You can make all kinds of sacrifices in your life but if you live a life of strife then you are not going to get a return on your tithing. You have to learn how to water that seed and have a faithful lifestyle. If you begin to make an effort with the Holy Spirit to keep strife out of your life. He will help you remove your strife. Just because someone offers offence to you by insulting you or similar, you do not have to take it into your heart. You have the choice as to whether to let it impact on you negatively. A wise person will not let offence provoke strife in their life.
One of the reasons why people don't get the results they could out of life is because of strife. There are so many people who are angry and bitter or resentful and it's eating them up, stopping them from enjoying life. Doing what God tells you to do is not hard, for example listening to his advice regarding strife. It is doing the wrong thing and having negative feelings is the hard thing to do and live with.
In every relationship there are times when you are going to get hurt, it's part and parcel of people living together or being in a relationship. The perfect marriage, relationship, job and so on does not exist. Anytime where people are concerned there will be conflict. But as we grow in Christ, these can be worked through. Jesus is our healer. Jesus said that he could not stop you getting hurt but that he would heal you if you returned to him.
The devil works so hard trying to bring division amongst us, because there is power in unity but weakness in strife and this creates separation which allows the devil to get in. We need to all stand together in the battle against strife. A unified front will keep him out.
1 Corinthians 1:9-10 - "God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,[a] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought." - God is faithful but we need to get along for this to happen. It's not good enough to greet and treat people positively but in a false way. We need to be sincere in all that we do. We need to really learn what love is and how God wants us to live. Forget about what everybody else is doing. If no one is doing it then you be the first one, which shows spiritual maturity and depending on the context could start a really positive revolution. In any disagreement the first one to apologise is the most spiritually mature even if they are not sure they are in the wrong. We need to be makers and maintainers of peace. Sometimes we need to stand our ground in the name of good to see that strife is cast out.
1 Corinthians 1:11-12 - "My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."- Paul is saying that one person who believes that their belief is the only one is not behaving in an acceptable way. Depend on God, he is faithful and wants us to all get along, not just on a small scale but on a huge scale. It should not matter what denomination we Christians all are? We all worship the same God. Different denominations should never quarrel as this is just feeding the devil and will have negative consequences.
We can say the right words when we speak but with the totally wrong attitude. We should remain silent if we cannot say anything with a good attitude. Quit with the bad attitude, don't make mountains out of molehills, avoid conflict, stop trying to be the right one all the time. We stunt our own spiritual and emotional growth. God asks us to do something and it seems so hard, because of our bad attitude, 'why is God asking me and not asking some other person?'. You just need to do what God is asking you to do. Sometimes it is so hard to say 'I am sorry, forgive me'. We get angry that it is always us who have to be the first one to apologise. But we must show humility and a desire for peace.
Keep doing your part and doing what's right.
Psalm 133:1-3 - " How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
There is nothing more beautiful than peace. Peace is to be valued and should be cultured and maintained. If you have to be the humble one to attain peace then be humble. No matter what someone tries to take away from us, no matter how unjust and unfeeling their actions may be, if we do everything that we can do to stay out of strife then God will bless us.
Be a person of peace!!!
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