We must not become an emotional bookkeepers, keeping detailed accounts of the wrongs we have suffered. Instead, we must learn to forgive and forget. It will open a whole new world of blessings for our lives.
Turn off the television! Don’t pollute your mind further with junk from unsanctified minds and talents; instead, renew your mind by washing the water of the Word! Sometimes television causes more significant depression and loneliness, even though those watching it believe it will relieve their depression and loneliness.
Don’t return evil for evil. When persecuted, don’t seek to retaliate. Instead, pray for those who mistreat you, and trust God for your vindication. “It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you is the Bible’s assurance of God’s care for you. It’s also the reason we leave judgment and vengeance to Him. God will take care of those who trouble you.
God will humble us if we ask for the blessing but are unwilling to humble ourselves. This is what He did with the children of Israel.
Looking at the great men and women of faith, it is evident that there came a time of great humbling in each of their lives. Either from a struggle without or from loss within. But out of that humbling process came the seeking after God, bringing them into new and more incredible places of ministry and influence.
Faith is believing something you cannot see will happen. Fear is believing something you cannot see will happen. Confidence attracts the positive. Fear attracts the negative.
Give God the negatives. Don’t dwell on them. Take care of them privately. When you want to complain about someone, injustice, or trauma that apparently was caused by a person, take that up with the Lord out in the desert or on a mountaintop. Don’t take your murmurings to another person or live with them inside you. Confess sins, your own and those that others have committed against you, and ask to be cleansed from them. Admit what your conscience convicts you about; don’t cover it up.
Your children also don’t need to know the anxiety, the tension, the anger. Don’t communicate to your children the poverty attitude or your brokenness. While for you it is a passing crisis, it can become a lifetime habit for them to overcome. Your children do not need to be responsible for the knowledge of what you are going through.
Outside of such confidential meetings, keep your conversation positive. No one needs to know the negatives of your situation. Though you may be going through emotional turmoil or suffering mental anguish, no one else needs to know the details. We deceive ourselves, and the enemy of our souls takes advantage when we think that we must share everything with everyone. That’s just not true.