Frustration

​Love you all, praying for you,
 
I just love God’s Word – it addresses real life problems and reveals the opportunities.  Have you ever been frustrated? Frustration is simply an emotional unrest due to circumstances or people.  Things don’t happen like you would have preferred.  That’s the first kind of frustration – the second kind of frustration is an action against you.  An outside force – either God or the devil.  If you’re frustrated first make sure its not God frustrating you.  He’ll send a storm if you’re heading to Tarshish, He frustrates the plans of the wicked.  That’s not always the other guy… it could be you!  He will frustrate wicked plans, plans that are not His.  He does it in his love for you.  So your frustration might be your own doing, or your own lack of doing. Doing your plans not His.  But if you are in the center of His will, if you are walking in that PiVAT relationship with God, trading your plans for His, you can be sure the devil will try to frustrate your plans.  Ezra 4:4 – then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work.  They bribed agents to work against them to frustrate their plans.  This went on during the entire reign of Cyrus King of Persia and lasted until King Darius of Persia took the throne.  Sometimes the devil is the one trying to frustrate the plans that God has for you.  So how to you address frustration that you experience or feel?  What will frustrate you today?  What will you complain about?  Frustration means you’re not working or operating at full capacity, and it’s hard to be filled with the Spirit when you are filled with frustration.  Frustration steals your full capacity.  Complaining never helps anything, it delays your progress and will bring failure and demise.  First, Ask God to help you.  Cast all your cares on Him, because he cares for you.  Second, Get counsel.  Plans are frustrated for lack of counsel, but with many counselors they succeed. Third – No time is wasted – if your eyes are on the LORD – that’s something God just told me through my Daily Call this morning.  He said to exhort one another daily.  So He can sharpen you each day!  Fourth – Adjust your expectation – It may require more effort, or a delay of something else – to complete this assignment.  Fifth – You are responsible for you not what happens or what others do.  Work harder.  If you worked as hard as you complained, it would be done by now.  Sixth – Choose praise and thanksgiving, and frustration will cease.  Ask God for the way of escape, the way forward in the middle of this situation.  Nehemiah was facing more than you…  His frustration could have been far higher than yours.  Nehemiah 4:16 – From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor.  The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall.  Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.  But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall.  Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there.  Our God will fight for us!  So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn til the stars came out.  Nehemiah adjusted his expectations, He doubled his effort, and He spoke faith, and he understood the power of momentum.  God is able to refocus your frustration which leads to failure – into faith which leads to victory.  Praying that your thanksgiving and praise, leads you to God’s solutions.  This is a testimony in the making. 
 
Love you all,
dad