Responding to aggravation, threat, insult, irritation, and difficulty requires patience - great patience. Responding hastily out of anger is foolish. A hasty, unfiltered response seldom produces our desired long-term effect. This quick-tempered kind of response nearly always compounds the problems that need to be addressed. Patiently dealing with frustrating and painful situations shows our understanding and is nearly always more fruitful in the long run. Plus, the patient and wise approach can prevent the unnecessary loss of friendships, integrity, and respect.
Video Commentary...
We've included Phil's ToGather video from four years ago as an added blessing to our verse today:
Father, I ask for patience and self-control. I know these virtues are part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit's presence in my life. I am inviting the Holy Spirit to have more impact on my heart as I look to how Jesus handled difficult situations in his life and ministry. Please give me the understanding and wisdom to keep my mouth shut until I have had an opportunity to pray and think about the issues and people involved, and only answer then. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
"[Stephen continued his defense before the council:] "One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel....."
"But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written..."
""Please come closer to me," Joseph said to his brothers. When they did so, he said, "I am Joseph, the brother you sold into slavery in Egypt! Now,....."
"In any museum we will find quite ordinary things - clothes, a walking stick, a pen, pieces of furniture - which are only of value because they were possessed..."
About This Devotional
Today's Verse is a free daily devotional that includes a Bible verse, thought and prayer.
The Thoughts and Prayer on Today's Verse are written by Phil Ware.
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