When we are genuinely affirming others by a word or by
something we do, we chisel away a little of ourselves. The dying process
begins. I would even go so far as to say the dying gets easier as we continue
with the tool in hand.
Powerful words.
Today's author sends this special Live Dead audio message to us:
How are you going to affirm someone today?
10 comments:
Today's devotion hit me between the eyes. Often, I am guilty of trying to compete with others - other Children's Pastors, other staff members, other ____________ (you name it). This is against God's plan. This works against His call on my life (and theirs).
Lord, forgive me for the obsessive desire to be better than others and exceed them. This is not Your will. I am guilty. I need your cleansing.
Help me be more like You. Let me focus on affirming and building others - and NEVER focus on building myself.
In my world, it's all about competing with another...with rank and title. However, I know that the rat race to perform literally sucks the life out of me. Rather than getting - and remaining - in this mind set, Lord, help me, I pray, to be transformed as You renew my mind and my spirit. Help me to see my worth only in You. And rather than catching a glimpse of this truth, allow me to abide in it for the remainder of my days. Thank You!
Very revealing devotion today. I love my competitive spirit. It serves me well in sports, games, things like that. I don't believe my competitive drive is bad, but some how it has gotten twisted into beating others and being better than others INSTEAD of being the best that I can be for God. Feeling pretty convicted today.
I'm definitely guilty of this! I've got to stop competing with others, and focus on working together to build God's Kingdom.
God has been dealing with me about the dangers of competition for a while now. Today's journal entry was remarkably timely and challenging. My first instinct was to focus on others that I've observed competing with each other. However, just a few moments of prayer turned that focus right back where it belongs, on me!
When I engaged in competition with others my spiritual growth remained stagnant. Once I decided to drop out of the competition my growth has accelerated. I do recognize that this is a daily struggle that I can only win by relying on God's power and not my own.
God, search my heart for pride and any desire to compete with others in spiritual matters. Forgive me and strengthen me daily to flee from these temptations. Amen
The devotion today really hit hard. Being a mom, sometimes I am wanting my kids to be smarter,more athletic,etc than the other kids. Instead of wanting them to be like other kids, I want them to be like God has created them to be.
I am also gulity of doing this instead of working together toward to goal of reaching people for God.
Lord,please soften my heart to make my actions be please to you and not focus on me.
I meant be pleasing....
Sometime's I am guilty of having problems being upset/mad/angry over past things that have happened by others doing them to me... and yes I have had thoughts of getting even... yet, deep down in my soul I know better than that... it's much harder to affirm those who hurt us than it seems... but I know that it is not for me to get even - just pray for them and let God take care of the rest...
Wow...today is so challenging for me personally. I love to be good at what I do. I love a challenge and I love being competative.
If you asked me I would quickly tell you that I am happy for others when they succeed. That is what we are supposed to say right?
But, if I stop and honestly examine what I am truly feeling deep inside, there are times I struggle with jeaoulsy.
I say, "I am happy for you!" I think, "why wouldnt they ask me?" I say, "great job!" I think, "I wouldnt have done it that way."
The more days in the LD journal the more I am reminded of just how far I have to go, just how much dying i have left to do.
Lord forgive me for placing value on myself instead others. Forgive me for forgetting its you in me that deserves praise. Show me ways to chisel away the walls of "me" i've built. Give me opportunities to put affirming others into action. Grant me grace to make the right choices in my dealings with others.
I just wanted to say thank you to all that have shared their thoughts on this page! It helps me to relate in more ways than I could accomplish on my own!! I struggle with this too. I have started the practice anytime I have a selfish thought - to conteract it with something selfless. If i dont immediatly do something selfless I will find myself feeding on my selfish desires and then its all downhill from there. My actions and thoughts feed off of one another so I have to cut that stuff out ASAP!!!
Being something of a perfectionist, especially when it comes to getting historical data or objective facts correct, I cand tend to nitpick a reading, lesson, or sermon because someone got his or her facts confused, and end up missing the big picture/main point because I'm so focused on little details. Instead of affirming the speaker/author and letting what he or she is saying impact my life, I'm too busy finding where the person messed up. I really need to focus on what God is communicating through people instead of how the fallible human vessel handles the process of communicating.
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