365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 267

It is very easy to get caught up in the busyness of life. It is easy to think I am doing all God wants from me by going to church each Sunday. In reality, we are just trying to justify our in-action. God does want us to come to worship but he wants our whole heart every day not just an hour on Sunday and even that may not be whole heartedly. I started reading the book of Isaiah and was drawn to these action words in the scripture below. In all these action words, the song Stand By Me comes to mind. God wants us to stand by each other and assist in making sure that everyone’s needs are being met. This requires our thinking to change from self-related to other-related and it is an on-going process to re-train ourselves to think of others before thinking of ourselves. The likely place to start working on this is in your own environment that you are in the most. For me that is my office and my home. I am going to set a goal to focus on just one person from each of these environments each day that I can stand by and help with whatever they may need, whether it be words of encouragement, a listening ear and heart, a hug or whatever. In doing this, the act of worshipping God is going beyond Sunday and into my daily life. Join me in taking the action that God wants for us.

1Isaiah 1:17 Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 322

Thank God it is Friday! There is a reason people are excited about Friday and the end of the work week and the beginning of the weekend. It is the end to the controlling aspects of our job and the beginning of a weekend free to do what you want and need. I am pretty sure that God will have a purpose for us even in Heaven but I do believe we will not feel the controlling aspect that we feel in our work life on Earth. We will be doing our job cheerfully, without stress, anger or frustration because we love God and when you love someone you have the motivation. My workplace environment has been filled with negativity and so I am trying my hardest not to fall into line with all of the negative. I hope to be the one positive thing and with God’s help get things turned around. I did my best yesterday speaking with a co-worker about her anger and frustration over the new work that will be put upon her on Monday. We all have a choice on how to deal with everything. Just do your best, communicate constructively and let go of all the rest. It felt good to stand up to the negativity and hopefully impart some wisdom onto this co-worker. Again, I am so thankful it is Friday. I will have the weekend to recover from the week long negativity at work. Thank you Lord for helping me have the right words and heart to speak up about negativity in my workplace and try to get things turned around to a positive track.

Matthew 18:15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.