May 8 Care Group

After the Angels brought us a lovely dessert of angel food cake and fruit salad...We sang about "How Deep the Father's Love For Us" is.  Then we discussed Chapter 9 of our book.  Here are the comments discussed:
-Be quick to respond to God when He drops something in your heart to do for someone else.  We want to be responsive to the moving of the Holy Spirit.
-Complaining is dangerous.  It shows a lack of faith, casts dispersions on God's character, and nullifies our trust in the sovereignty of God.
-Ps 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
-Prayer - May I not have the audacity to accuse You, Lord.  Please make me thankful for the multitude of blessings you have poured on me.
-Complaining is saying that God didn't "get it right."  Bitterness is saying that "God got it wrong."  We want to be thankful people, far from complaining and bitterness.
-We can be quick to see the "half-empty" areas of our lives, yet God is showing us how to see His blessings everywhere.
-When pride is in control and you're angry at God, you need to humble yourself.  Then you can pray and God will hear you!
-Jesus didn't break a bruised reed.  The humility of Christ is our ultimate example.  His unbroken relationship with us is our most precious gift.
-When things are going well, it's easy to see blessings.  It's during suffering that we need to remember how good God is.
-Ps 19:12-13 Who can discern his errors?  Declare me innocent from hidden faults.  Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;  let them not have dominion over me!  Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
-God peels away layers of our pride and exposes our complaining during trials.  We can cry to Him to help us change.
-A joyless life is one where we can keep on doing "religious" things, going to church, etc. and then go to work and cast shadows.  It can be easy to join in a complaint feast.  We need to be on guard to not be a negative example to those we work with.
-We long for Jesus to come back.  Complaining is a sign of a deeper sin - discontentment.  We fall easily into forgetfulness and not being mindful of His precious gifts to us.
-Ps 111 Praise the Lord!  I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.  Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.  Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever.  He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful.
-There is a time to bring a complaint to God in the spirit of the psalms.  Not the kind that strikes against His good and loving character.
-Trust God - When you're in the working world, you're regularly challenged by others' blessings.  Do we remember at those times to give thanks for all things God has given us?
-God promises to change us step by step.  He who began a good work will complete it until the day of Christ.
-Even as we get older with health challenges, etc., the spiritual blessings alone that God has heaped on us are more than enough to keep us thankful!  For example:  justification, reconciliation, favor of God, His promise to keep doing good in our lives...
-We should not ever accuse Him of doing wrong in any area of our lives.  "Discontentment sucks the joy out of life."
-Thank God for all things, even those that don't look good on the surface.  He is working a greater good.
-It's good to recognize complaint in our hearts.  When life doesn't turn out the way you thought it would, it's time to trust the Lord to bring it to a better result than what we could imagine.
-Even when we regret the ways we reacted in a situation, God can still redeem it.  We need to trust Him.
-There are times when we see God's sovereignty better than others with past decisions.  We need to trust that God works even our mistakes in His sovereign plans for good.
-God's economy is NOT the U.S. economy.  Nor does He follow worldly rules and standards.  He is NOT dependent on us for our blessings.
-"Discontent is a fretting humor which dries the brain, wastes the spirits, and corrodes and eats out the comfort of life.  Discontent makes a man so that he does not enjoy what he possesses."  Thomas Watson
-It's true that complaining stops us from enjoying the good things God has given us.
-Ps 121:5-7  The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.  The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.  The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life."  A "keeper" is one who intentionally takes care of you and provides for you.  Yes!
-We can tremble when we complain because when we shake our fist at God, He's exposing our hearts.  This should remind us that we are but grass and will wither one day.  It's good to remember how small we really are.
-Assuming a lot of responsibility either at work or in our homes can make us resentful for "wrong decisions" we make, not seeing God using us, and can be a source of pride.  We must trust God with every situation He sends to us and not "lean on our own understanding."