Sharing God (Part 2)

In

part 1

, I examined the

challenges of persecution and how we address it,

in light of my own experience with those I love in the "New Age" or "Universe" movement, as the Church often refers to it. I spoke about Love, as it pertains to Christ, and touched on the appeal of this new movement to 'the youth' who are leaving the Church.

Here, I delve into the

similarities and differences

between the teachings of Christianity and the "New Age or "Universe" movement, and some considerations for how we can be

living examples of the Love of God in Christ,

through the Holy Spirit. Examples to 'the young people' and the world at large.

Source:

lovecoversall-godislove.blogspot.ca/2014/11/sharing-god-part-2.html

Christ and the "New Age" Movement

So many in the Church have risen up forcefully against the "New Age" or "Universe" movement. I can understand why. Still, we should pay attention.

Similarities

Here are some of their beliefs that we share:

• Love yourself. It's the only way you can love someone else. (Matthew 22:34-40 ESV)

• The world needs us to be all that we were made to be. (Matthew 25:14-30 ESV)

• Love is what everyone needs. Everything good comes from this. (again, Matthew 22:34-40 ESV)

• Be generous. Give when you can. (Matthew 25:31-40 ESV)

• Bless and you will be blessed. There's good in everyone. (Romans 12:14-21 MSG)

Differences

Here are a few places where we greatly differ:

• There is no right or wrong

• There is no absolute truth

• There is no God. 'God' is each of us and the collective us.

We can see where things begin to go awry in the absence of God in Christ. 

The enemy always uses a little truth to make the lies credible

 and our enemy is no fool. He's done a phenomenal job, right?

What's missing? 

The one thing that we all seem to miss when we raise this 'discussion' is

Salvation.

We know this is a matter of Life or Death.

We know this is precisely why the enemy has built in the element of "no right or wrong":

1. People were not designed to bear guilt, shame, feeling 'wrong' all the time. It's why we get sick.

2. Christ died to free us from all of that, reconcile us to God once and for all, so we can be whole.

3. "New Age" has to include all religions, which don't all free us, but they still have to 'free us'.

4. To do that, either everyone has to be 'good' or nothing is. So "New Age" just eliminates it.

As we should know by now, however,

ignoring something doesn't mean it no longer exists.

"Right and wrong" or "good and evil" is no different. Subconsciously, we all know this.

Eventually, Christian or "New Age", we all have to face it.

Freedom to Simply Be

To Christians, it seems ridiculous that someone would pass up Christ's sacrifice in favor of ignoring the existence of "good and evil", but if we move past our fear of questioning, we'll see that

right after Jesus tore the curtain to give us direct access to God, we let a few members of the Church build it right back up, again.

We almost immediately gave up our "freedom to simply be" exactly who we are before God, so that He could heal our hurts and release us to freely Love.

We too have been deceived.

The "New Age" or "Universe" movement has given that back, or has given the appearance of it.

Like the Church, however, you have it "as long as you agree with us".

Hence the persecution of the Christian philosophy. (I can only speak of my experience, but perhaps others feel it as well.)

The point is that

all human organization suffers from the politics of fear, control and manipulation.

How do we resolve that? As Christians, we have to

allow people to "get there when they get there".

No more, "you have to..." and quoting the Bible as a form of control to make those around us conform to our ideas of who God is.

We have to celebrate diversity,

share the word, starting in Christian community, and simply let people learn, respond and grow as they will. In all the parables,

God in Christ is always the only one allowed to "separate the weeds from the wheat".

It is only in relationship, through example,

that we open the door for Christ's Love and Salvation (not our Words, but the Holy Spirit, Himself) to reach anyone.

Did you come to know God because you were told, or because you had your own personal encounter with God and God's Love?

Don't force it. Let others enjoy the God-given freedom to Simply Be.

Are you free to Simply Be?

The root cause of our behavior as Christians is our own perspective of ourselves.

Do you love yourself as Christ loves you and has called you to love others? Do you really? So many of us believe it's

vanity or pride

to enjoy ourselves -

our physique, our features, our brains, our passions, our spirit (do you know your spirit?), our emotions, our unique person.

