{"id":193,"date":"2022-05-17T15:59:33","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T15:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/?p=193"},"modified":"2022-05-17T15:59:33","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T15:59:33","slug":"belonging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/17\/belonging\/","title":{"rendered":"Belonging"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Find Strength in Belonging<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do we maintain peace and oneness in our relationships?\u00a0 We have a family relationship.\u00a0 We have relationships with friends.\u00a0 We have a relationship at work.\u00a0 We have relationships at church.\u00a0 We have relationships in the community.\u00a0 Wow that\u2019s a lot of relationships!\u00a0 We can have peace or strife in each of these that need to be managed.\u00a0 This activity needs to be constant.\u00a0 If we don\u2019t focus on our relationships, we can see them decline.\u00a0 When we make mistakes, we need to quickly respond to them and repair any damage that we have caused to others.\u00a0 We will not be perfect every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some ways that we can use to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace with each other?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walk Worthy:<\/strong>\u00a0 If we all live to bring God glory, we will enjoy peace and unity among ourselves.<\/li>
Walk in Humility:<\/strong> Unity in its simplest form is nothing more than corporate humility. Humility breeds peace, pride brings contention.<\/li>
Walk in Gentleness (Meekness): Gent<\/strong>leness is a fruit of the Spirit.\u00a0 Gentleness does not lash out at others.<\/li>
Walk in Patience:<\/strong> (My greatest challenge!) <\/em>\u00a0Lack of patience reflects focus on OUR agenda!\u00a0 Can be defined: \u201cto endure with unruffled temper.\u201d<\/li>
Bear with one another in love: <\/strong>Putting up with each other.\u00a0 \u201cPutting up with another\u2019s weaknesses and differences, not ceasing to love them because of those things that perhaps irritate or displease us.\u201d<\/li>
Authority comes from God:<\/strong>\u00a0 God delegates authority in different spheres: family, government, church, work, teachers\/coaches.<\/li>
Understanding submission:<\/strong> Ultimately when we submit to someone in authority we submit to God.<\/li>
Properly appealing to authority:<\/strong> When we don\u2019t like what the authority does, we can react in anger and leave, or passively succumb to erroneous direction. Neither is a Godly response.\u00a0 Are you being asked to do something illegal, immoral, unethical or unbiblical or is this a difference of opinion you need to accept? Daniel showed us a way to react to authority.\u00a0 Daniel talked with the officials, listened generously, discovered the reasons for the things in question, and then proposed a creative alternative.\u00a0 Above all pray for God\u2019s direction for your actions.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
We need to constantly pray for healthy relationships and to heal damaged relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c<\/em>For we don\u2019t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. If we live, it\u2019s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it\u2019s to honor the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and rose again for this very purpose \u2013 to be Lord both of the living and of the dead.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Romans 14: 7 \u2013 9)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c<\/em>They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord\u2019s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Acts 2: 46)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c<\/em>Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, \u201cAny kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Matthew 12: 25)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c<\/em>The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Psalm 103: 8)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ideas for Action: <\/strong>Is there a disappointment you\u2019ve been carrying about the church? Do you have a damaged relationship? \u00a0In prayer, offer it to the Lord and ask for his help in releasing it or repairing it. If you\u2019ve been sitting on the sidelines at home, get back in the game by returning to worship and joining a small group, a class or a committee. We need you. We belong together in every relationship; we need to belong to each other.\u00a0 We will be much stronger because of it.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Find Strength in Belonging How do we maintain peace and oneness in our relationships?\u00a0 We have a family relationship.\u00a0 We have relationships with friends.\u00a0 We have a relationship at work.\u00a0 We have relationships at church.\u00a0 We have relationships in the community.\u00a0 Wow that\u2019s a lot of relationships!\u00a0 We can have peace or strife in each…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingcultureministries.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}