Sharon Sharing God: "FAN THE FLAME" FRIDAY

Friday, December 7, 2012

"FAN THE FLAME" FRIDAY - Contentment

Welcome to "Fan the Flame" Friday.

This is a weekly post that will be "short and sweet" (kinda like me...)

Just a word and a phrase, a sentence or a question...just a little something to "fan the flame" of your creativity!

Today's word: contentment

How would you define contentment?

Do you think that contentment is important in your faith journey?

What are some of the barriers to your sense of contentment?

"...godliness with contentment is great gain." (1 Timothy 6:6, NIV)

Let me know what you think!!

"This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you…For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:6-7)

BLOG = "Blessedly Leaning On God!"

9 comments:

DebbieDecember 7, 2012 at 3:59 AM
I think of contentment as being satisfied with your lot in life.

hmmm...and as I typed that, I got a fuller sense of the meaning of that phrase as it relates to scripture. I'm going to think on it for the morning.
ReplyDelete
Replies
WandaDecember 7, 2012 at 5:34 AM
Satisfaction is the word that first comes to mind when I hear contentment. To be free from anxiety or worry in your current state.
ReplyDelete
Replies
bettyDecember 7, 2012 at 8:24 AM
Contentment is something I wish I had more of; contentment in that God is more than enough and that I would have less worry and anxiety. Maybe contentment will be my word of the year for 2013. Good word indeed!

betty
ReplyDelete
Replies
UnknownDecember 7, 2012 at 8:59 AM
Hi Sharon,

Having to really think about this one. Normally I think I am contented, but sometimes I wish for things to be different, in some ways, so I guess that is not contentment.

Have a blessed weekend.
ReplyDelete
Replies
KenDecember 7, 2012 at 9:37 PM
Hi Sharon,
I think about what Paul said, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Philippians 4:12

Life should not be a pursuit of wealth, but pursuing God. We can be content when our treasure is in heaven, and not here on earth.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Nikki (Sarah)December 8, 2012 at 6:21 AM
content....I was just thinking about that last night....I am really content....I'm happy with my life and everything in my world. And it's all b/c He's a huge part of it. Wishing you a beautiful day Sharon.....hold in your heart that He's in that move you guys made....and if He's in that move....there's some awesome things in store for you.
ReplyDelete
Replies
CharlotteDecember 9, 2012 at 7:30 AM
I learned much from my mother and one of those things was contentment. She never had many nice material possessions but she always was happy and didn't fret about what she didn't have. She ws thankful for what she did have.
Blessings,
Charlotte
ReplyDelete
Replies
ValerieDecember 9, 2012 at 8:39 PM
Funny...I blogged on the same word today! For me, it means accepting exactly where God planted me...accepting people for who they are and what they can be...but not expecting them to change...accepting God's will for my life rather than following my own!

Blessings,
Valerie
ReplyDelete
Replies
SharonDecember 17, 2012 at 5:21 PM
How would you define contentment?

I think I would define it as peaceful acceptance of whatever circumstance is happening in my life. The good, bad, and ugly - trusting that God knows what He's doing

Do you think that contentment is important in your faith journey?

I think it's crucial to my faith journey. Worrying is not contentment. I experience the most contentment when I trust God the most. My sense of contentment reflects the status of my trusting - so yes, it's very important to my faith.

What are some of the barriers to your sense of contentment?

LIFE!!! As I said before, my worry-wart nature hampers my sense of contentment all the time. And also, my judgment of *where I should be* can often become an impediment to what God wants to accomplish in my life. Discontent will always make me focus on ME - contentment rests in the assurance that God is always in control.

GOD BLESS!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

"So [I] have been greatly encouraged in the midst of [my] troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith. It gives [me] new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord. How [I] thank God for you!" (1 Thessalonians 3:7-9)

Thanks for your comments - it is such a joy to be sharing my journey with friends like YOU!

(NOTE: Anonymous comments will be removed. Thank you for understanding.)

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

MY WORD FOR 2016

GRATEFUL

Grateful: feeling or showing thanks to someone for some helpful act; appreciative of benefits received; warmly or deeply thankful; indebted; beholden.

Word origin: 1550's, "pleasing to the mind," also "full of gratitude," from obsolete adj. grate "agreeable, thankful," from Latin gratus "pleasing" – derived from the same word origin as the word "grace."

The trick to changing your behavior is to become more thankful.

The practice of gratitude involves a focus on the present moment, on appreciating your life as it is today and what has made it so.

Let us begin an eternal quest to express in new and creative ways our thanks to God.

So I'm breathing in Your grace,

And I'm breathing out Your praise.

Let our prayers be the overflow of a grateful heart to God.

Three steps in prayer:

PRAISE – praise, reverence, worship, adoration, and awe for who God is and what He does

ASK – honest, earnest, and intense requests

THANK YOU – always end with thanksgiving for everything

Pulpit commentary:

In everything give thanks.

In every circumstance – in joy and in sorrow; for everything – for prosperity and for adversity; in every place – in the house of God and on the bed of sickness.

Christians should not only be engaged in constant prayer, but in constant thanksgiving.

For this – this thankful spirit – is the will of God, His desire.

God by the gift of his Son has laid us under the obligation of perpetual thanksgiving. Our whole lives ought to be one continued thank-offering for all the blessings of redemption.

Gill's Exposition:

Thanks are to be given to him for all things…

For all temporal good things;

for our beings, the preservation of them;

for food and raiment, and all the mercies of life;

for the means of grace, the word and ordinances, and the ministers of the Gospel;

for spiritual blessings, for electing, redeeming, regenerating, adopting, pardoning, justifying, and persevering grace:

for a meetness for heaven, a right unto it, and a good hope of it;

and especially for Jesus Christ, for such a…Saviour, and advocate with the Father, as he is; and for life, peace, joy, comfort, righteousness, and salvation in him.

Thanks should be given to God in every circumstance of life; in adversity, as Job did; when not in so comfortable and agreeable a frame of soul as to be wished for…even under the temptations of Satan…since the grace of God is sufficient to bear up under them, and deliver out of them.

[Give thanks] in afflictions of every kind, since they are all for good – temporal, or spiritual, or eternal.

WHAT IS LOVE?

Love is when you are missing some of your teeth but you're not afraid to smile because you know your friends will still love you even though some of you is missing.

By Emma K. - Age 6

"Out of the mouth of babes..."

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

Anonymous

When you are uncertain, it helps to have someone remind you what is true – someone who knows you well, who sees you, and keeps track of you – not just your body but your soul.

Emily Freeman

Sharon Sharing God

Friday, December 7, 2012

"FAN THE FLAME" FRIDAY - Contentment

9 comments:

Labels

HOW GREAT THOU ART

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

I'D RATHER HAVE JESUS

THE GLORIFIED ONE

SERVING THE MOST HIGH

HE IS ALWAYS THERE, AND EVER NEAR