So much so that we dare not look to closely at ourselves. Well, then...

how on earth are you supposed to know what to take to God for healing if we don't know ourselves? (Hint:

It's not by what others tell us.) That's not personal, intimate relationship with God. If you are "not supposed to" stop to love and enjoy yourself,

how are you supposed to love others as you love yourself?

 Aah. Do you see?

That's exactly what we're doing.

We're harsh self-critics, and so that's how we love the world. Are you willing to change that?

Speak Love.

It's the language we all speak, or are learning to speak.

Share Christ simply by being, but first, you have to learn to Be.

Only then, will He flow naturally in your conversation. How does He flow naturally? It's situational. You'll have to take the time to know yourself first.

Not the "photocopied Christian self"

most of us know, but

the individual Christian self

that God has called You to be in this world.

Know how YOU hear God,

so you'll hear Him in each situation, as you respond. Know your unique passions, call, purpose, so you know exactly how you fit into Christian community, and the larger global community.

Persecution by the Church against You

As I write this, I recommend that you go back to

part 1

, which addresses

how to deal with persecution in Love.

We have to first learn how to

love those "at home" before we can go out and love the world.

In much the same way as we have to learn to love ourselves before we can go out and love others.

We speak of persecution in the world, but I invite you to consider another kind of persecution.

Boundaries destroyed. Perspectives obliterated. Voices silenced. Based on good intentions,

but founded on fear, groupthink (

definition

) and a limited perspective of Love,

we the Church (knowingly and unknowingly) have forced diversity out.

The very diversity that Christ built into the individual beings that should make up the complete and healthy body of Christ, a body that truly reflects every single aspect of possibility that is us, in the image of God, we've shut it down. Today, the very small part of the body of Christ thrives in our Church(es) is represented by a small representation of the character of God. With good intentions,

the small 'majority'

are men of a certain age who've been domineering enough to

bend the will of those who could have represented the rest of the character of Christ.

Those men and the women who agree with those men.

This is not a call to attack them. It is, however, a call to step out of bondage and seek God yourself.

Your Journey of Freedom to Simply Be

I'd like to invite you on a true journey of freedom.

A journey of self-exploration in your being, rather than in rigid fear and logic. I challenge you to explore this world that God put us in.

You were born exactly when you were supposed to be born, into the right generation.

You are exactly where you were meant to be at this time (

Psalm 139 ESV

), in your spirit, body and soul (i.e. your mind, your will, your emotions).

This will be your platform for future inspiration. You'll be surprised.

I invite you to step out empowered by the love, faith, hope and joy of Christ,

not driven by fear of being wrong or deceived. Read the Word, know God in Christ, but KNOW God in Christ, in the fullness of who He really is. He made everything on this planet - spiritual and physical - and we cannot have dominion over what we do not know or understand.

Explore with God in Christ as your guide.

The world has, perhaps, followed the Spiritual things of God in Christ that we have avoided for fear of encountering demons and demonic deception. If so, then they have benefited from

where the revival of God in Christ has taken them and desired to take us

- on a walk of self-discovery so that we are more effective in Loving as God in Christ loves. It is time to wake up, Church. Open your eyes to what God is doing all around us.

Let Him do that in us, too. Walk in the fullness of Christ.

Already Redeemed. Already Free to Simply Be

This is what God wants for all the world (

Isaiah 1:18 ESV

)

"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool"

. You see,

we are already free to be.

We just have to know it, walk in it and share it by

Simply Being.

I pray, quite simply,

that today you begin the journey to find, know, love you, in Christ and, thereby, to know and love others, truly, on a deeper level. Amen.

Thanks for reading.

Are you on this journey? Share your encouraging experience!

Sharing God (Part 1)

Persecution. What does it look like to you? How do you respond? 

