May 20, 2025
Ungodly Indicators #2: Frustration
Have you ever noticed that you’re being way too negative? In today's episode, host Gaby Alessi guides us through recognizing frustration as an "ungodly indicator"—a gentle sign that we may need to realign our outlook. Drawing inspiration from James 1:2–4, we'll discover why perseverance in the face of trials is vital for our spiritual growth, and how choosing joy is a powerful act of faith.
Join us as we gather in prayer and devotion, asking God to give us fresh eyes—eyes that see each trial as a training ground, knowing He is building our spiritual resilience with every step.
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WEBVTT
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:22.239
You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1272. Today's Devo is called Ungodly Indicators, part two. Hey there. We're the Alessi's, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time.
00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:44.359
That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Well, happy Tuesday, everybody. This is the episode that started the whole idea. This is the, the theme and the ungodly indicator that we're going to jump into today.
00:00:44.439 --> 00:01:19.510
I'm Gabby Lessi, your host for the week, and I hope you're enjoying this idea of the ungodly indicators. I do want to, I do want to say it again because I really want to jump into this. This is not something that is trying to tell you you're wrong. This isn't something that's trying to blame you or accuse you. The message of this and the hope and purpose is that we would all see it as a course correction. Not that we're completely off, but maybe we're not fully on alignment, maybe we're not fully on the road that we need to be. And so this is just a little course correction. Hey, you turned right back there. Now it's time to turn left.
00:01:19.510 --> 00:01:32.900
We're going to reroute you and get you in the right direction. So, like I said, this was the theme that really did convict me a couple of weeks ago. And today's ungodly indicator is frustration.
00:01:34.019 --> 00:01:49.019
Frustration. I, I have been dealing with some frustration. I won't lie. There are areas in my life that are not as what I'm expecting they weren't. And you might think it's surprising because it's like, oh, you're engaged.
00:01:49.019 --> 00:02:32.909
Everything is, is roses and butterflies and it is. And I gotta say, life is good. But there are some areas that can be frustrating. Some things that you thought by now, you know, it should be a certain way, but it's not that way. And I started to notice that in one area of my life, I started to get really frustrated. I started to find myself out of my frustration. I started to nitpick. I started to see the negative, I started to see the things that weren't right. And I actually noticed that every time I would go into this place in the environment that I was frustrated in, only negative things would come to my mind and then come out of my mouth. It was almost as if I couldn't see anything that was good in it because of my frustration.
00:02:33.789 --> 00:02:44.509
And what started to happen was I was frustrated in my current situation, and that started to cause strife in my mind, in my heart, and then it flowed into my relationships.
00:02:45.759 --> 00:03:18.250
You see, when you're frustrated, just like I was. When we're frustrated, we see everything through the lens of frustration, which everything turns out to be negative. We're frustrated that we're not in the season that we should be. We're frustrated that we're not married yet. We're frustrated that we're not pregnant yet. We're frustrated that we didn't get into this school. We're frustrated that this job or this boss isn't giving us the promotion. So when there's frustration to begin with, everything flows from your frustration. From frustration, you get strife, you get anger, you get negativity.
00:03:18.889 --> 00:04:16.639
You get arguments where you're arguing with your spouse or you're arguing with your friend or your roommate, and you're like, I'm not even mad at you, but I'm just frustrated in my own. It's almost like you're this ball of chaos that you're not mad at everybody around yourself. You're just mad at the chaos that's inside the ball. You're just mad because you're frustrated at what's going on on the inside of you and what happen. We don't see anything that's good. We just see everything that's bad. And frustration really brings out negativity. And if we're not careful, this can be an indicator. I do believe the Lord will use frustration as an indicator to start looking at the things in your life in a different way. So what happened was, for me, hopefully I'll make this make sense. I was so frustrated by things, I started to get stressed out. Goes back to the other indicator. The Lord started working on my heart, and he asked me one day, he goes, gabby, when was the last time you said something positive about your situation?
00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:25.279
It hit me like a ton of bricks. He said, when was the last time you looked through the lens of joy at your situation?
00:04:26.240 --> 00:05:18.379
You see, James 1, verse 2 through 4 says, consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials now, I want to stop here because I love this idea that James is talking about where he's almost saying, hey, you need to consider joy. You need to think about joy. You need to choose joy. We believe here, my dad's always said it, that we don't chase happiness because happiness is based on happenings. And so James is saying, consider it pure joy. Consider and think and choose joy. He goes on to say, whenever you face trials of many kind, because you know that the testing of your face produces perseverance. Then he goes on to say in verse 3 and 4, let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:28.779
You see, the Lord looked at me and said, gabby, I need you. And this was a real demand that he gave me. He said, you, assignment for this season is to look at everything in your life through the lens of joy.
