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As we are going through taxing situations pressing our way through one of the most challenging times in the history of the world in many ways, there is a tendency to allow ourselves to become bitter rather than better! We are bombarded with so many cliché type scenarios that many of us are living under significant personal pressures that we many times become easily offended. Let us take a moment to analyze this from the Word of our Father and learn how to be: “Taking It Personally” but for a great reason!
Old Testament Scripture Reading: Numbers 23:19 -21 (KJV)
Num 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Num 23:20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
Num 23:21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
New Testament Scripture Reading: James 1:19 – 24 (NASB)
Jas 1:19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
Jas 1:20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
Jas 1:21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
Jas 1:22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
Jas 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
Jas 1:24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
Transforming Power Statements:
1) As we continue going forward in our world where it seems that there are so many things that are unfair, discouraging, out of our control, totally unpredictable, even extremely tragic, dishonorable, and unfair; let us realize, that God is not a man that He should lie, however, He was so invested in our well-being that He sent Jesus His Son to be the only Mediator between God and man; and that even Balak a non-reasonable evil king, could do nothing to thwart God’s purpose for blessing the children of Israel!
2) Even as we go through seemingly unimaginable and traumatic situations it is always easier to see the faults of anyone else than of ourselves, because we stack the deck in our own favor, so as to place blame and fault on anyone or even anything rather than to take things personally, when the Bible is clear that we more readily transfer the fault to others, and not to our own selves!
3) So for this week, let us meditate on self-assessment and prayers to ask God to allow us to take Paul’s admonition to examine ourselves to see if we be in the faith, and of James who says, be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger so that we can tweak our sensitivities to the Holy Spirit and invite the leading of God into ourselves so that He will be glorified in us so that we can reach others!