the first step in taking care of fighting…

in looking at starting the process of taking care of conflicts and arguments we see that you must take  of the inside first.  colossians 3.15 (niv) says, let the peace of CHRIST rule in your heart.

when we have the peace of CHRIST in our heart then we’ll be at peace with other people.  if we don’t have this in our life – GOD’s peace in our hearts – then we try to manipulate others, try to control them and try to move them around to get what we want out of life.

there was a time in our marriage that margaret and i had a major conflict.  it was horrible.  we have jokingly said, that we have never contemplated divorce in our life, murder yes.  we had three horrible years.  

listen, in every marriage there is some kind of power struggle but we finally got to the point that we said to GOD, we can’t do it, we have to have you.  i was in staff ministry at that time, in a large church in Indiana and i was working 90 plus hours a week.  i was going to make it no matter what it cost and it about cost my family but it showed me that i need to change that i was the cause of the conflict so i resigned my job and we moved to indianapolis and GOD started working on me and i started selling domino’s pizza and started falling in love with GOD and falling in love with my family.  GOD started working in me, changing me.

you see only GOD could change our marriage and it started in me, it started in margaret.  you work on you and watch what happens.  the starting point of getting along with others, to avoid arguments, is to get peace in your heart through the rule of CHRIST.

give in to GOD.  this means you learn to say “THY will be done” instead of saying “me first”.  That’s the difference.  when you say, “LORD, whatever you want that’s what i want” then the peace process starts.

just a thought from the front porch…

do you feel powerless?...

i love the sun. i love to get up every morning and know that i can see the sun. now living on long island means i don’t see the sun quite as much as i did when i lived in vegas and phoenix and i love living here but i really do love the sun.

i read that the power of the sun produces more energy in one second than has been used in the history of the world and that the sun, at its current rate, will be able to burn for another thirty billion years. that's a lot of power. but it's not as great as the power of the creator who made the sun.

jeremiah 32.17 (niv), sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. nothing is too hard for you.

what we're talking about is what theologians call the omnipotence of GOD. HE's all powerful. GOD is almighty. HE has unlimited power. HE never gets tired. HE is never frustrated. everything HE does, HE does easily. nothing is ever too hard or difficult for him. it's easy for him to answer a prayer. it's just as easy for him to create a universe.

in luke 18.27 (tev) it says, what is humanly impossible is possible for GOD. some of you are going through some tough stuff in your life and you need to know how do i get GOD's power in my life?

there are so many people who are powerless. they feel like victims. victims of society, circumstance, by other people, by their health. they feel always a dollar short and a day late, going two steps forward and one step back. they never seem to get it together. they feel very powerless. GOD says i want to give you power in your life.

now one power shortage that many people have is the power to get started. and most of us have a problem with this from time to time.

how many good things have you been postponing in the last six months? “i'm going to get around to that one day but...” what would you like to change about yourself but you can't get the motivation to get started?

do you ever find yourself paralyzed by procrastination? “someday, i'll...” romans 7.18 (phillips), i often find that i have the will to do good, but not the power! does this describe you?

you want to do what is right and good but just don't have the power! how many of you have learned that good intentions are not enough?

just a thought from the front porch…