Our greatest asset in life is the love and support that we have with our family. The ones who know us the best, the ones who love us the most, the ones who will be there for us through thick and thin are the family that God has blessed us with. They look past our shortfalls, they are quick to forgive our wrongdoings and they welcome us back into the fold after we have failed time and again. That is because our family loves us with a love that can only be comparable to God's love towards humanity. God could have turned His back on humanity when all He saw was sinfulness, but the deep love within God’s Spirit could not turn a blind eye because He was full of mercy and compassion and resolved that reconciliation would be the only answer. That is how we should think about our family. We should always be there for one another no matter our struggles, our setbacks or our shortcomings. The love that we have for one another should remain despite our disagreements or disputings because the bond that we share goes deeper than our temporary misunderstandings or miscommunications. (Colossians 3:12-17) (1 Corinthians 13:1-8)

If you have been one that has been quarreling with a family member I would encourage you to reach out, seek forgiveness and reconciliation so that both of your lives may return to the love that you have known from the beginning. The apostle Peter asked the Lord about forgiveness. We read in Matthew 18:21-22 “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” We could never put a cap on how forgiving we are towards our fellow man because God’s love and forgiveness towards us stretches from everlasting to everlasting. God is merciful and gracious towards us when we fall short and we should be the same towards our loved ones. We can’t go on holding a grudge while we ourselves are sinners before the Lord. Having a holier than thou mindset goes against everything that the Bible teaches. We read time and again that humility elevates our life, lowliness and meekness is better than pride and that love covers all sins. (1 Peter 5:5-7) (Proverbs 10:11-13)

Be encouraged to seek peace, love and reconciliation with those who mean the world to you. Going through life in strife is not an enjoyable life, but when there is joy and gladness, love and laughter, forgiveness and reconciliation that is when we elevate our life to greater heights and live in a love that God wishes for us to live in all the days of our life. (Romans 12:9-21)

I hope this message inspires and challenges your heart to do all that you can to bring and keep peace at the center of your families lives.


THE WAY FAMILIES WIN

Winston Churchill said, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.” And humorist Bob Orben added, “That sounds a lot like our family vacations.” And for some people it sounds a lot like everyday life.

The problem is not whether we who live in families will have squabbles, arguments and fights. My worry is more whether those conflicts will end anytime soon. I don't want home life to become the Hundred Years' War - going on and on with no end in sight while the casualties mount. Conflicts need to have an ending so that the family can get about its real business.

At one point during a game, the coach said to one of his young players, “Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?” The little boy nodded yes.

“Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?” The little boy nodded yes.

“So,” the coach continued, “when a strike is called, or you are out at first, you don't argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?” Again, the boy nodded yes.

“Good,” said the coach. “Now go over there and explain it to your mother.”

I believe a family can be like that sports team. A successful family wins as a team. But if its members are intent upon winning their own individual battles with one another, the team loses.

A winning solution is to work out the differences and, when it's over, let it be over. Then they can get back in the game as a team.

By Steve Goodier


Read and meditate on these scriptures:

Galatians 6:1-4 “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

Galatians 5:22-26 “...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

Hebrews 13:1-3 “Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.”

Philippians 2:3-7 “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”

All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible. 


Today's Selected Poem: THE POWER OF WORDS
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem40.htm

Today's Selected Testimony: BUT, GOD STEPPED IN
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony45.htm


In Christ’s Service,

Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry