devotions

Psalm 37

• "commit your way to the Lord"
• be joyful in the Lord + trust Him + being passionate = He will give you the desires of your heart
• fill our minds with things of God, not the 'wisdom' of the world
• having the right attitude when looking at things
  eg. rejoice in the successes of others
  not complaining but working towards the goal
• shouldn't let our emotions control us, but put God first
  eg. an emotion such as ANGER leads to wrath (wrath: manifestation of anger)
  putting God first is asking Him to help us control our tongue when we're angry OR developing an attitude of right speech (not venting emotions on others...)
• inherit the promise land of God, not dwell in the land of the world
• dwell in God's "safe pasture".. in the security of knowing that God has a purpose in everything
• striving the be pure and blameless, children of God (refer to Philippians 2:14); or else we'll spark off the war of speech because others have put a standard for Christians..

Psalm 107:2 “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so”

• always think and pray before you speak. (ASAP – always say a prayer… it’s not only for times when we cry out to God for help, but it’s also in our everyday lives... because prayer is as close as we can get to God, therefore, we should be praying as much as we can… whether we’re walking… talking to other people… we can choose to live in God’s kingdom, not in the natural world. To not live in the natural world means to be able to listen to God’s voice in everything that we’re doing… prayer helps in some way to allow God to speak to us, because when we focus our attention on God alone, in prayer… we are tuning out of the world and to His voice…)
• ‘Remember that outspokenness is good when it is the compelling desire to let others around you know about [God]’
• Because we live in this world for God and not for anyone else… we are going to say or speak of what the Lord has done in our lives… “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so”: because we have been given the greatest gift of salvation by our Father in heaven, we are His children. We must reflect His ways, His glory, His righteousness… In our everyday lives, whatever we speak should be reflecting a Christ-like character… to be exhibiting the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control)
• We’re redeemed because of God’s love for us… and this is the greatest gift that He’s given us… so we should be using this love for everyone…

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Revelations 2:1-7

The loveless church – God is love and shows love in abundance. He is patience; Love is patient… and love never gets angry. There’s a difference between saying things out of love and saying things out of anger. For example: “Come here now” à in hate: brings fear…. In love: brings comfort, hope, peace…

Most of the time we talk about actions speaking louder than words… but when you speak, your words speak louder than your actions. Are we an empty can rolling about making lots of sound, or are we the same can, filled with love, making sounds that are pleasing and loud. Or are we a can filled with hate, making horrible, evil sounds… it’s all about the sound of our words… even a whisper can create a whole change… even if the person you talk about never hears it… it creates a change… to think is one thing, to say is another. To synchronise what you think and what you say with your heart, what is it saying to you? We said that people hurt us with words, and often we complain about things that happened or has been said. We tell people what they should do, are you doing the same thing, which you said they are doing…? Are you more perfect than them…? Are you smarter… better? What gave you the right to say such things…? Rejoice when other people are happy. Be solemn when people are sad. Do not destroy joy with anger and hate. But rather, join in and rejoice… for in joy comes peace, with peace comes patience, kindness… the fruits of the spirit. And only if you can grab a hold of what you say and fix it on your spirit, your heart, only then may you be saying something that is worth it. For corrupting joy with anger, corrupting love with hate, you’re no better than the devil himself… For that is what he sets out to do. And that is what he wants us to do. Because what better way to bring down a Christian, than to set his friends against him. And… when you cause somebody to fear you, especially your friend, you make them start thinking, am I worth it? These things cause insecurities.. and eventual backsliding.. Because of one moment of anger most of the time due to lack of patience, you didn’t synchronise your heart, mind and spirit.. and after that, you didn’t seek apology and forgiveness and accepted it for the way it is. Healing begins when forgiveness starts… and also depends what kind of forgiveness we give.

Forgiveness in the Lord. Or forgiveness in the world. (grudge)

à Forgiveness but if we still hold on to the grudge, we tend to only look at the bad side of that person. So when the person makes the same mistake again, we just cling on even tighter to that grudge.. we should let go of it right from the beginning, or else the grudge will take over us and it will become harder to let go in the future.