Day 6

Love is Not Irritable

Proverb 16:32

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

Am I a calming breeze, or a storm waiting to happen?

Two Contributing Key Factors to Why We Become Irritable:
1) Stress
    *Relational Causes
    *Excessive Causes
    *Deficiencies

Ways To Avoid Unhealthy Stress:

* Let Love Guide You ~ Colossians 3:12-14 "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness."
* Pray Through Anxieties ~ Philippians 4:6-7 "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
* Delegate When Overworked ~ Exodus 18:17-23 "And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good.  Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.  Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God:  And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.  Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:  And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.  If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace."
* Avoid Overindulgence ~ Proverb 25:16 "Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it."

2) Selfishness
  
~ Matthew 12:34 "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
 
  *Lust ~ James 4:1-3 "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?  Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."
   *Bitterness ~ Ephesians 4:31 "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:"
   *Greed ~ 1 Timothy 6:9-10 "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
   *Pride

Today's Dare

Choose to react to tough circumstances in my marriage in loving ways instead of with irritation.

 Make a list of areas where I need to add margin to my schedule.

Then list any wrong motivations that I need to release from my life.

Where do I need to add margin to my life? When have I recently overreacted? What was my real motivation behind it? What decisions did I make today?

~ I'm not exactly sure what this dare really means. I know I tend to overreact to everything, these days. I have a trust issue with Anthony, I think. It goes back to the past, when we were having some serious problems that had to be overcome. It seemed that no matter how many times I'd decide that "this time it would be different, he'd do as he said he'd do", every time I'd get bite (so to speak). I never felt safe enough to trust him. I tried, but it never worked. Now, most of those issues have been worked out. Not all but most. We are both committed to this marriage. We will get our issues resolved at some point or another. That being said, I still have trouble trusting. So, yes I tend to overreact to many things. So, I think my challenge to myself is to once again, put my heart on the line, and strive to learn to trust him.

Acts 24:16 ~ And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.