The Mirror Work : Righteousness

For a few days I was getting easily offended and then anger started to bubble up inside of me. So I was praying to God to highlight why I was feeling this way. 

Because since I started Recovery from my Habits, Hurts  and hang-ups I've changed so much. So it was annoying me why I was acting this way. 

 Then as usual God will puts someone or something in your life to help with the lesson.

 I was listening to John Edward's on zoom, and he was saying about how he has helped so many people. And one time he was saying how he put money on a girls electric card. I felt and this is no reflection on John that He sounded so Self-Righteous.

 But when I reflected on it, it wasnt him. He is a good man and I love listening to him.

It was my faulty thinking.  So I looked into the mirror to see what was inside of me.... And what came up was "RIGHTEOUSNESS" 

My anger was not producing the righteousness of God in my life 

James 1:19‭-‬25 NLT

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

Then it started to hit home after I was sitting with my sister Jean and I was talking to her about the anger inside of me.

 While we were talking a scripture pop into my head, because just a little while before it did we just watched our neighbor's dog eat it's own vomit.🤢🤮. Told you God has ways of helping maybe not so nice but it made it stick in my head.

So when I went into my own house I looked that Scripture up and it was Proverb 26:11..."As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness".

Everything was fallen into place and I could feel my anger slowly disappearing. The Bible I was using was "The Life Recovery Bible" that I just bought. (Which is amaising it gives more insight to the scriptures for me because it's a recovery Bible) So at the bottom of the page 815 it says this 

26:11 We almost invariably repeat the patterns of the past; our old problems revisit us again and again. It is easy to slip back into our addictions; that is why we need to be diligent in the recovery process. When we relax in our recovery program, we are setting ourselves up for a relapse into our old lifestyle. Only through perseverance will we be able to overcome our dependencies".

The word perseverance stood out and a scripture came to mind why I love this word. ( I never use too 😝 but I do now!!!) 

Romans 5:3‭-‬5 NLT

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 5:3‭-‬5 NIV

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

In the NLT translation it says endurance but in the NIV it says Perseverance. That's why I like to read different translations because you get different perspectives on it. 

The definition of endurance is “the power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.” The definition of perseverance is “steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.”

So my problem with the anger help me see I was not walking right with God and my recovery program. The minute I realized this the anger disappeared 😇🙏❤ 

So keep looking in that mirror and ask God to show you a scripture to help. Ask and you will receive....