Joyce Meyer says "hurt people hurt people"

and she always reminds her audience that people are not our enemy, but "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (

Ephesians 6:10-12 ESV

). It is for this reason that we are to "put on the whole armour of God" (

Ephesians 6:10-20 ESV

) - so we remember who we are, who we stand

for

and who we stand

against

 - so we can walk with eyes wide open. This is what drove

Paul's response to persecution

in

Acts 16:20-33 (ESV)

If you're fortunate enough to have less fatal persecution, you have even more of an opportunity to

respond in Love.

(Disclaimer: I'm not the authority on this. I fail here everyday; I too am learning. You're welcomed to hold me accountable.)

Source:

lovecoversall-godislove.blogspot.ca/2014/11/sharing-god-part-1.html

Please note:

this is not to say that you have to put your face under someone's boot.

Love does not enable bad behaviour

. Love stands,

but leaves room for offenders to receive

grace, mercy

and

forgiveness.

The response you're called to is different in each situation, as each individual is 'persecuting' due to a different combination of

hurts, experiences, traumas

and

perspectives.

The

Written Word

gives guidance, but the

Living Word, Christ,

the written word made life through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, guides in each situation.

You have to get to know Him.

I was prompted to write this because, in

my walk as an entrepreneur,

I have come across quite a lot of persecution for what I believe. I am not overt in my Christianity, and I explain why below, but people shut down or get defensive, in North America, when they hear that you're Christian. I've always believed that

we don't need to "defend God", but we need to "Love people".

This year, that belief was truly tested.

Christ moved me to Love, Pray for and Bless.

Self-Check:

Am I Persecuted? Am I Victim or Victor? Will I Cower, Argue or Love?

What does it look like to Respond in Love to Persecution?

Will you stand and share God? What does that mean to you? Fear of "being ashamed of God, lest He be ashamed of you" (

Mark 8:38 ESV

)

has led us to use Christ as a weapon, knowingly and unknowingly. This scripture, my beloved, is not about what you do with your lips, in every situation.

It's about the state of your heart.

  I do not in any way advocate being silent about our faith - we would be remiss in our love for God, our neighbors and our enemies, if we did. I am saying that, if our motive is always truly Love, then we'll know who, when and how, if at all. Sometimes, pray is our only call. My question is "are you listening?" Is your silence driven by 'love in Christ' or by 'fear of persecution'? It's not about letting everyone hear and see Jesus in literal ways all the time.

In fact, those He said He would say "depart from me; I never knew you" (

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV

) to, were very visibly seen bearing His name. Why do you think that is?

1 Corinthians 13 (ESV)

comes to mind - "if you have all these, but have not Love..." People always quote

1 Corinthians 13:4

at weddings, but

click and read

the whole chapter (just 13 verses).

Responding in Love meets needs.

It's not about you being heard or seen.

If we're really listening to the needs of others to meet them in Love, we find that that's not what people need. In a world hurt by the Church itself (we need to acknowledge our part in that),

it is the presence of God (of Love) in Christ that brings healing.

I'm not saying don't say Jesus' name; when asked, or when led by the Holy Spirit, definitely, but

let your heart's reason always be Love.

This is why

Paul and Peter went where they were invited or led.

Love honours the God-given free will of those we encounter, as God honours ours. Love forced is not love.

Love freely given and freely received is whole Love.

Self-Check:

In light of all of this, what does responding in Love to Persecution really mean?

Will you go with God anywhere? Really? Are you sure?

Where are you willing to go to learn more about God?

Can you walk confidently in the supernatural, or is that your worst fear? What if there's an area of God's intimate Love that you can't meet until you go there? Will you go? I went into the 2014 Leadership Development Program, Level 1 (

LDP 1

) very skeptical, but I'll tell you, once you submit to hearing God, miracles happen. In October, we explored the culture of Salvation and Righteousness, but last month was the Supernatural. During the conversation, many expressed concern that 'young people' have moved away from the Church and "bought into" the "New Age" or "Universe" movement.

I ask you. If you can step out in faith, trusting that your God in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, will not let you be deceived,

why do you think the "New Age" or "Universe" movement is so appealing to them?

Is this the return of Paganism or is it inspired by the movement Holy Spirit? I'm not writing this to upset you. I know that many have been deceived by this. What I'm asking you, is why? Perhaps, as the Church, we've missed it

because we weren't listening.

