How do you handle bad news?

How do we handle bad news? The Bible has a number of things that can help us with bad news. You know this Christian walk is not going to be without challenges. When we get bad news, See or discern if it is actually bad news. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (1 Thess 5:21) Verify bad news, some news is not news at all; we could make things worse for ourselves as did Jacob. Is it this news something that we can do anything about? Says that we are not to be “slothful in business, fervent in spirit serving the Lord.” (Rom. 12:11) “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men ;”( Col 3:23) “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (Jam 4:17) Think about this when we do nothing it will only make things worse. What can we do when we checked it out and need something; first, we must turn to God in prayer. God wants us to pray to Him in difficult times as well as good times. “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” (Luke 18:1) God does not want us to faint, but take courage in Him to do the right thing. We must be humble enough to turn to the Lord with problems that are out of our hands. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7) Now we in order to deal with bad news we've got to stop the cycle of negative thinking. This means that we must focus on the good, instead of bad. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things ,just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Phil 4:8) When we think of the goodness of Jesus, we can Count our blessings, it goes a long way toward dealing with bad news. We need to Talk about it, after talking to God, which is therapeutic and will help to alleviate anxiety that we build within ourselves. Testify on what God is going to do, His yoke is easy and burdens are light. Talking to a friend or love one will help the process of dealing with it than all by yourself. This will also bring you into deeper a relationship with our Christian friends and family. “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” (Rom 12:15) “That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” (1 Cor 12:25-26) After we have counseled it will help us accept it. Sometimes it takes a long time for us to do this depending on how bad the news is, but know God will comfort us throughout it all. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Regardless how bad a situation may seem to us, God is able to use it for good. (Rom 8:28) Now it should be time to shout. Knowing God will be there with us and we know victory is His promise. “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” (Phil 4:4) We don't rejoice without reason, that would be insanity. We rejoice knowing that God is in control of all things good and bad. We rejoice knowing the blessings we have as Christians. We rejoice in the future and hope of all who are children of God. “Rejoice evermore.” (1 Thess 5:17)

Your Anointing

"Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves." Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil" (2 Kings 4:1-2).
In meditating on this scripture, I believe the man of God knew that this widow had something in her house more valuable than what she was looking to receive from him. The only problem was - she didn't know it!
Throughout the Bible oil is representative of anointing. It represents the presence and power of the Holy Spirit upon a person or vessel. The Bible says that her husband served the man of God and feared the Lord. This was an anointed man. For years an anointing rested in their home. The man of God knew as long as there was anointing in the house everything she needed was likewise in the house. She was looking for money when God had given her something greater - an anointing. Money is the least of God's blessings. As long as our focus is on money we will miss out on what God, through His anointing, can do in our lives. As a matter of fact, the anointing will cause money to show up when it is activated in a situation. When we begin to operate in our anointing, we have God's presence and power accompanying our efforts. With God all things are possible.
Every Believer is anointed and carries within them the very same Holy Spirit Jesus Christ (The Anointed One) had upon Him. Like the jar of oil that sat on the widow's shelf overlooked and underestimated, many of us have done the same thing to the anointing that is present in our lives. We turn to people and other tangible things for answers, when God has already placed the answer within us, in the form of His Holy Spirit. The Bible describes the Holy Spirit as a Comforter, Guide, Teacher and Revealer. He has the answer to what perplexes us. In many cases, we don't need more money, or other tangible surrogate, we need revelation of our situation. We need discernment, enlightenment and direction to make a right decision. If we were to give the Holy Spirit free course in our lives, He would show us the abundance that God has already placed within us, but has thus far gone overlooked and underestimated.
The Holy Spirit wants to give you life in ever respect of the word. If there is anything dead, unfruitful or dying in our lives, we must give the Holy Spirit access to it, so that He can breathe upon it the breadth of life. The anointing, representing the presence of the Holy Spirit, was given so that we could experience life to its fullest. He can out produce anything, anyone or any system anywhere. However we must trust Him!
Never underestimate your anointing. It is God's most precious provision for us to prosper in our lives. It is the anointing that breaks the yoke of bondage and causes us to overcome our situations - whatever our situations may be!™"And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing" (Isaiah 10:27).

Patience

But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:4 (KJV)
The word “perfect” means “mature.” So, the trying of your faith worketh patience that you may be mature, entire, wanting or lacking not a thing. Wouldn’t you like to be mature in the Lord, entire, lacking not a thing? In order to come to that place, you must learn something about Bible patience.

