Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too
much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect
yesterday's portion of heavenly manna the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are
going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words
today and receive the power we need to live healthy,
vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning. It is Thursday, December eleven,
twenty twenty five. Hello, my name is Elle David Harris.
I am your host, and this is your Daily Portion
where we give you God's word every single day, and
today is no exception. We are continuing in our lesson
study series Lessons of Faith from Joshua, and our caption
for today is Conflict Resolution, Conflict Resolute. Before we get
into that, i'd like to say welcome to everyone joining us,
especially those joining us for the very first time. Please
go over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please click
the donate button if you are so inclined. Also, please
let us know where you are in the world at
your Daily Portion dot com. This is one of the
ways that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's pray, Father,
thank you for this day that you have entrusted to
our care. Please, God, you said that we should, as
much as it lieth unto us, live peaceably among all people,
So help us to do that. Please, please, please, in
Jesus' name, I pray, Amen and amen again. Conflict resolution.
I need to be honest with you. If you go
into the actual lesson the adult study guide for today,
you will see some really interesting communication principles, and I
want you to go through those. I'm not going to
do that here because you already have that in front
of you, so I want you to drill that on
your own time. It is six really good principles and
so just again I wanted to highlight that so that
you can go back and revisit. Now, let me share
what's not in the actual study guide because I'm preparing
for you. Right, We're going to go ahead and begin.
We're going to begin with an old article again, let's
call it a classic or a pioneer's article from Jan
Andrews Reviewing Harold August fourteenth, eighteen sixty six and it reads.
Unity must not be preserved at the expense of truth.
Yet truth loses none of its strength when spoken in love.
Reproof mingled with tenderness wins the heart. We're talking about
conflict resolution, So there is a balance here about how
we share what we share when there is a conflict.
Is truth at stake?
Speaker 1: Huh?
Speaker 2: Is it a relationship that is at stake? Is it
love that can be challenged here because of the way
that we respond to people. Yeah, so reproof mingled with
tenderness wins the heart. Now, coming in from the book
Gospel Workers, page one hundred and nineteen, let us remember
that in seeking to correct others, we must be tender, patient,
and kind. Harsh words stir up strife, but a gentle
answer will subdue anger and inspire confidence. So people really
just need to know that you have their best interest
at heart, even when they have to be reproved. So
relationship matters. Relationship matters. It's all about relationship. And of
course we are remaining true to God, his word and
his guidance. Okay, So our first lesson is unity thrives
when we seek understanding first. That's a basic Honestly, that's
a basic communication principle seek to be seek to hear
before seeking to be heard. That's a common principle. Let's
read it from the Book of Psalm chapter one hundred
and thirty three and verse one, and it reads, Behold,
how good and how pleasant is it for brethren to
dwell together in unity? How good and how pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity? And so
the Hebrew word for unity in this case means togetherness
and one. So, of course, there was this big crisis
in the Book of Joshua, chapter twenty two that almost
tore the nation apart, and yet unity was preserved. Why
how did they preserve unity? Let's see, did they apply
the principles that we shared just a second ago. Because
the leaders chose conversation over confrontation, conversation over confrontation. They
asked questions before passing judgment, and I will say even
instead of passing judgment, they listened before acting. You should
be thinking like, is this the way that I deal
with conflict? Is this the way I deal with fact finding?
Or am I coming across as judgmental or as someone
who was cross examining a witness on the witness stand.
Listen before acting unity is not automatic or passive. God
is giving us the privilege to choose unity, to protect unity,
and strengthen unity through intentional communication. You already know that's
my thing, and so our action step is before reacting
to conflict. It's almost like what we talked about yesterday.
Take time or invest time in understanding the other person's perspective,
ask clarifying questions with a calm spirit under God. Lesson
number two, Christ praise for unity based on love and truth.
Now you know we're going into the Bible Book of John,
chapter seventeen and verse twenty one. That is the what
is called the high priestly Prayer of Christ and it
reads He's asking his father that they may be one,
as Thou Father art in me. So God has given
us the standard of unity. Sometimes people are trying to unify,
and I'm talking about people who say we're doing it
under God, or trying to unify by throwing away truths,
trying to subjugate people's mindsets so that they can become
what they call unified. But really it's uniform. Uniformity and
unity are two different things, but Jesus is giving us
the standard first. The standard is the Father and Jesus's relationship. Well,
what does it look like the Father, it says art
he said, art in me and I in thee. So
they are so closely aligned and allied it's difficult to
tell who is at work here. At times. It's people
are always trying to splice God and say, well, Jesus
was at work here, God the Father was at work here,
the Holy Ghost was at work here. Well, really, they
are so allied and aligned that we sometimes can't even
tell who's at work. Because God, the family of God, Father, Son,
holy ghosts are at work so unified thou art in
me and I in thee, that they also may be
one in us. So if God's people are unified, they
are unified in the same way and by the same
standard that the Father and the Son are unified. So
God has set the standard of unity, and when we
are attaining to that same standard, then we also are
one with God. And so the Greek word here in
this case for unity means of purpose and of spirit.
Jesus's prayer reveals that unity is not sameness, like I said,
not uniformity, but shared allegiance to him. The Western and
Eastern tribes had different territories, different geographies, different concerns, but
one God, one faith, one covenant. Christ Like unity places
mission above misunderstanding and truth above tradition. Our action step
is to pray each day for the unity of your
local fellowship, your church fellowship. Ask God to make you
an instrument of peace and truth in your relationships. And
let me just say the final lesson simply is conflict
resolution requires humility, kindness, and restraint. We've already talked about that,
So please, please please continue to trust God, continue to
allow peace to live in your heart, and let God
fight your battles peace.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening. Friends, Always remember we cannot
live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God. This has been your daily
portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,