Holy Spirit whispered something into my ear tonight that I had to get up and write about… It’s so obvious that it’s no wonder that many of us miss it, even though the Bible tells it to us and shows it to us with its Words over and over again! In fact, many of you who are reading this will either snort or let it go waaaaaay over your heard. How do I know this? Because I was once one of the many and even though the obvious revelation has come to me, it is still something I struggle with because it can be the hardest thing at times to do…
Okay, think about this question – really ponder it.
WHAT IS THE ONE THING THAT OL’ SLEWFOOT CANNOT DO?
Let me phrase it this way:
WHAT IS THE ON-GOING THEME IN THE BIBLE ABOUT GOD?
Have you figured it out yet? It is the MOST powerful weapon of all and the least one that we choose to utilize most of the time…
The answer is:
LOVE
Are you rolling your eyes at the word? Sounds simple right? Well, it is and it isn’t… The devil loves ONLY himself. He certainly has no love for God’s creation, his goal is to destroy ALL that God loves. The devil hates everyone BUT himself and the very LAST thing that he wants you to do is walk IN love. So when situations come up in your life that bring up the “ugly” in you, he wants you to pay more attention to your feelings then how it is God wants you to respond. He wants you to walk according to the flesh.
Think about it, the very last thing you think about when someone angers or hurts you is responding in the way they least expect it – in love. Yet Jesus spoke about this time and time again in the Bible. Matthew 5:44 says:
“But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
That scriptures goes against everything our flesh wants to rise up and do when we are offended or hurt or angry. It runs against the VERY grain of us. But if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, made Him Lord OVER our lives than our lives are not our own anymore. Living for Christ is crucifying our OWN flesh and living according to His Word and His will… And if Jesus is to be our example (and He is) than we have to lay down our hurt or angry feelings at the foot of the cross and prayerfully ask Him to change our hearts,
EVEN IF WE FEEL WE ARE RIGHT TO FEEL THE WAY WE DO.
How can we look at the One Who loved US enough to take OUR sins upon Himself (He was sin-less) and freely chose to Sacrifice His life to allow us to enter into a right relationship with God the Father and bring our “but-God-they-did-this-to-me” or ‘but-God-I-don’t-feel-like-walking-in-forgiveness!” before Him?
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed before the Father the following in Matthew 26:39:
“Father, if it’s possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. But let your will be done rather than mine.”
1 John 3:16 tells us:
“By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
Jesus loved us enough to die for us! I’m quite sure that when He hears us listing ALL the reasons why “Brother-So-and-So” and “Sister-Over-There” are wrong or unlovable in your eyes He raises an eyebrow and maybe even tilts his head and looks intently and sorrowfully at you. In John 13:34-35 Jesus says:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
In John 15:12 He tells us:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
So, I ask you, are we loving as Christ has commanded us to love? Are we living by Holy Spirit or are we living in accordance to the flesh?
Here is what I have found… (The Secret Not So Secret I have entitled this post). When we choose to act opposite of how the world expects us to respond, strongholds are broken. When we choose to forgive and let go of offenses (drop them at the foot of the Cross) God does a mighty work in the hearts of those who have caused the offense. We CANNOT change hearts, but God can… When ol’ slewfoot uses the very people you are praying for, that you LOVE most to rise up against you, ostracize you for your faith and STILL you intercede on their behalf, even praying as Jesus prayed in Luke 23:34:
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
That’s part of looking to God and choosing to die to self. It is the HARDEST thing to do – I know, I’ve been there! But thinking about it more and more, I have seen things change in the spiritual realm when I follow what Jesus has said to do. Is there someone that you are praying for? But you are holding unforgiveness for something they have said or how they have treated you when you pray for them? If so, it very well be your unforgiveness that is holding the answer to your intercession from being answered. I have been amazed at how quickly prayer is answered when we choose the opposite of what our flesh is telling us not to do… FORGIVE.
That’s the secret! To walk in love, we have to do so WILLINGLY. It may be the VERY last thing that comes to mind. So, the next time you are thinking of someone with distain, distaste, criticism, anger and everything within you tells you to do the opposite of love – stop and ask the Father to check YOUR heart. Ask God to forgive you for not wanting to do HIS will but to walk in accordance with your own and ask Him to fill your heart with love for that person(s) as hard as that may be… When I have prayed that way – caught myself getting fleshly and then asked the Father for forgiveness, I have also asked Him to give me a discerning spirit as to WHY that person IS the way they are? To help me to see them as God sees them. And let me tell you, when God answers that kind of prayer, you may find yourself weeping for that individual. Praying sincerely IN love for them! Remember, the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:12:
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
When you choose to show love to people who willingly and knowingly have hurt you, it catches them by surprise… But what I have found to be MOST surprising is the difference God makes in those very SAME lives when you allow (by reacting In love and not in hate or revenge) the light of Christ to shine through you and minister to them in ONLY a way that God can. It changes hearts. Only God knows the extent that that love can go. Our responsibility is in the loving, the rest, is up to God. Walking in love is something that we have to will and make ourselves to do over and over again, especially as the world grows darker and darker. If we are called by God, His Chosen Remnant, then we are called to walk in His love – because He Who We love, IS love and THAT is the not-so-secret-secret, it’s also truth. <3
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