How to Rejoice in the Midst of Suffering

Good morning, everyone! Welcome back to the King's Daughter. I quickly want to announce that from now on there is going to be an outline that I am providing for you all if you want to take notes and keep them in a notebook, computer, or Bible.

Here is where you can find it!

Also, on a sidenote, make sure to come back every Monday and Thursday for a post. I need to get in the hang of posting more often, so this will be a good way for me to get started.

I would like for you to open your Bible to 1 Peter 3: 8-12 , or you can just click here.

We all suffer at times in our lives. To some people, it isn't a big deal. To other, it's huge. Because when you are suffering, every little thing can bring you down. Whether your goldfish died, or your grandmother passed away, or you got detention for the first time, it's how you suffer, and to you, it's a big deal.

So how do we rejoice when we are suffering? If God truly loves us, then He wouldn't make us suffer, right? Wrong. I think you will find out how in a few minutes.

These are the checkpoints for living a mature life in your home, your church, and your outside relationships.

- Live in harmony with one another.
- Be sympathetic. 
You need to have a mututal understanding of what someone is going through. If they cry, you cry. In the song Hossanna, it says "Break my heart for what breaks yours" so if it hurts God, it should hurt you.
 - Love as brothers. We all know the saying, Love your neighbor as yourself. This deals with it directly.
- Be compassionate.
-Be humble.

-Forgive.

This is probably one of the hardest things for me to do. We have a strong dislike for people who do us wrong, but how is that representing God. We are here on the earth for Him. We are his people.
-Control your tongue. 
It's pretty self explanatory, but make sure you are watching what you say. It could become very hurtful.
- Live a Pure and Peaceful life. 

We also need to learn how to respond when suffering. If we respond the wrong way, things could get worse.

- Consider yourself uniquely blessed by God.
-Do not run in panic or sit in worry.
-Acknowledge Christ as Lord over every area and event in your life.
-Be ready to tell your story.
-Live your life with integrity.


Leave me a comment on how you rejoice in the midst of suffering, and if you used the outline!

I will see you all on Thursday. For now you can go to my other blog Color Coordinated.

Day 2: What's Holding You Captive?

Hi everybody! I can't believe it's only been one day and I already have 2 followers on my blog! I feel so blessed. Thank you so much already.

photo courtesy via sniggle.net

Today I wanted to tell you all about an event that happened in Stockholm, Sweden. You can view an article about it here. Four people were taken hostage in a bank, and they were held for six days. When they finally got out and were questioned their captors, they defended them. One victim stated "They weren’t bad people. They let me eat, they let me sleep, they gave me my life"

We read that and think that it is crazy, but in reality, we all do that with something in our lives. We are all being held hostage by something. It could be something little, like listening to a song you shouldn't listen to, but it might be something big like drugs, alcohol, or pre-marital sex. The point is we start to develop an attatchment to that. We start to defend it because we don't want to lose it.

For example, if you go out and party and get drunk and then defend it, that is holding you captive. It's hard to admit it and get rid of, but God can help you overcome it. It's a matter of prayer and trust in Him to overcome.

So my question is, and I want you to answer because that is the first step, What is Holding You Captive? You can leave a comment or email me at oliviarose.blogger@gmail.com

Day 1 : The Word is THE WORD

Last night, I went to youth as usual. I checked in, I talked to my friends, played Invisible Football with everybody, and went to sit down and worship. Something about worship was different last night, though. I felt this powerful love over the entire room. I could tell God was with us as we were praising Him. I thought I might as well share the my favorite song with you that we sang last night.

 

After we worshiped, my youth pastor, Adam, came to share the Word with us. When you go from such a powerful worship to a powerful sermon, your emotions start to overflow. Multiple times I found myself tearing up because God would start speaking to me. I really felt like last night was supposed to reach out to me. And I am so thankful it did, because if it hadn't, I wouldn't have started this blog. 

Adam talked about a time when Jesus was tempted by Satan in Matthew 4:1-11. I have it linked if you would like to go read it, or you can look it up in your bible. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4%3A1-11&version=NIV

The Bible says that Jesus was in the desert for forty days. (Forty days is actually mentioned in the Bible in the Old Testament with Noah's Ark, but that's another day's post.) He was hungry, so Satan took the opportunity to tempt Jesus. He told Him that if he was so powerful to turn stone into bread. Jesus, being the awesome guy that He is, used scripture against Satan. But Satan is powerful as well. He told Jesus if He was the Son of God to jump off the cliff and let the angels of heaven catch Him. Jesus responded that You Should Never Tempt The Lord.

Satan likes to twist God's word into something it is not. For example, Adam and Eve. We all know the story. God said Adam could eat from any tree in the garden, except for the one tree in the middle, for if he did, that he would die. Then came Eve. She was probably just walking past the tree when she saw a serpent. The snake was Satan in disguise. He told her that God loved her and that she would not surely die. He twisted God's word into propaganda, which basically means to put something down to make something else look better. He made the fruit look like it was fine to eat and that God would never harm her. 

That's the lesson I want for y'all to take today. The Word is THE WORD. We cannot change it to our liking. Keep that in mind this week when Satan tries to tempt you. I will talk to you all tomorrow. (: