Do You Have a Complaining Heart?

...A murmuring mouth is particularly grieving to God because it reveals discontent in God.

 
Psalm 106 says that one of the reasons God made the people of Israel “fall in the wilderness” was because they “murmured in their tents” (v. 25, 26). This has serious consequences...

1. It Models Satan

The angel Lucifer was the first grumbler. The onset of his fall from heaven was a result of dissatisfaction in his position and the desire to be like God. Writes Burroughs [author of The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment}:

“The Devil is the most discontented creature in the world, he is the proudest creature that is, and the most discontented creature, and the most dejected creature. Now, therefore, so much discontent as you have, so much of the spirit of Satan you have.”

2. It Is Contrary to Who You Are

You are a son and daughter with a heavenly Father who loves you, the deeply beloved bride of Christ, and actual members of Jesus’ body. When you bellyache and complain about every little thing, you mar your royal and treasured position.

“Are you the King’s son, the son, the daughter, of the King of Heaven, and yet so disquieted and troubled, and vexed at every little thing that happens? As if a King’s son were to cry out that he is undone for losing a toy; what an unworthy thing would this be! So do you: you cry out as if you were undone and yet are a King’s son, you who stand in such relation to God, as to a father, you dishonor your father in this; as if either he had not wisdom, or power, or mercy enough to provide for you.”

3. It Is the Opposite of Prayer

In prayer we come to God with requests and with praise and thankfulness in order to commune with him, but when we grumble, complain and murmur we essentially reverse prayer and rehearse all that we aren’t getting or all that God is not doing that we think he should be doing.

“By murmuring you undo your prayers, for it is exceedingly contrary to the prayer that you make to God. When you come to pray to God, you acknowledge his sovereignty over you, you come there to profess yourselves to be at God’s disposal.”

4. It Is Simply a Waste of Time

It accomplishes absolutely nothing. It accelerates personal stress and is downright annoying and draining to listen to.

“How many times do men and women, when they are discontented, let their thoughts run, and are musing and contriving, through their present discontentedness and let their discontented thoughts work in them for some hours together, and they spend their time in vain!”

5. It Swallows Up the Blessing of Mercy before It Arrives

If you covet a particular mercy of God (say, a big raise), when it finally comes, you won’t be thankful for it but will waste it. Coveting a blessing can turn the blessing into an idolatrous curse.

“Discontent and murmuring eats out the good and sweetness of a mercy before it comes. If God should give a mercy for the want of which we are discontented, yet the blessing of the mercy is, as it were, eaten out before we come to have it. … There are many things which you desire as your lives, and think that you would be happy if you had them, yet when they come you do not find such happiness in them, but they prove to be the greatest crosses and afflictions that you ever had, and on this ground, because your hearts were immoderately set upon them before you had them.”

6. It Worsens Sufferings and Afflictions

A murmuring attitude in the midst of affliction increases the affliction. Having a bad attitude in the midst of pleasant or mediocre circumstances poisons your heart and the hearts of others, and how much will this increase if this overwhelmingly negative spirit continues and truly difficult circumstances arrive.

“It in no way removes our afflictions, indeed, while they continue, they are a great deal the worse and heavier, for a discontented heart is a proud heart, and a proud heart will not pull down his sails when there comes a tempest and storm. If a sailor, when a tempest and storm comes, is perverse and refuses to pull down his sails, but is discontented with the storm, is his condition any better because he is discontented and will not pull down his sails? Will this help him?”

7. It Wears the Hopeless Costume of Pessimism

This simply means consistent pessimism is not in line with the sure hope and life-changing power of the gospel. There is an inherent optimism within the gospel that produces hope, love, joy, peace, etc. Positive commands like “rejoice in the Lord” and in everything “give thanks” and negative commands like “do not be anxious” and “do not grumble” all reveal that there is a gospel optimism about the Christian life that is to flavor the personality of a Christian.





By BJ Stockman drawing from The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

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Building Healthy Family Culture

I am so excited to see this brand new resource to help us build up strong homes:

To Survive and Prosper: It’s Time to Think Strategically
About Your Children, Your Household, and Your Family Culture!

strat-e-gies: The art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal.

If you are a Christian parent living in the twenty-first century, you need to think strategically about your family. Settling for the priorities and practices of the world is a proven formula for disaster. As parents, we must do more than settle. We must self-consciously choose. This requires strategic biblical thinking. It means self-consciously building your family culture. And whether the subject is entertainment choices, home décor, travel, music in the home, or dealing with antagonistic relatives, it means that wise, Scripturally-informed parents must think creatively as they aggressively engage impediments and obstacles to success.

A 20-Week Energy Boost of Strategic Thinking and Encouragement from Doug and Beall Phillips

Family Strategies: An Invitation from Doug and Beall from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

These are the weekly messages from Doug and Beall that are included:

1. How to Organize Your Home to Promote Family Unity
2. How to Cultivate a Love of Reading with Your Children
3. How to Make Mealtime Meaningful
4. How to Prepare for a Year of Home Education
5. How to Take Children Safely Through an Airport
6. How to Involve the Whole Family in Family Worship
7. How to Address the Plague of “Jive Talk” in Your Home
8. How to Encourage Masculinity in Sons
9. How to Encourage Femininity in Daughters
10. How to Handle a Social Worker Visit
11. How to Wage War on Sibling Rivalry
12. How to Use Household Decorations to Teach Character
13. How to Talk to Your Children about Miscarriage
14. How to Involve the Whole Family in Hospitality
15. How to Build an Entrepreneurial Spirit in Your Children
16. How to Watch a Movie As a Family
17. How to Cultivate a Love of Meaningful Poetry with Your Children, and Why Doing So Is Important
18. How to Prepare Your Children to Listen to a Symphony
19. How to Take a Road Trip with Your Family
20. How to Select the Best Locations for Family Vacations

As the parents of eight children and the founders of Vision Forum Ministries, Doug and Beall Phillips have spent the last decade collecting and implementing helpful strategies for building a strong, safe, and visionary family culture.

Now, beginning Tuesday, February 28, they will be sharing some of the most practical and proven strategies for building a vibrant family culture through their new 20-week, 30-minute episodes audio series called Family Strategies. 

Listen to the new Audio Samples here.

If you order by February 28 you will save $10, plus receive two bonus messages as a free gift.
This is a 20-message series sent directly to your inbox each week for less than $5 per message. But make sure you order by February 28, as that price will go up! With your order confirmation email, they will also send you coupons to download two important, family-affirming bonus messages for FREE:

Victories: Moments Small and Large Which Define Christian Parenting,
and How to Evaluate a Suitor.


For about the price of a fancy cup of coffee, you can get real, weekly encouragement  from Doug and Beall in which they share their favorite and best strategies for building family unity.

Click here to order Family Strategies.


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Dear Readers, it is an honor to share valuable resources on this blog to help you build stronger homes to the glory of God!  I thought I would also mention that Vision Forum also has godly resources for children:

V is for Von Trapp: A Musical Family Alphabet

and
Teach Them to Your Children: An Alphabet of Biblical Poems, Verses and Stories

Priced at $17.00 but is now on sale at only $8.50
and you can click here to browse more.

Defending Biblical Truths in the Face of Adversity and Titus 2 Link-Up

Defending biblical truths are mandatory for this day and age--there is a surreal amount of pressure to walk away from or make light of the scriptures. Titus 2 clearly states that older women are to teach the younger women to love their husbands, love their children, be self controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and be subjects of their husband so that no one will malign the word of God. The Bible warns that there will be those who will come and teach things that our 'itching' ears want to hear, but we must resist and stand firm on the foundation that will not be shaken.

My favorite mentors have always been the ones who were bold and  unafraid. They were usually the ones who were saying things that were not always 'politically correct', although they were biblically correct and did not try to blend in with what everyone else was doing. They were like trumpets sounding their truths from the rooftops. The voice of truth in the wild jungle of falsehood shining light in the empty darkness. They knew from wisdom what the word of God said and knew we needed to hear it in order for real change to occur in our lives. Sometimes sharing that truth brought a price--but like great heroes of the past, they plowed forth with all their might, their faith unwaivering.

This blog has always been a place that has defended biblical womanhood, taught on the glories of motherhood and encouraged the role of helpmeet and homemaker. I believe it was God using His word, mentors, and even blogs that had sound teaching that helped me to be a better Christian, wife and mother. We need to test all things (1 Thess 5:21) and make sure we are not like infants that are tossed to and fro (Eph 4:14). We will continue to do that zealously for the Lord, and by His grace we will not compromise His Word to fall into the fleeting pressure to conform to the world.

People might not understand why we do these things---sometimes these well-meaning people might be our very own brothers and sisters in Christ, who might also need to hear the truth themselves. Dear friends, while this can be discouraging, I encourage you not to lose heart and cling fast to what you know is true. The truth of God will prevail and will stand even after this world is gone and the scorner and mockers have passed.

Now if you believe in defending biblical truths (in mercy, humility, and in love) and are not afraid or ashamed to stand up for them, please link up below and share a post. You can post about anything regarding biblical womanhood, blessed motherhood, being a helpmeet or homemaker---this is a Titus 2 link up, where we would like to share, defend, encourage the biblical truths on roles regarding women and the Christian family. So please join in and share with thousands of women around the world who desperately need to hear the glories and beauty of Titus 2! I am looking forward to reading your posts!

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