00:05:30.100 --> 00:05:33.139
You need to consider it pure joy. You know why?
00:05:34.259 --> 00:07:16.259
Because it's not that I'm just being negative. There are things around me that aren't perfect. That's everybody, because life isn't perfect. There are things around me that do not make me happy. There are things around me that stress me out. But all it is is just the testing of my faith. And all of these things, the testing of my faith, it's going to produce perseverance. And perseverance has to finish its work. We have to let perseverance work itself out. We have to consider it pure joy. We have to look at our trials through the lens of joy. Because if we stop and we stop with the perseverance, we stop with the struggle. And we don't let the struggle work on us and build the faith muscles in us. And I'm sorry for going long, but this is a word for some of us today. If we quit when it's getting hard, that's like going to the gym and you're on a really heavy rep and quitting at that heavy rep. When really when it gets heavy and you're about to fail, that's when the muscle starts to build. They tell you it's about failure at the gym because when you're starting to fail, you're stretching muscles. And all the fitness people help me out here, when you start to stretch those muscles, that's when the building takes place. That's when the muscle growth takes place. For you and I today, when life is difficult, when it's hard and we have to persevere, that's when the spiritual muscles start to grow. That's where our faith muscles starts to grow. And perseverance will finish a work that will make us mature and complete, not lacking anything. So here are the notes for you, ready? Find joy in your trials.
00:07:16.980 --> 00:07:47.060
Trials are a training ground and the end result is wholeness and completion. The indicator is frustration. If you're frustrated today, look at your life through the lens of joy. Consider it pure joy. Choose joy today. Father we thank you Lord. This might be a weird prayer, but I thank you for the trials of life because you are using them, Father, as a training ground of our faith.
00:07:47.620 --> 00:08:51.360
Because Lord, we need to be strong in you. We need to have a strong faith for the trials that we will see in the future. And I pray that you would give us all lenses of joy. Let us see through the eyes of joy. Father, I pray that you would supernaturally change all of our spiritual eyesight to a prescription of joy. Give us a prescription of joy, Father, that we can look through. And instead of being frustrated, instead of being stressed out, instead of causing division, Lord, where there doesn't need to be division, I pray that we would see the joyful things in life. I pray that you would show us things and reveal things to us through the lens of joy. And I thank you for it. In Jesus name, amen. So there you have it. Your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow. We pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:22.239
You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1272. Today's Devo is called Ungodly Indicators, part two. Hey there. We're the Alessi's, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time.
00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:44.359
That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Well, happy Tuesday, everybody. This is the episode that started the whole idea. This is the, the theme and the ungodly indicator that we're going to jump into today.
00:00:44.439 --> 00:01:19.510
I'm Gabby Lessi, your host for the week, and I hope you're enjoying this idea of the ungodly indicators. I do want to, I do want to say it again because I really want to jump into this. This is not something that is trying to tell you you're wrong. This isn't something that's trying to blame you or accuse you. The message of this and the hope and purpose is that we would all see it as a course correction. Not that we're completely off, but maybe we're not fully on alignment, maybe we're not fully on the road that we need to be. And so this is just a little course correction. Hey, you turned right back there. Now it's time to turn left.
00:01:19.510 --> 00:01:32.900
We're going to reroute you and get you in the right direction. So, like I said, this was the theme that really did convict me a couple of weeks ago. And today's ungodly indicator is frustration.
00:01:34.019 --> 00:01:49.019
Frustration. I, I have been dealing with some frustration. I won't lie. There are areas in my life that are not as what I'm expecting they weren't. And you might think it's surprising because it's like, oh, you're engaged.
00:01:49.019 --> 00:02:32.909
Everything is, is roses and butterflies and it is. And I gotta say, life is good. But there are some areas that can be frustrating. Some things that you thought by now, you know, it should be a certain way, but it's not that way. And I started to notice that in one area of my life, I started to get really frustrated. I started to find myself out of my frustration. I started to nitpick. I started to see the negative, I started to see the things that weren't right. And I actually noticed that every time I would go into this place in the environment that I was frustrated in, only negative things would come to my mind and then come out of my mouth. It was almost as if I couldn't see anything that was good in it because of my frustration.
00:02:33.789 --> 00:02:44.509
And what started to happen was I was frustrated in my current situation, and that started to cause strife in my mind, in my heart, and then it flowed into my relationships.
