Here’s an exercise to try when impatience creeps into your life.

Take a look at the trigger that’s setting you off.

• A child disobeys.
• You’re waiting for someone.
• You can’t figure out how to make something work.

Whatever it might be at the time, call it out and lay it on the table. Then stop for a minute and give it a score from 1-10, depending on how critical the trigger is. In the big picture, is your trigger a 3 or is it a life-threatening, scoring 9 or 10?

Today, we'll learn more about triggers and patience.

KEY PASSAGE:

James 3:3-6 (NIV)

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

RESOURCES:

--> Take the Free PERSONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT. It only takes 3 minutes. Download it at www.retreatingwithgod.org.

Visit FRESH FAITH 24/7, a place where you can retreat with God and get to know him more deeply: www.freshfaith247.com.

Connect with Jon at jon@freshfaith247.com

How in the world can we be a patient parent? Seems like a contradiction. Those two words don’t exist together.

Hats off to those moms and dads who have this quality mastered. What’s your secret? Tell the rest of us!

My wife was one of those patient parents. Now she’s a patient grandparent.

Her patience showed up often when he gently explained things to the kids. While I would bark, “Stop it!” she took the time to share the why with the what. Spending an extra minute, she taught them, speaking to them as individuals, rather than giving orders.

Today, we learn how to be patient parents on our audio devotional.

KEY PASSAGE:

2 Corinthians 4: 16-18 (NIV)

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

RESOURCES:

--> Take the Free PERSONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT. It only takes 3 minutes. Download it at www.retreatingwithgod.org.

Visit FRESH FAITH 24/7, a place where you can retreat with God and get to know him more deeply: www.freshfaith247.com.

Connect with Jon at jon@freshfaith247.com

We fail most at patience with the ones we love. Our spouses pay a price for our impatience when they experience it over and over again. We let our guard down and don’t extend grace.

Think about the grace God extends to you every day. It started with the cross and hasn’t stopped since. When you get ahead of the Lord, does he stop loving you? Does he hammer you? Does he humiliate you? No! His love endures.

Let's explore how we can extend patient grace in our audio devotional today.

KEY PASSAGE:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

RESOURCES:

--> Take the Free PERSONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT. It only takes 3 minutes. Download it at www.retreatingwithgod.org.

Visit FRESH FAITH 24/7, a place where you can retreat with God and get to know him more deeply: www.freshfaith247.com.

Connect with Jon at jon@freshfaith247.com

Have you ever wanted something so bad that it hurt? You went to the extent of pleading with God for a new car, the dream job, a boyfriend or girlfriend, your child’s award, your sister coming to Christ, financial support for a mission trip… you add to the list.

Whether it’s spiritual or material, we can get pretty worked up about the thing we have our sights set on. A life of peace has been replaced by a life in pieces.

Then there are those situations you want to escape from. A horrible work environment, bad home life, constant financial distress, a church that you can’t stand anymore… again, you fill in the blank.

This where you can experience God's supernatural peace. Let's see how in today's audio devotional.

KEY PASSAGE:

Proverbs 16:1-3, 9 ESV

The plans of the heart belong to man,
but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit.
Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.
The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.

RESOURCES:

--> Take the Free PERSONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT. It only takes 3 minutes. Download it at www.retreatingwithgod.org.

Visit FRESH FAITH 24/7, a place where you can retreat with God and get to know him more deeply: www.freshfaith247.com.

Connect with Jon at jon@freshfaith247.com

Fear has a way of playing with our emotions. It can rattle us, paralyze us.

Fear has a way of amplifying small, negative thoughts that creep into our minds. We even project things that aren’t likely to happen. Most of our fears never come true.

In the Old Testament, God sent 12 spies into the land of Canaan, which he was going to give Israel. He stated it so clearly to Moses, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israe.” (Numbers 13:1 ESV).

The spies went in and saw the land flowing the milk and honey, truly God’s wonderful gift. But they observed that the people living there were strong and lived in fortified cities. Out of fear, they reported back, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height” (Numbers 13:32 ESV).

We'll examine that story today in our audio devotional.

KEY PASSAGE:

1 John 4:15-18 (NIV)

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.

RESOURCES:

--> Take the Free PERSONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT. It only takes 3 minutes. Download it at www.retreatingwithgod.org.

Visit FRESH FAITH 24/7, a place where you can retreat with God and get to know him more deeply: www.freshfaith247.com.

Connect with Jon at jon@freshfaith247.com

We’re all familiar with the parable of the prodigal son. This was the rebellious kid who decided he had enough of his father and marched off with his share of the inheritance. I’m not sure if his mother was still living, but I can imagine the hurt she felt with her son leaving.

After a season of prodigal living (prodigal means “wasteful”), the son was out of money, out of bounds, out of friends and certainly out of his mind.

That's where the story really gets interesting. Today, we'll discuss what this story has to do with inner peace. We'll uncover something that can kill our peace--from within.

KEY PASSAGE:

1 Peter 2: 1-2 (NIV)

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

RESOURCES:

--> Take the Free PERSONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT. It only takes 3 minutes. Download it at www.retreatingwithgod.org.

Visit FRESH FAITH 24/7, a place where you can retreat with God and get to know him more deeply: www.freshfaith247.com.

Connect with Jon at jon@freshfaith247.com

Why do we find it so hard to surrender to God? An inner conflict rages. A debate echoes in our mind. Intellectually, we know that surrendering to the Lord is the right choice. But our will defies that clear thought. We hold on tightly to the steering wheel of our life.

I think there are several reasons why we fight surrendering to the Lord. We'll explore three of them.

KEY PASSAGE:

Colossians 1:15-17 ESV

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

RESOURCES:

--> Take the Free PERSONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT. It only takes 3 minutes. Download it at www.retreatingwithgod.org.

Visit FRESH FAITH 24/7, a place where you can retreat with God and get to know him more deeply: www.freshfaith247.com.

Connect with Jon at jon@freshfaith247.com

Why fight God?

That’s what we’re doing when we don’t surrender to him.

There’s a saying that “What I do is for God is my gift to him.” Baloney. That’s humanism. Self-effort glorified. You’re putting yourself at the center instead of God being there.

Now that you’re shaken up, let me put it in perspective. When we give our all for the Lord, we better do it with the right heart. Otherwise, it’s rubbish to God. Jesus said, “For apart from me you can do nothing.”

Today, we'll explore the reward of surrender.

KEY PASSAGE:

Galatians 5:16-17 (NIV)

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

RESOURCES:

--> Take the Free PERSONAL SELF-ASSESSMENT. It only takes 3 minutes. Download it at www.retreatingwithgod.org.

Visit FRESH FAITH 24/7, a place where you can retreat with God and get to know him more deeply: www.freshfaith247.com.

Connect with Jon at jon@freshfaith247.com