If 'the young people' were heard, invited into the conversation meaningfully, honoured in their opinions and experiences, would we all have grown, or would they still have left? Do we really trust and follow our God everywhere? What's their example?

Fear, control, manipulation and bullying are attractive to no one.

They are not fruits of the Holy Spirit, and they have driven 'the youth' away, in favor of the places where they actually find the fruits of the Holy Spirit. So I ask you again - why do you think the "New Age" or "Universe" movement is so appealing to them? Are you awake, paying attention?

Freedom, boundless Love, Grace, those are attractive. AND it's what God promised.

Self-Check:

Is the "New Age" movement really delivering what God promised? Is the Church?

Rediscovering God. What is the face of His Love Today?

Some say that 'the great revival' never ended,

but that we the Church stopped following when it meant going beyond boundaries that we could control. Recently, someone said that,

perhaps, the "New Age" or "Universe" movement has latched on to the revival,

simply because they were open, and we weren't. If God said "even the rocks will cry out", I imagine that He will work with whoever's listening. He even told the disciples, when they were having a hard time believing, to do His work and obey, and the testimonies of those they save will increase their faith.

The bridge, as always, is Christ.

His walk, His way. He Loved. He spoke of God as His father, as Love itself, to gentiles. Is your life an example?

Is Christ your barrier or your opening?

How does it work? In testing everything against the Word, and asking God to open my eyes, I've begun to see very plainly how much I've missed out on for fear of stepping out. Once I walked in Christ, when I listened to what my friends in the "New Age" or "Universe" movement were saying, I understood. I was no longer guardedly avoiding deception, but I was actively listening free in the knowledge that God would prevent deception. It was then, in that freedom, that

their words were "rightly divided in Christ".

It was so amazing!

I saw what was God's hand and what wasn't. I saw clearly what God's heart was for us as Christians -

to so want the freedom they walk in - that we'd pursue Him all the more, but now in new relationship!

In the supernatural, where a new level of intimacy lies. Where healing, miracles, love and freedom are possible. Where we are re-introduced to the power of our spoken words, in Christ. What it means to be responsible, in Christ, with our ability to speak things into being. Every new level of learning God leaves me in awe, in Love, anew. I invite you to join me. Pay attention to what's happening in the world, and you'll see your role in it.

You have a unique role!

Self-Check:

Is the Holy Spirit's moving? Am I willing to find out? If yes, what's my role?

I pray that, in Christ,

your heart for Love abounds, casting out all fear. I pray that you find within yourself a burning desire to go to the ends of the earth, with God in Christ, to know Him better. I pray that you are led first by the Holy Spirit, and then by community that serves to reinforce what the Word says and build you up in your pursuit of God. Finally,

I declare that fear, manipulation, control and bullying are things of the past,

in your walk with God and Church, and that you move forward in the

love, faith, hope, joy and freedom

that God has called us into. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

What's your experience? What has persecution looked like for you? How have you responded? How would you have liked to respond?

In

part 2

, I explore some tangible examples of what I've discussed above, and some potential solutions.

Moved by Love - A Prayer for Nations

Not sure why, but after watching this movie,

The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012)

, and bawling like a baby,

I couldn't even stop myself from praying incessantly

for all the hearts wrestling with similar decisions. I repented for allowing the enemy to distract me, with my own problems, from

praying for nations

that have to struggle with these kinds of decisions.

I am grateful to God for His awesomeness in using this movie to shed new light on the meaning of

the Great Commission (

Matthew 28:16-20 ESV

).

 Sharing the love of God, honoring free will, I pray for wisdom.

Young people, men and women,

American, Pakistani, Iraqi, Afghani, Israeli, Chinese, North Koreans, Palestinian - countries torn by war,

by the politics and ambitions of a select few who use their power to manipulate the masses - and

even for these men who lead so many sheep astray,

I pray.

I ask that you join me in prayer:

Image Source: 

www.imdb.com/title/tt2032557

I pray that in Christ Jesus, through the intercession of the Holy Spirit, people stuck in these difficult situations, faced with difficult decisions and conflicting loyalties, are moved not by man, but by the divine power of God to think, say and do God's will - knowingly and unknowingly, in all that they do. Just as in Joshua 1:1-9 (ESV) God told Joshua that wherever his feet tread He would give to Him, I pray now that as my heart has gotten wind of their hurt and pain, that "I receive" those hearts to give to God. I thank You, LORD, for Your unending, unconditional Love, and ask that You move mightily, even now, through those nations to restore their hearts to You - Only by YOUR Love, not through fear or manipulation, as has happened in the past. Thank You, God. Amen.

I posted this on my

Facebook page (

Love Covers All - God Is Love

),

before I posted it here, but

I had to make it more permanent

than simply Facebook.

Love You, LORD.

Bless you, All,

and may you never be faced with decisions such as those. If you are,

may you conquer evil thoughts with victory and Love,

always,

in Christ Jesus, Amen.

The Sin of Enabling Wickedness

The Sin of Enabling

Being honest is something we regard as righteous, in Christ, but somewhere along the way, we got lost.

For some reason, we're

afraid to be honest with ourselves

about ourselves, and so this is a realm in which our enemy gets to frolic... a lot.

The

"sin of enabling bad behaviour (

BE, not AE

) in the simple act of not being true to ourselves"

refers to

sin that abounds because we are not being ourselves,

acting as we naturally would when someone acts/treats us in a particular way, positive or negative.

Look at babies - there's a reason Christ said be like them.

Boundaries, setting and upholding them, are a feature of wisdom that comes from right relationship with God.

The Genuine Compliment

• Natural response: Smile, feel uplifted and say thank you, even notice a positive in the messenger.

• Faux-Godly response: refuse the compliment, highlight a million items of evidence proving it's not true.

Why? We misunderstand the true nature of modesty, humility.

We now believe confidence is arrogance. In doing so, we've created a society of confused people who never know when/how/if to pay compliments and honoring each other has become... "Awkward". We're deceived! We played right into the enemy's hands.

The Hard Slap

• Natural response: Flee, slap them back or speech them off, noticing weaknesses to pounce on.

• Faux-Godly response: "Please, don't slap me. I realize you (excuses, rationalizing bad behaviour), but...".

Why? We misuse the verse "turn the other cheek",

we've distorted our response. In doing so, we've taught that person that it's okay. Again, look at children. the first time they realize biting hurts, they stop... mostly.

Source:

lovecoversall-godislove.blogspot.ca

In God's Image

I'm not sure why so many in the Church have decided that nature is evil - the Word says "the power of death and life lie in the tongue"

Proverbs 18:21

. We only see, "out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, ..."

Mark 7:21

, but

miss that it is our very hearts that God wants (

Psalm 37:4

, ). Not to destroy it! To heal it!

Because everything stems from your heart. Where we got lost, however, is in trying to do it ourselves.

By design, the natural responses we have, are their for a reason,

given by our Creator, God, in Christ. We help each other to grow by

being exactly who we are. No, not by making them be who we are.

 God in His Holy Spirit, or through these types of experiences with others, refine us into His image - it is not us, trying in our own strength to be that. So please be true to you, and take the displeasing parts to God, so He can change them. Amen.

Honoring Others

It is then, overflowing with God's love, through our intimate experience of His Love,

grace, mercy - His joy and hope, His honor - that we can truly love and honor our neighbours, and our enemies, and not help them along a path of eventual self-destruction by misleading them to believe it's okay to hurt us.

P.S.

For those of us who have decided that

all environmentalists are pagan,

think again.

You might want to re-read

Romans 8

and even

Genesis

. God didn't make the earth and say abuse it - what in God's character is like that? No.

We are to be good stewards i.e. take care of it.

Letting Go - Serving God Not Mankind

What have you been struggling with,

undecided about, in terms of

the relationships in your life?

I'm wondering if I'm the only one with

biblical verses

swirling around in my head along with a series of

injustices, unresolved misunderstandings

and

compromises

that I'm not sure I've identified correctly.

