Notes

Causes of Conflicts

Poor Communication.

Psalm 141:3 (NLT) Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips.

Unfulfilled expectations.

James 4:1-2 (NIV) What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.

Despising differences.

Mark 3:25 (NLT) …a family splintered by feuding will fall apart…

Sin nature.

Romans 3:23 (NLT) For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Build an Alter

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 5 (NLT) For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven… A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

Genesis 31:46 (NLT) Then he told his family members, “Gather some stones.” So they gathered stones and piled them in a heap. Then Jacob and Laban sat down beside the pile of stones to eat a covenant meal.

Conflict cannot continue without my participation.

Galatians 2:20 (NKJV) I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

How Do I Handle Conflict

#1 - Choose to act not react.

Ephesians 4:26-27 (NLT) And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

#2 - Choose to focus on the good in others.

Philippians 4:8 (NLT) And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

#3 - Choose to apply God’s grace to others.

Romans 12:19-21 (NLT) Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.

20Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” 21Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

#4 - Choose to remember God’s grace to me.

1 John 4:8-11 (NLT) But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

10This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.