{"id":1839,"date":"2019-06-28T06:01:22","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T06:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2019-06-28T06:02:34","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T06:02:34","slug":"chose-your-battles-carefully","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/?p=1839","title":{"rendered":"Chose Your Battles Carefully"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Chose Your Battles Carefully<br>\nAuthor: Pat Aman<br>\n6\/28\/2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaiah 41:10-13<br>\nSo, do not fear, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I wi l l uphold you with my righteous right hand. \u201cAll who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cChoosing your battles will help you win the war. So, choose them in prayer. Quote: Pat Aman<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Proverbs 26:17 \u201cHe who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own Is like one who takes a dog by the ears.\u201d<br>\n\u202d\u202d<br>\nWhen I read these two scriptures, I  realize in the first one, God is saying, \u201cHey, why are you fighting this battle? I already have it covered.\u201d <br>\nAnd the second scripture, I actually laughed, because only God would of had David say it so plain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In others words. Why waste your time with non-sense?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many times you may have inserted yourself into a situation that, looking back, you wish you would have never done. You may have never grabbed a dog by the ears, but you probably would guess that what would follow would not be good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are battles in life that you should get involved with and battles that you should not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So choose your battles carefully. If you haven\u2019t been invited to participate by all parties or it doesn\u2019t directly affect you, you should pause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just maybe you need to step back and look at the situation in which you are about to get involved? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is there a situation in which you are already involved that you may need to remove yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, we all find ourselves in those positions. Why? Because we jumped before we thought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We face external and internal battles daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The examples below are just simple, but you will get the idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Example: This is a personal battle I had myself.  Internal<br>\n\u201cPat, do you reach for the Diet Caffeine Free Dr. Pepper, or a cold glass of water?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My mind war\u2026<br>\nWell, it is diet.<br>\nIt is caffeine free.<br>\nIt is just a soft drink, no sugar and no caffeine!<br>\nLet\u2019s see ingredient\u2019s:<br>\nCarbonated water<br>\nCaramel color<br>\nASPARTAME<br>\nPhosphoric avid<br>\nNatural and Artificial flavors<br>\nSodium benzoate <br>\n(Preservative)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now other choice\u2026.<br>\nWater<br>\nIngredient\u2019s: water from a system, that family bought me which water goes through seven purification levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know which one is healthy and healing, but, I do not always chose the correct one.  Instead I fight a constant battle, I should not be fighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drink the water, Pat!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then let\u2019s look at an external battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My husband works out of town 95% of the time. He eats out every night. <br>\nWhen he comes home, he wants a home cook meal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then here I am. I eat at home all the time, so, I want to go out to eat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, this could be a big battle between the two of us. But, we have chosen our battle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We chose to respect one another.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I cook most of the time for him when he is at home. I try to cook the good country foods he likes to enjoy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, we also go on a date night when he is home. He takes me out to eat for at lest for one special meal of my chose.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, this next week, practice closing your battles. Whether, job, family, husband, wife, are children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asked yourself, is it worth my time, energy, are my emotional and spiritual peace of mine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, step back and make the right choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This devotional is a \u00a91996\/2019<br>\nCoffee With Pat Miniseries &amp; Christian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chose Your Battles Carefully Author: Pat Aman 6\/28\/2019 Isaiah 41:10-13 So, do not fear, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I wi l l uphold you with my righteous right hand. \u201cAll who rage against you will surely be ashamed and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotions","author-admin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1840,"href":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions\/1840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coffeewithpat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}