"For I want very much to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine."  Romans 1:11-12

Not a lot of "mutually" going on these days.  In a world that is full of divisiveness and selfishness where people seem to be more concerned about themselves over others, most relationships are one sided.  This doesn't mean that we are completely selfish and never think of other's needs.  It just means that there seems to be more give "or" take in relationships than give "and" take.  We are usually on one side or the other.  We give and give and give and the other person merely takes.  And then there are times that we take and fail to give.  Mutually is a much better model of a true relationship.

Lord, thank you for giving me so much and help me to give more back to You, not because I have to in order to earn anything but allow my "giving" to be an act of thankfulness.

"Likewise, you younger men, be subject to the elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."  1 Peter 5:5

Unfortunately, we look at older folks as being not as smart as we are.  After all, they didn't have the internet or colored tv  or "smart" phones.  Pluto was a planet when they were kids.  How silly is that.  Unfortunately, we don't see the difference between "wisdom" and "smart".  Wisdom is a commodity that most younger people don't have because wisdom comes with time and experience.  Wisdom comes with failure and resilience.  Wisdom comes with patience and humility.  

Lord, help me to seek wisdom from those who have already made the mistakes that I am making but they have already learned from them.

"For we are God's creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them."  Ephesians 2:10

Purpose gives us hope.  Purpose gives us motivation.  Purpose gives us confidence.  Purpose gives us meaning. Purpose gives us anxiety ... when we don't know our purpose.  Every human being struggles with their purpose at one (or many) points in their life.  Our purposes seem to change as we enter different "seasons" of  life.  Sometimes it feels as if we have no purpose, and that can be discouraging and depressing.  God has a purpose for us.  God's purpose (created for good works)  never changes and it always exists.  God's purpose for us is greater than any purpose we may fabricate for ourselves.  God's purpose is worth pursuing.

Lord, help me to see that You have a purpose for me and Your purpose is more important than my purposes.

"All my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began." Psalm 139:16b

Most, if not all, of our trials and frustrations in life are a result of unmet expectations.  We expect (read as "guess") that something will happen and then when it doesn't, we get bent out of shape.  The problem is that our expectations are typically linked to our "wants" and not on what God wants.  God knows what will happen and what will happen usually has to do with what He feels is best.  If we truly want our expectations to be met, we need to expect what God wants and not what we want.

Lord, help me to see my life through your eyes and not through my selfishness.

"Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another." 1 John 4:10-11

Most conflict exists because we are in a cyclical pattern of resentment and bitterness.  Someone wrongs us so we feel we are just in continuing to wrong them.  The pattern continues because more wrongs bring about additional wrongs.  The cycle is only broken when one of the individuals involved chooses to break the cycle and decides to take the bold step to love first.  That first loving action may often result in love returned and thus the cycle has the opportunity to change to a love cycle.  God loved us first and He desires us to love Him back and we do that by loving others first.

Lord, help me to push aside pride and to break the cycle of conflict in my life.

"There is profit in all hard work."  Proverbs 14:23a

Hard work typically requires us to be uncomfortable.  Uncomfortable conversation.  Uncomfortable decisions.  Uncomfortable physical labor.  Uncomfortable time sacrifices.  Uncomfortable actions and words.  

Lord, help me to see hard work as not only being physical labor but also decisions and attitude, and also help me to see hard work as not only beneficial but necessary.

"Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock."  Matthew 7:24 

Step 1:  Hear.
Step 2:  Act on what you hear.

Lord, give me the courage to act on what I hear.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves."  Philippians 2:3

Valuing others over ourselves requires us first to value something more than our own needs.  To simply value others is arguably impossible due to our selfish nature.  To value others requires us to value something more than ourselves.  Valuing God and what God wants is a great place to start.  Valuing the idea of being contrary to what feels good to us or what is natural to us is another option.  Valuing what is right over what is comfortable also work. 

Lord, help me to value something other than my own selfishness so I can value others.

"Not only so but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."  Romans 5:3-4

If your car is in neutral, it won't go anywhere, unless you are parked on a hill or unless you get out and push it.  Neutral generally gets us nowhere.  Suffering is not something we seek out but we must realize that suffering is not something that brings us nothing.  Suffering does bring pain.   But  perseverance through the suffering can turn that pain into character and then into hope.

Lord, help me to see suffering for what it can be and not for merely what it is at the current moment.

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."  Mark 1:35 

Praying takes little, to no effort.  Praying is a choice but not an effort.  Jesus may have got up early and left to find a place to pray but these are not requirements.  All we need to do is stop.  Stop what we are doing and pray.  We don't even need to close our eyes.  Praying is the easiest hard thing to do in life.

Lord, help me to pray more.