Impatience in the CTB

"Ah, Sovereign Lord, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arms. Nothing is too hard for you." Jeremiah 32:17

As I reflect upon the last few days, I am so glad that God is Sovereign and that nothing is too hard for Him. All I know is that I could not do life without Him working through me. The last few days have been a test in all sort of ways. I have had to rely on the Lord 100%. I am not going into detail BECAUSE my crazy day is nothing compared to the things people go through. It has just been mishaps that can make us have a really bad day IF we CHOOSE to go that route. I hate to ever say that I have had a bad day, but if I did, yesterday would have qualified.

I had a friend in college who often said, "Everyday's a good day." No matter how crazy his day, his response was the same everytime. So, when my day is not going as "I" planned, I find myself saying it's a good day. Things could be so much worse.

The last few days have required a lot of patience on my part. That does not come from within myself, but God. I couldn't do it without Him!

God's Word says,

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking nothing." James 1:2-4

Let's take a closer look:

In this passage, James does not say "IF" you face, trials but "WHENEVER" you face trials.

No matter what, we will all face trials at some point. What may be a trial for some people may not be a trial for others. But whatever it is, we will all face them. God's Word says it.

We are to consider it PURE JOY when we face trials.

There is a difference in joy and happiness. Things and situations make us happy, but Christ gives us joy. So when we face trials, we may not be "happy" with the outcome, but if we are in a solid relationship with Christ, our joy should not be effected.

When we are tested, my faith develops perseverance.

When we have faith that things will workout according to God's plan, we will have what it takes to push through and get the job done . Without faith, we will easily crumble under the pressure.

We must finish the work so that we may be mature and complete.

We must complete what God has called us to. When we complete the task, we will be more mature in Him because we persevered and trusted God with the outcome.


When we find our self in the midst of a trial, we do not need to "pretend" to be happy. That gets us nowhere. We have to choose a positive outlook in the situation and realize that God may be trying to teach us something through this situation. (What was God trying to teach me yesterday? Not sure yet, but I am sure at some point, I will know.)

We do not truly know the depth of our character until we have see how we will react or respond under pressure. It is so much easier to be kind to others when things seem to be going well, but when can we be kind when it seems that others are treating us unfairly?

No matter what, we have a Sovereign God who will see us through any situation. Nothing is too hard for Him.

The Gospel

Last week in the CTB, we studied the Gospel.

The Gospel is divided into God, Man, Jesus, What Now?

When looking at these Scriptures, I'm simply in awe of my Savior. It amazes me, how each time you look in Scripture, even ones you have read often, you can still pull something from it and be in amazement of God.

God is....
Creator
Creative
Eternal
A Rock: firm, strong and unchanging
Establisher
Owner
Perfect
(...and many other things)

Man is....
unclean
our righteous acts are compared to filthy rags
sinful
we shrivel up like a leaf
like the wind, our sins sweep us away
not righteous
no understanding
sinner
we fall short of the glory of God
death -- because of sin, this is our payment
destined to die
judgement

Jesus is....
One with the Father
while we were still sinners, He died for us
raised on the third day
trades his righteousness for our sin
tempted in every way, yet never sinned
by His wounds, we are healed

Wow! We are in need of a Savior! We cannot live a day without Him.

What Now?....
Evil men needs to forsake (turn away) from his evil ways
Turn toward God
We are freely pardoned
Repent of our wickedness
Confess with my mouth "Jesus is Lord"
Believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness

If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior, I challenge you today to take that step of faith. If you need to talk with me privately, please email me and we will talk.

Everything listed under each heading came directly from Scripture. If you have the CTB, it is in direct order of the Scriptures that were listed. I did not list them because of this being a patented item. If you have a question about which Scripture reference something came from, feel free to message me and I will give you the reference.

If you don't have the CTB and would like it, you can go to there website to get the materials to make your own.



Today, I am linking up with Good Morning Girl.

Fighting in the CTB

I am back in the CTB this week and the topic is fighting. Right on time for us. We have had some crazy fighting between my 6 and soon to be 3 year old lately. It is one thing after another. But through God's Word and specifically praying for peace in our home, God is "Making our Home a Haven."

"Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." Psalm 34:34

In this scripture we are told to do 4 things:
1. Turn from evil
2. Do good
3. Seek peace
4. Pursue peace

What is peace?
Peace is a state of tranquility and quiet.

Who needs more quiet around their home? More tranquility?

Traniquility is a quility or state of being tranquil.
Synonyms are calmness, restfulness, sereness, serenity, still, stillness, calm.

This sounds pretty inviting to me! How about you?

Many times we have this mindset that peace will come to us with no effort. In this scripture, we are to seek it and pursue it. How do we seek and pursue it? We go in search of it.

Who is peace? Jehovah Shalom: The Lord our Peace.

He is our peace! All we have to do is pursue and seek Him. He gives us peace deep within in the middle of troubling situations.

If we want peace, we cannot be argumentative and contentious. Peaceful relationships come from our efforts at peacemaking. We should work hard at being at peace with others. When we seek God and allow Him to be our peace, we have little trouble being at peace with others. Things that we would normally want to be argumentative about no longer matter. We see things from an eternal perspective instead of a me, me, me perspective.

Challenge:
Do I have trouble living in harmony with the people around me?
Do I find myself constantly raising my voice in anger and frustration with my children?
Do I find myself being rude to the ones I love?
What changes do I need to make to see that peace resonates in my home?

Today, I am linking up with Good Morning Girls.