failed to spend time with her. I will listen to her words and reply her in a hurry. I will not look into her face at all. I will speak to her by looking into the laptop. 

I did this for some days thinking that my wife will understand my busy schedule. But I felt that I was doing something wrong only when I realized that my wife was not at all happy about certain issues. Then when I spoke to her she told me with tears that I am not spending time with her. On that day I understood that I have to spend some time with my wife. 

To spend some time with her in the evening I shifted my work to late night. There were certain days she used to ask me to come to bed early so that she can speak to me. One day she did like that and somehow I made her to sleep and I started to do my work. On that night Jesus Christ spoke to me saying that I was doing wrong and I have to spend some time with my wife when she asks for it.  On that night I realized the importance of spending time with my wife to strengthen the marriage relationship. 

I won’t say that I have obeyed God’s word hundred percent but I am trying my best to spend time with my wife and everyone around me. 

When we read Bible we can understand that Jesus spent some quality time alone in praying to His Heavenly Father and also some time alone with his disciples. We also have to balance our time in an exact way so that we can spend time at the feet of God and also with our loved ones.

Do not ignore your loved ones and do not break their heart. God has given you children to raise them for His glory. Spend some time with them and teach them about Christ. God has given you a life partner to support you and protect you. Spend your time to strengthen your marriage life. Show your love to your life partner by spending some time with him/her. 

If you are unmarried spend time with your parents and talk to them. Make them feel good. They need you. Do not ever think that your parents will be happy even if you don’t talk to them. God has given you as a gift to them. They might not have loved you as you expected them to love but yet you have to show your love by spending time with them.

The world that we are living is changing every day. Many people around us were dying because of disease, accidents and so on. Before we leave the world or our loved ones leave the world let us spend our time happily with each other and make each day a joy filled memory.