26 June 2022
Two-Minute Features | 03 July 2022 | 19 June 2022

Staying Aligned with God & Ourselves (TMF:1885)

Friday, July 01, 2022
Peace to Live By: Staying Aligned with God & Ourselves (TMF:1885) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       Our next verse is: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting” (1:5, 6, ESV). Sometimes within a trial, we lack wisdom as to why the trial is occurring. And sometimes we lack wisdom in a life circumstance which isn’t a trial. We just want to know what to do—or what would be best for us to do. We are undecided about something, as we can see things going good if we go one way, or good even if we were to go another way. Choices can complicate our decision. And, as we are in relationship with God, we want to do what God has aligned in our hearts—what he has put in our hearts. This isn’t always clear. It’s important that we stay aligned with what we really want to do because, if we do something long-term we don’t want to really do, it won’t work. We’ll quit at some point. Only we ourselves know what we really want.

Learning New Things from Trials, Part 2 (TMF:1884)

Thursday, June 30, 2022
Peace to Live By: Learning New Things from Trials, Part 2 (TMF:1884) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       Often times trials teach us something that we will need later on. As many of you are aware by now, one of my favorite Presidents is John F. Kennedy. I think in many ways he modeled important and positive character traits in his life for us to learn from. One event that comes to my mind was when he was in the U.S. Navy and was stationed overseas during World War II. He and his group of men where located in the Solomon Islands. And one night their PT boat was destroyed by a Japanese destroyer, and Kennedy ended up saving several of his injured crewmen from the ocean by swimming them to shore after they were floating in the water all night. Kennedy would later say that by being in the Navy he learned everything that shouldn’t be done. He also learned the importance and value of the lives of his fellow crewman, that these are real people making real decisions. This would help him later during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He came to the view that the military during his time often didn’t know what they were doing and what was right, and based of this perspective, he was able to make the right choices.

Learning New Things from Trials, Part 1 (TMF:1883)

Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Peace to Live By: Learning New Things from Trials, Part 1 (TMF:1883) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       We are angry with God. Angry at others. Angry at the world. Upset with life in general. This doesn’t help us, and it doesn’t help anybody else. The beautiful thing is, behind every life-trial is a precious awareness to be learned. Now, I know, that doesn’t sound too hot at first glance. You might say, “I don’t want to learn anything new. I’ve been through school and learned enough.” Yes, but unfortunately, really I should say fortunately, we still have much to learn. Yes, there is always something new to be taught. Sometimes within a trial it is not obvious what that awareness is. Sometimes pinpointing it can be painful. If we are a prideful person, a trial can take a big hammer smack at our pride, and a big piece of it falls of (if we let it). Sometimes we learn that we need to be more aware of others, and what they are thinking. Another thing is that we need to learn that life is fragile, and we may need to take it more seriously.

Surrendering to the Trial vs. Resisting It (TMF:1882)

Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Peace to Live By: Surrendering to the Trial vs. Resisting It (TMF:1882) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       You see, surrender is the key. One of the pillars to our lives is surrender. When we surrender, we don’t let a trial have power over us. We surrender to it when it comes. In the negative levels of inner-self, there are two incorrect ways we can react. We can resist it or we can ignore it. We don’t want to fight it or resist it. We don’t ignore it or push it away. Rather, we face it head on. We keep our patience and we watch God work. Resisting will only lead us to suppress what we are really feeling. When we fight the trial, we find ourselves not making the right choices. We are angry with God. Angry at others. Angry at the world. Upset with life in general. This doesn’t help us, and it doesn’t help anybody else. The beautiful thing is, behind every life-trial is a precious awareness to be learned. Now, I know, that doesn’t sound too hot at first glance.

The Trial vs. Our Negative Emotions (TMF:1881)

Monday, June 27, 2022
Peace to Live By: The Trial vs. Our Negative Emotions (TMF:1881) - Daniel Litton
(Tap or right-click link to download two-minute feature)

       The actual ‘trial’ may not have been as bad as trying to work through our negative emotions about the trial. We were a mess. We don’t let the trial produce the steadfastness. Nah, we flunked out. We were too angry. It really didn’t do us any good, did it? So, the next sentence from James has its fulfillment: “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (v. 3, 4, ESV). Yes, this is for the positive, faith-filled person. The problem is, if we were on the negative end of the spectrum, the trial didn’t have its full effect for us. It was a partial effect, or no beneficial effect at all. We resisted the trial. We didn’t surrender to it. By resisting, we hindered God’s work in us. Now we are not made perfect by it, or complete for that matter, but we are still imperfect and lacking. We, like Jesus disciples a lot of the time, either still yet have no faith, or we are desperately lacking in it. We didn’t grow out of it.