Recently, God has illuminated the reality that

I only answer to Him,

that in Christ, God is the only one I'm accountable to. He has made me see clearly that

serving two (2) masters

(

Matthew 6:24 ESV

)

- let alone 50,

if I count the emotions and needs of the people I love - will inevitably drive me... and you... crazy. Serving God in Christ alone, at the center of everything, gives us rest. (

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

).

Who Do You Serve?

STOP! Stop trying

to be good, to do the right thing, to "represent God to the world", to hold on to all the relationships in your life (particularly those that only you are working on). Let it all go.

NOW, breathe.

Tell me what that feels like. How light are you, now? Do you know why?

That burden is not yours to carry! It's GOD's!

"Pick up your cross" means come to Christ. That's it!

 Your cross is to put God, in Christ through the Holy Spirit, first.

Make no mistake, that is a cross,

because you're wired by society to

do everything else first and "pray when all else fails". (Wrong)

It is the hardest thing to do, but truly, the most rewarding thing, to

put God front, and center.

 You see, it is not in being and doing good that we draw nearer to God.

It is in being true, honest,

about what is

both good and bad

about you - spirit, soul (mind and emotions) and body; thought, word and deed (action) - and bringing

that

to God.

Source of "God First" image: http://bit.ly/1gx5Ajb

For the past year, I've been struggling with right and wrong, and have realized that I've fallen into a trap that, from the age of 12, I've taken care to avoid -

I've been living and assessing myself on the basis of other people's limited perspectives. (I've failed!)

While I haven't resolved the issue in question yet, I am clear that it had better be my decision, as

I am to answer to My Beloved, God

in Christ through the Holy Spirit, for it.

Godly Boundaries in Relationship?

As I sat at my Church this Sunday, I took a long look at the people around me, and my brain wandered further to incorporate the people I've surrounded myself with in Life. And "what the...?" was my response. It's like I opened my eyes for the first time in years - not months.

Who are these people? Why have I given them permission to speak into my life? Why am I surrounded by people who think they have a right to manipulate; who don't honor Free Will?

They don't know me and haven't taken the time to go deeper with me. They do, however, have the time to impose their will and views on me... because I let them.

For a long time I'd thought it was because I didn't try in relationships. On Sunday,

I realized that I more than tried - I'd poured my heart out, only to get shutdown...several times

...with the excuse of "relationships are messy". I totally fell for it, until I realized that wasn't applicable to them - just to me. My Pastor said, "what's inside oozes out", so that's what you see on this page... but that's what I wasn't paying attention to in all of these people I've been making excuses for.

Where do you draw the line - compassion and 

agape (2) love

 versus genuine relationship? WWJD? Jesus ran to the Father - all the time!

He was always running to God. He answered to no one, but God in Christ. He had relationships, yes, but pay attention to the nature of those relationships.

No more "

suffering just because...

"

and calling it Love.

Now, hear me - relationships

are

messy:

God put your mother, father, brother/sister, difficult cousin(s) in your life so that you would realize that

only after you've taken your good, bad and ugly to Him,

after He's filled you to overflow with Love, can you

love them endlessly and fully,

albeit with wise boundaries.

Until you truly empty the bag in your heart (not your head, or your stomach) before God, and let Him heal you,

you will keep meeting those relatives in various people throughout life.

However, I place emphasis on the "

albeit with wise boundaries

". You have to be true to yourself,

to where you are in your development right now, to what hurts you and what safety means, and you have to act on that.

Loving someone does not mean "no holds barred" in what they can do to you.

Forgiveness is a one-way street

- you can forgive someone and never speak to them again.

Reconciliation is a two way street

- it can't happen just on your side. Serving God only, means you're free from the burden of carrying all of those relationships. You can, then, see clearly how to move forward with them.

[More on Forgiveness/Reconciliation, Mark Driscoll's piece, 

10 Things That Forgiveness Is Not

. Really process that in light of your unique case.]

