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Issue link: http://magazine.kcm.org/i/1293307
If someone wrongs them, instead of taking no account of it and walking in love, they get all riled up. They take up for themselves and fight for their own rights. That’s always what the flesh does. When it’s not under the spirit’s dominion, it behaves selfishly and seeks its own. In the process, it steals your peace, hinders your progress and keeps you from prospering in God. I’ll never forget when Ken and I first realized this. We were just beginning to learn how to live by faith in God’s Word. We were desperate for a manifestation of His prosperity in our lives. We’d already tried to prosper on our own and failed miserably. So we were searching the Scriptures to find out how to do things God’s way. When we saw what He said about strife in James 3, we both knew right away that if we wanted to live in THE BLESSING of God, we’d have to get along with each other. So that’s what we decided to do. We committed to live in harmony and agreement and to stay out of strife. From that day to this, we’ve kept that commitment. Although we’ve had to work at it, we’ve learned to be quick to resolve whatever disagreements crop up between us. We’ve learned that it’s more important to avoid strife in our home than to appear justified. It’s more important to maintain the harmony between us than to win an argument, get our own way or prove we’re right. If we slip and say something unloving to each other, we repent right away and forgive one another. We keep the door closed to strife in our home. This keeps the door open for us to live in divine prosperity and peace. Of course, we’ve also been diligent to keep strife out of our relationships with other people, but we’ve remained most watchful at home because many years ago, the Lord said to me: 'If you allow Satan to stop you with strife at your front door, you’ll be no threat to him anywhere else.' As most everyone knows, the easiest place in the world to give in to selfishness is at home. Unlike out in public where people will judge us or even reject us if we act too ugly, at home there aren’t many natural barriers to restrain us. We aren’t concerned about what other people think of us there. We’re not trying to be nice to maintain our reputation. We know our family has to put up with us, so we tend to feel a little freer to give in to our flesh and act as though what we do at home doesn’t really count. In reality, however, what we do at home counts a great deal! The people there are the nearest and dearest to us. Our relationships with them make all the difference. If you’re married, when you and your spouse are at odds with one another, your whole life is negatively affected. Even though things at work may be going well, you’ll be miserable if strife is bringing hell into your relationship with your husband or wife. If your marriage is harmonious, on the other hand, your life can be heavenly. You can be happy even though in other areas you may be dealing with negative circumstances. Better yet, when you and your spouse are in harmony, you can do something together that will change negative circumstances. You can act on Matthew 18:19 that says, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” BVOV : 29