60-A-Step-Of-Faith-Criticism-Pt-2

The episode is about criticism and how to handle it. There are three types of critics: those who criticize because they don't have all the information, those who criticize because they don't believe in you or your mission, and those who critique to help you improve. It's important not to fight with critics but to listen and address their concerns. There are ways to critique without condemning. The episode also discusses how David handled criticism from his family before facing Goliath. The lessons include not being afraid of what others fear, letting the reward motivate you, not taking criticism personally, and seeking support from positive people when faced with toxic criticism. The episode ends with a prayer and an invitation to visit the website for more messages. Hello and welcome to join this chariot for a 5-minute Bible study. This 60th episode on A Step of Faith is titled Criticism Part 2. My name is Greg Alabi and I am inviting you to come let us study the Bible together. In the previous episode, we learnt the three different types of criticisms. Those who will criticize because they do not know the details ahead, we take the time to explain to them and then they buy in. The second group are those who will criticize and condemn because they do not believe in you nor do they believe in your mission. And lastly, some will critique your work and your person to assist you to become better, to discover the gaps and will sometimes offer to assist you personally or offer valuable suggestions because they honestly want to see you succeed. In the previous episode, we learnt not to fight or make enemies out of our critics. Instead, we listen and go back and work on areas they identified before we step out or take the step of faith. Critics sometimes draw our attention to our blind spots. Their methods may not be the best. They sometimes use condemnation, judgmental attitude or negative energy to call our attention to areas that need attention to be improved upon. Approach matters. You know how we correct people sometimes determine their response or reaction. I was discussing with my friend recently, talking about somebody else wearing an extremely transparent top dress to a church function. Instead of asking why wear this provocative and highly revealing dress, we could respectfully and gently give the person a drape to wear over the dress on the shoulders with a smile saying this drape matches your dress and you look gorgeous with the drape on. By so doing, we would have corrected without condemning. At this point, there are ways we can critique and correct without crucifying, discipline without punishing, helping others to become victorious without victimizing them. Humiliation does not generate humility. Now back to where we stopped in the previous episode, let us learn some more valuable lessons from David shortly before he challenged Goliath, how David handled criticisms from his own family. Hopefully, the lessons learnt will help us to develop a better attitude on how to respond to criticisms. First lesson here, we continue from 1 Samuel chapter 17. First lesson is in verse 22 to 24. When David arrived at the battlefield, Goliath showed up and everybody took off. The lesson, Isaiah chapter 8 verse 12 in the Good News Bible says, Do not be afraid of the things they fear. The New International Version says, Do not fear what they fear and do not dread it. The Message Translation puts it this way, Don't be like the people, always afraid somebody is plotting against them. Don't fear what they fear, my point, because others fail does not mean you will also fail. You go ahead and take that step of faith knowing what to do. Second lesson is in verse 25 to 27. David was told about the reward that the king will offer to anybody who kills Goliath. The lesson, when we want to take a step of faith, let the reward that you will achieve inspire and motivate you. Third lesson is in verse 28 to 29. The elder brother of David criticized David, called him names for being at the battlefront. He said he was overambitious. David said, What have I done now? The lesson, it is what you intend to achieve that is provoking and generating criticisms. If you stop all your efforts, they will keep quiet and leave you alone. My advice, do not take criticisms personal. Move on. Third lesson is in verse 30 to 31. Very interesting verse of scripture. It says, David turned away from his brother to somebody else and the king heard about his intention to fight and defeat Goliath. The lesson, when the critics and criticisms become toxic, personal attacks and disrespectful to your person and your purpose, turn away to other people who will escalate you to visibility. Do not allow negative people to kill your spirit. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10 verse 14, whoever shall not receive you nor hear your word, depart out of that house, depart out of that house, Jesus says, and shake off the dust of your feet. In the next episode, we will learn some more lessons from David, how we handle criticisms from authorities. Let us pray. Father, thank you for the lessons we are learning. Father, we pray that you help us to know how to correct and help other people to improve. And when we are being corrected, give us a humble heart to receive corrections. In Jesus name. Amen. I want to invite you to visit our website gregalavis.com, look for the podcasts, listen to previous and current messages there. God bless you.