SITUATIONSHIP.

When Proximity Creates Problems.

8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me,or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” 10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord. 14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.”

Genesis 13:8-14 [NIV]

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.

Genesis 11:31 [NIV] 

1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”

Genesis 12:1 [NIV]

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Genesis 12:4-5 [NIV]

1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia…

2 Corinthians 8:1 [NKJV]

12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.        

Genesis 13:12-13 [NIV]

14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

Genesis 14:14 [NIV]

How To Navigate Situationships Without Losing Yourself.

1. Have An Honest Conversation. 

8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me,or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives.”

Genesis 13:8 [NIV]

6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Colossians 4:6 [NKJV]

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Ephesians 4:29 [NIV]

2. Set Limitations.

9 “If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”...11 The two men parted company.

Genesis 13:9, 11 [NIV]

32 He who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Proverbs 16:32b [NIV]

3. Create Space For Peace.

12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.

Genesis 13:12 [NIV] 

39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left…

Acts 15:39-40 [NIV]

11 “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.”

2 Timothy 4:11 [NIV]

17 Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate,” says the Lord.

2 Corinthians 6:17 [NIV]

4. Remove What Restricts The Promise.

14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” 

Genesis 13:14-17 [NIV]

5 Commit [surrender] your future to the Lord. Trust in Him, and He will act on your behalf.

Psalm 37:5 [NET]

13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Acts 4:13 [NIV]