Patience in James 1:4 means “to be steadfast, unmovable.” Another definition is to remain constant. He says that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Note that faith and patience are linked together. It’s your faith that’s being tried, and patience is developing from it.

Faith and patience are mentioned together in several scriptures. Faith and love are mentioned in Galatians 5:6. It says that faith works by love. Hebrews 12:1- 2 says that we are to run the race with patience, looking unto the author and finisher of our faith, Jesus. Hebrews 6:12 says to follow them who through faith and patience inherit the promise. Titus 2:1-2 says to teach so that the aged (mature) men may be sound in faith and patience. 1 Timothy 6:11 says to follow after (among other things) faith and patience.

These scriptures clearly say that to receive the promises of God, faith, patience and love are required. So follow after righteous, which means right standing with God. Follow after godliness, or being like God. Follow after faith, love, patience and meekness. These things will make you mature in God; entire and lacking not one thing. Fight the good fight of faith. It is a good fight, because you have already won.

We are to walk by faith. But faith is not alone. Faith and patience go along together. And love causes it to work. With the right ingredients, you can be a mature man or woman of God, lacking nothing in this life.™. Amen.

Trust not Trouble

We cannot come to Christ without faith and we're unable to live a victorious Christian life without continuously walking in faith. Our faith is of great worth!
1 Peter 1:6-7
"For a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials, our trial is our struggle to be close and all the things that come with being tested. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire it is proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

One of the beautiful truths in God's Kingdom is that everything along our walk has a purpose; whether it’s the various challenges or struggles. "In all things God works for the good of those who love Him" (Romans 8:28). Even our difficult times of hardship is being directed by God "for the good." As we continue to love Him with all our heart, God will use our trials to reveal and strengthen our faith. Be careful of what you speak and what you ask for, could it be that what you say is true as it is revealed, then change must come. And a truer understanding of our faith is one of the greatest "goods" we can receive.

Do we really believe our faith is "of greater worth than gold"? Until we've been sustained through times of great trial and testing, it's difficult to understand the true value of faith. Our faith is shown to be real, or "proved genuine", only as we trust Him when no other hope can be seen. We never need to prove our faith to God, but why is it that we seem to want to see “us” prove our faith to God, to each other, or that we must prove our faith for people. He sees deep within our heart and already knows the genuineness of our faith. God gave us our faith and calls us to live "in accordance with the measure of faith God has given" (Romans 12:3).

But our measure of faith is ALWAYS greater than what we believe we have, and it can sustain us through greater trials than we believe possible. As we more clearly see the strength contained in this wonderful gift of faith, we are able to give all praise, glory and honor to God as Jesus is revealed through the testimony of our life. As we trust Him with all our heart, He will cause us to emerge from our trials much stronger and more confident, more "mature and complete, not lacking anything" (James 1:4) because we will KNOW He is by our side.

As our faith is strengthened and refined, the presence of God will cease to be an interesting theory or an empty hope; it will become real and an integral part of our life! Let's rejoice that our trials last only "for a little while." But let's also rejoice that our trials are being used for His glory and for the purpose of proving our faith. We don’t need to prove to each other our faith. Love and embrace each other in love as in faith. The rest will fall in place.™ Amen.

Mindset

Your thoughts, what you’re thinking, has a lot to do with the way your life is. (Proverbs 23:7) says: For as he thinks in his heart so is he. What you keep your mind on will decide whether you will have peace or whether you will be full of anxiety in this embroiled, troubled world.
(Romans 12:2KJV) says “But be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
And the message reads “So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.( Romans 12:1-2 MSG)”
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, [If you do what this verse says, then the next verse will come into play.] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. [And the way you keep from being anxious for nothing is by doing what verse 8 says.] Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate [constantly think] on these things.(Philippians 4:6-8 KJV)” ”Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies (Philippians 4:6-9 MSG)”

