Youth

Our devotion this week comes from the YouVersion Bible App. It was written and provided by Elevation Church. We’ll spend some time this week in a few songs written by Elevation, and looking at the Scripture background of these songs.

Won’t Stop Now

Take a moment and look up Won’t Stop Now by Elevation Worship on iTunes, Spotify, or YouTube. Listen the whole way through, and then continue reading below.

“Your presence is an open door, so come now, Lord, like never before.”

Why don’t we always feel God’s presence? If God’s presence is really an open door, why does the door sometimes feel like it’s been shut? 

There are a lot of reasons God could feel far away, but none of those reasons is because God has pulled away from us. 

God’s love for us is unchanging, unending, and unconditional. No matter what we do, He will always love us. Still, we can’t expect God to come into our lives uninvited. He’s not going to overwhelm us with His presence if we haven’t asked for it. 

The Bible says to,

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7 

God wants participation, not passivity. He isn’t going to knock on the door and drag us through it. His presence is an open door, but it’s up to us to step through it. 

Our devotion this week, Getting It Right With Others, was provided by Life.Church and is available on the YouVersion Bible app.

Conflict Resolution

The best example we have of conflict resolution is God Himself. Time after time, we turned away from Him. We sinned against Him. And we did things we knew weren’t good for us.

So, God decided to have some conflict resolution—with us. How did He do it? Humbly and directly. 

God sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to be born in a lowly, dirty animal stable. He came as one of us—a person. He lived life just as any human would. But unlike us, Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. Then, He died on the cross to pay for our sin in the ultimate conflict resolution. 

He didn’t have to, but He chose to. He took what we deserved and put it on Himself. He died to confront the conflict and forgive us of our sins so that we could be with Him.

If we call ourselves followers of Jesus, we’re supposed to follow His lead. And that means things might get a little messy. He asks us to confront conflict head on instead of running from it, by going immediately, directly, and humbly—just like He did.

The thing to remember is that dealing with conflict in a healthy way won’t always fix our relationships. Sometimes, people may not accept your apology. And sometimes, the conflict may not go away overnight. But, learning to handle conflict in a healthy way heals your heart, even if it doesn’t heal your relationship. Why? Because when we deal with conflict the right way, we become more like Jesus. 

So, let’s embrace conflict. Let’s be like Jesus—humble and forgiving. Remember: He saved us when we didn’t deserve it. So, let’s extend that same grace to others, even when we think they don’t deserve it either. 

Read 2 Corinthians 5:21.

²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Read Ephesians 4:31-32.

³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Read 1 Peter 3:18.

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

Read Colossians 3:13.

¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Read Romans 5:8.

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Pray this: God, help me deal with conflict in a way that honors You. Give me wisdom to help me get my relationships right. Help me forgive others the way You’ve forgiven me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Our devotion this week, Getting It Right With Others, was provided by Life.Church and is available on the YouVersion Bible app.

What does healthy conflict look like?

An oxymoron is when seemingly contradictory words appear together. Like jumbo shrimp. Pretty ugly. Virtual reality. Random order.

Get the idea?

At first glance, healthy conflict might seem like an oxymoron too. However, when we look at what the Bible says, healthy conflict is exactly what God had in mind. 

In Matthew 18:15, Jesus said that if a brother or sister sins against you, you should go directly to that person and point at their fault—just the two of you. 

Woah. Okay, Jesus.

This is the completely opposite of what we want to do when someone offends us.

And you know what we want to do? We either want to run or rant. When someone makes us mad, we either want to run away and avoid the problem, or we want to rant about that person to everyone but that person.

Jesus proposed a different way—a better way—which involves us confronting the situation at the root of the problem. 

So, how do you confront conflict? Here are three ways:

1.) Go immediately. Ephesians 4:26 says to not let the sun go down while we’re angry. Confront the conflict as soon as possible.

2.) Go directly. When you and a friend have conflict, it’s tempting to go to everyone but that friend! But Proverbs 11:13 says that a gossip betrays a confidence. God dislikes gossip and spreading rumors. 

3.) Go humbly. It may not have occurred to you, but you might not be in the clear. Be willing to admit that you were wrong, and be humble. Humility looks good on everyone. Proverbs 15:1 says that a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

So, how do we deal with conflict in a healthy way? We go. We resolve the conflict immediately, directly, and humbly. And when we do that, it honors God and starts healing our hearts. 

Read Matthew 18:15.

¹⁵ “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.

Read Ephesians 4:25-32.

²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold. ²⁸ Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work,doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Read Proverbs 11:13.

¹³ A gossip betrays a confidence,
    but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.

Read Proverbs 15:1.

¹ A gentle answer turns away wrath,
    but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Our devotion this week, Getting It Right With Others, was provided by Life.Church and is available on the YouVersion Bible app.

How does conflict affect our relationship with God?

When someone messes with your best friend, it’s hard for you to like that person, isn’t it? That’s the way God is with us—His kids. You can’t be right with God if you’re hurting one of His kids.

Your relationships with people and your relationship with God are directly connected. Basically, before making things right with God, we need to make things right with others.

In the Old Testament, people connected with God by offering gifts at the altar. People would travel for days to present their offering. By time they got there, they were likely exhausted.

With that context in mind, Jesus said in Matthew 5 that if you’re offering a gift at the altar and remember someone has something against you, you should go and fix that relationship first. 

Did you catch that? Even if they had been traveling for days, they still had to go back and resolve conflict with the person that had something against them, which would have made their entire journey a waste of time. 

That might seem a bit extreme, but Jesus wasn’t playing around. He knew something that we often forget: You can’t be right with God if you’re wrong with others. 

Now we know what a big deal conflict is to God. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about what healthy, God-honoring conflict looks like. 

Read Matthew 5:23-24.

²³ “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

Read Colossians 3:13.

¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Read Matthew 5:9.

⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.