Free Will & Responsibility

My mother has been trying to explain to me (thanks, Mom) for years,

"you do not have to get everyone to understand everything before you act";

that I am no less loving toward them in Christ if they don't get it. I finally get it, in my head, but my heart has not caught up.

"If I explain things in a way that helps them understand the truth in love. Even if they don't agree, I have done my part to ensure that they understand the situation, and the devil doesn't get to keep us in the dark."

Right? Wrong. Each of us, individuals, is responsible for what the devil gets to do in our own lives.

We can pray for each other, but unless the person you're praying for agrees, since they're the one with the authority over their own lives in Christ, there's nothing you can do.

Free will in Christ. This is a boundary issue.

In my head, I had it upside-down and back-to-front,

because it is supposed to be that 1. God loves us, 2. that teaches us to truly love ourselves, and 3. from that flows a healthy love for others, within the right boundaries; 4. honoring their right to choose.

We are not responsible for anything beyond our own being and actions.

Remember that, the next time you pray

"LORD, make XOX do..." instead of "LORD, please let XOX grow in relationship with You."

It is no small feat to undo those soul ties, but acknowledging them is the first step.

For me, going back to basics,

God first, God only, is the second step.

Only then can I make clear decisions about

setting right boundaries and building right community.

Only then can I carry out

the great commission (

Matthew 28:16-20 ESV

), truly.

Forgiveness & Wisdom

How could you do that again?!

My friend asked this question this morning and, I have to say I, myself, have asked variations of this very question so many times:

"What do you do when time and time again you plan to do something to help someone and every single time it comes out that they are stabbing you behind you back??"

We get more annoyed because we think that Christ said "turn the other cheek" and "forgive them 70 times seven times", but do we remember context? What did Jesus do?

Forgiveness

and

Wisdom,

not

'Forgiveness

or

Wisdom'

(1) Reconciliation only after Repentance

Full reconciliation before our attackers realize their wrong actions, and

repent

(decide to change as a result of being sorry), is

quite dangerous.

Matthew 7:6, ESV

, tells us:

"Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you"

Jesus died that we might be forgiven and reconciled to God,

but if you don't know you need forgiveness, you do not repent and, therefore, cannot receive reconcilation. Repentance makes room for reconciliation (

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 ESV

).

(2) Suffer only as you're called to: Don't enable sin

When we reconcile before their repentance,

we make our attackers stumble,

because we

enable

their sin. We are not acting in love.

Jesus didn't suffer and die "just because". NO! He suffered

as He was called to

by God,

His and our Father. (See 1 Peter 2:18,19,23; 1 Peter 3:17, in

this earlier post

.)

(3) Perspective: You don't know what you don't know

If you're still hurting from a recent attack, this is irritating, but: No matter how close you are to someone, or how obvious the wrong action should be, there's always some perspective you can't possibly see, simply because

you're not that person.

We saw Matthew 7:6 above, but the first part,

Matthew 7:1-5, ESV

, cannot be ignored:

We don't know enough to judge.

That plank in each of our eyes refers to our limited human insights. Even conjoined twin don't know enough to judge accurately.

theresnotimeforpants.blogspot.ca

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You are only called to forgive and pray

Like Jesus Christ, you're called to forgive them. 

We are not called to:

1. force repentance: "You have to admit you're wrong!", nor to

2. force reconciliation and put yourself in danger.

You're just called to forgive.  Forgiveness restore God's Shalom peace in you as you step back and let Him in.

Forgiveness releases you:

1. from the anger and hurt, as we realize we all sin and fall short of righteousness;

2. from sin of unforgiveness to prevents your own reconciliation with God in that area; and

3. to love that person as they are, being able to pray genuinely (not vengefully) for them.

Forgiveness is not...

People give Mark Driscoll a hard time, and I don't always think he delivers his message in the spirit of God's Love, but when he's right, he's very right. Here's the blog and his video message on "

10 Things Forgivness Is Not

".

[

Remember:

As with

Matthew 7

above, whether reading this or listening to a favourite preacher, try to

always

read the Word in context (the entire chapter) and

always

check the Word

yourself.

]