So, what’s on your mind? What are you thinking? The word think means "to decide by pondering, reasoning or reflecting and to consider." What we think is what we can become. Where we have kept our minds is where we are. Our thoughts can shape our behavior. Otherwise, what we do is what we think. In Quoting William Barkley, "It is a law of life that if a man thinks on something often enough and long enough, he will come to the stage when he cannot stop thinking about it. His thoughts will be quite literally in a groove out of which he cannot jerk them." How many people have gotten into bad situations because they just kept thinking and thinking and thinking about it until they found themselves in a mess. What are you thinking about? Are you thinking righteous or unrighteous thoughts? Are you thinking?
Are you thinking about gratifying the flesh through such things as pride, self, greed, pleasure, sex, angry exchanges, jealousies, envies, desires, and negative attitudes?
What about the lusts of the eyes through such things as immoral pornographic filth flaunted in magazines, films, books, television, and clothes that reveal too much of the body in a vulgar way?
Consider the desire for recognition, honor, position, and power? It is okay to want to be recognized, but will you do anything for recognition, to the extent of committing a sin or hurting someone in to get what you want.
Your mindset, fixated on the world system is what leads the flesh to anxiety, worry, emptiness, and restlessness.
So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. (Colossians 3:1-2 MSG)
So if you’re serious about this walk with Christ and the things above, this means setting your mind on the things of God, and you find out about the things of God, from His Word. Taking control of your mind and doing what it is you should doing, will determine your will. What’s your mindset.
“Lord do in me Your will in my mind and with my flesh”.
Here is the scripture we’re familiar with, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1-2) Now let’s read another translation. So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
We can renew our minds, but we have to think about God and His great love for mankind. If you don't, you will think in line with the world than with the things of God. You have to understand that the body always wants to gratify the flesh. You have to train the body, make it do what your spirit wants, kill it, sacrifice it. And sacrifice is not fun, but it is the joy of the Lord you want. Not the fleshly life of this world.
(Ephesians 4:20-24 MSG) “But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.”
It is our responsibility to do something about our minds. Once you have been converted and become a new man, your focus needs to be about the thoughts of God, and the good things of life. We, as Believers, should never dwell on immoral, fleshly, worldly, selfish, sinful or evil thoughts. Sinful and negative thoughts disrupt and destroy our peace. Your mind will go down to the level of the flesh, and it will take control, because we will then live in the flesh and that is the thing we’ll gravitate to. And that is why we need to operate in the Word of God in order to control our thinking, which will control our flesh. And the word of God will take over our actions and then we will be in the will of God. Are we doing the right thing? That’s all I have.

Pray Expecting God to Deliver

"Ask...in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24 NIV
A local church called a prayer meeting and everybody showed up. They prayed for a young man to be healed, they had come to see God answer!
The year was 2006. I went to Nashville to receive a new liver, by transplantation. Prior to the notification of a donor something happened, here’s my testimony.
I was in agonizing pain from a period of pancreatic attacks, and then suffered what’s known as a mini stroke, and afflicted by Bells Palsy on the left side of my face. A week had gone by spending four of those days in the Veterans Administration Hospital to recover; then sent home for convalescence. You see that week had gone by and as I lay immobile at times, loved ones, family, and friends were in prayer, I was in prayer. While my mind was on the current situation a stroke and Palsy, pain, God allowed me to rest, all I remember was the phone ringing and it was about seven a.m. the next morning. Mr. Cruse, James C Cruse, a lady stated, this is Debbie from the Vanderbilt Hospital emergency contact department. Her statement was “we need you to get to the hospital and get prepped for your transplant, there is a possible match, and how soon can you get here?” After I got up off the floor from collapsing and praising and thanking God I said hello are you still there realizing what she had just said, I responded with, I’m leaving now.
Ok God knew when it was enough suffering and I kept thinking about my failing health, He took my mind off what was primary, rerouted my thoughts and exposed me to more tests, before I could say now God what else? There He goes and sends me a blessing. God knows your limitations and when enough is enough He will turn that situation around, will take your mind off what’s behind you and show you what is before you. Then you know even more of how awesome He is. By waiting on Him, and accepting His will, He made it happen. Glory be to God. Prayer works. And one of the dangers of praying, is praying, and yet not really expecting anything: "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that...he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Heb11:6 NIV). You say, "So how do I get more faith?" By filling your mind with the Scriptures! "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Ro 10:17). When you immerse yourself in God's Word an amazing thing happens; faith takes root and begins to grow. And faith is what makes your praying effective.
But what if your prayer lines up with God's Word, yet the answer is delayed?
Keep praying and believing! "Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised" (Heb 10:35-36 NIV).
So when you pray if nothing happens keep praying!" the more you pray the more your Faith builds up. I believe. Not just what He has done for me but what He can do for you. I’m praying for your health and strength in the Lord.™