00:02:45.759 --> 00:03:18.250
You see, when you're frustrated, just like I was. When we're frustrated, we see everything through the lens of frustration, which everything turns out to be negative. We're frustrated that we're not in the season that we should be. We're frustrated that we're not married yet. We're frustrated that we're not pregnant yet. We're frustrated that we didn't get into this school. We're frustrated that this job or this boss isn't giving us the promotion. So when there's frustration to begin with, everything flows from your frustration. From frustration, you get strife, you get anger, you get negativity.
00:03:18.889 --> 00:04:16.639
You get arguments where you're arguing with your spouse or you're arguing with your friend or your roommate, and you're like, I'm not even mad at you, but I'm just frustrated in my own. It's almost like you're this ball of chaos that you're not mad at everybody around yourself. You're just mad at the chaos that's inside the ball. You're just mad because you're frustrated at what's going on on the inside of you and what happen. We don't see anything that's good. We just see everything that's bad. And frustration really brings out negativity. And if we're not careful, this can be an indicator. I do believe the Lord will use frustration as an indicator to start looking at the things in your life in a different way. So what happened was, for me, hopefully I'll make this make sense. I was so frustrated by things, I started to get stressed out. Goes back to the other indicator. The Lord started working on my heart, and he asked me one day, he goes, gabby, when was the last time you said something positive about your situation?
00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:25.279
It hit me like a ton of bricks. He said, when was the last time you looked through the lens of joy at your situation?
00:04:26.240 --> 00:05:18.379
You see, James 1, verse 2 through 4 says, consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials now, I want to stop here because I love this idea that James is talking about where he's almost saying, hey, you need to consider joy. You need to think about joy. You need to choose joy. We believe here, my dad's always said it, that we don't chase happiness because happiness is based on happenings. And so James is saying, consider it pure joy. Consider and think and choose joy. He goes on to say, whenever you face trials of many kind, because you know that the testing of your face produces perseverance. Then he goes on to say in verse 3 and 4, let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:28.779
You see, the Lord looked at me and said, gabby, I need you. And this was a real demand that he gave me. He said, you, assignment for this season is to look at everything in your life through the lens of joy.
00:05:30.100 --> 00:05:33.139
You need to consider it pure joy. You know why?
00:05:34.259 --> 00:07:16.259
Because it's not that I'm just being negative. There are things around me that aren't perfect. That's everybody, because life isn't perfect. There are things around me that do not make me happy. There are things around me that stress me out. But all it is is just the testing of my faith. And all of these things, the testing of my faith, it's going to produce perseverance. And perseverance has to finish its work. We have to let perseverance work itself out. We have to consider it pure joy. We have to look at our trials through the lens of joy. Because if we stop and we stop with the perseverance, we stop with the struggle. And we don't let the struggle work on us and build the faith muscles in us. And I'm sorry for going long, but this is a word for some of us today. If we quit when it's getting hard, that's like going to the gym and you're on a really heavy rep and quitting at that heavy rep. When really when it gets heavy and you're about to fail, that's when the muscle starts to build. They tell you it's about failure at the gym because when you're starting to fail, you're stretching muscles. And all the fitness people help me out here, when you start to stretch those muscles, that's when the building takes place. That's when the muscle growth takes place. For you and I today, when life is difficult, when it's hard and we have to persevere, that's when the spiritual muscles start to grow. That's where our faith muscles starts to grow. And perseverance will finish a work that will make us mature and complete, not lacking anything. So here are the notes for you, ready? Find joy in your trials.
00:07:16.980 --> 00:07:47.060
Trials are a training ground and the end result is wholeness and completion. The indicator is frustration. If you're frustrated today, look at your life through the lens of joy. Consider it pure joy. Choose joy today. Father we thank you Lord. This might be a weird prayer, but I thank you for the trials of life because you are using them, Father, as a training ground of our faith.
00:07:47.620 --> 00:08:51.360
Because Lord, we need to be strong in you. We need to have a strong faith for the trials that we will see in the future. And I pray that you would give us all lenses of joy. Let us see through the eyes of joy. Father, I pray that you would supernaturally change all of our spiritual eyesight to a prescription of joy. Give us a prescription of joy, Father, that we can look through. And instead of being frustrated, instead of being stressed out, instead of causing division, Lord, where there doesn't need to be division, I pray that we would see the joyful things in life. I pray that you would show us things and reveal things to us through the lens of joy. And I thank you for it. In Jesus name, amen. So there you have it. Your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow. We pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.