Prayer Journal
Friday, February 15, 2002
"When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites". Nehemiah 2:10
How many times in your life have you encountered someone that continually put everyone else down? I imagine that you've not only met them but may know his or her name.
Sad, but true; for every person, there is an enemy somewhere just waiting to resist them. And if they're not already spreading their manure, the moment a person excels at anything, enemies miraculously appear out of nowhere.
You can be certain of this; one person's success is like yeast added to another's dough of bitterness. When their "dough" is covered up and placed in a warm place like bread, it's going to expand way out of proportion. Their bread is not sweet however, but sour and smelly.
Well, what about Christians? Unfortunately many believers that act just like that bitter clump of dough. Leave them alone and they will undoubtedly rain on someone's parade when their bitterness grows up.
Hebrews 12:14-15 warns that allowing bitterness to be born in your heart is like allowing a nasty weed to grow out of control within your life. When bitter weeds are not uprooted but instead allowed to mature, they cause trouble and defile the family of God.
I love reading about the first congregational Church that met in Jerusalem. In Acts 2:42-47 it says "they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. They broke bread in their homes, and ate together with glad and sincere hearts".
I like what the first Church did with their bread. They broke it and ate it together with glad and sincere hearts. Is it just me or can anyone else see the poetic irony?
Too many congregations today fight and split over conflicts, misunderstandings and bitter spirits arising from unreal or unresolved conflicts. What if they allowed the Holy Spirit to break their bitterness and then they reconciled their differences with their fellow church members? If they did that, they could sit down afterwards, eat and have fellowship together. Now, that's the way church ought to work!
Just Thinkin'... WebServant
Scripture comes from
the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International
Bible Society
Copyright © 2002, James
R. Green and Prayertower Ministries - All Rights Reserved
Pray today for...
* 1. My spouse
* 2. My children
* 3. Their friends
* 4. My friends
* 5. My employer
* 6. My city
* 7. My country
* 8. Civic leaders
* 9. Schools
* 10. Teachers
* 11. The sick
* 12. The lost
* 13. Those in despair
* 14. The hospitalized
* 15. The grieving
* 16. Widows
* 17. Orphans
* 18. My church
* 19. My pastor
* 20. Church leaders
* 21. Other churches
* 22. Persecuted church
* 23. Missionaries
* 24. Myself
