Animosity

P 2951 Grace is an overlooked GIFT.

/ DVH

First we forgive ……then we walk it out. Yeah. Forgiveness is a piece of cake … in theory! Living it out has terminal repercussions – you will have to die to self! Saying “I’m sorry” and “please forgive me” is hard. Especially when the other person is wrong. They hurt you, it was real, and right now, your heart is limping.

Saying we are sorry, without accompanying actions, is tokenism. It is not Grace – true Grace has the power of God in it. The point of entering into forgiveness with someone who has truly hurt you, is not just about them -Jesus made that incredibly clear. When we hold on to grudges against other people we are hurting ourselves. We need to introduce the possibility of restoration. Unrestricted Grace does that. Grace is the gift we give ourselves, as we give it to someone else. Meanwhile, people’s reactions change when animosity leaves the room.

We can spend so much time telling ourselves “we are right and that other person is wrong” and forget that we are ALL under the same banner of redemption. Reconciliation is what Jesus did when He took away the punishment for our sins, forever. He reconciled mankind to Himself. This means HE DOESN’T HOLD GRUDGES. He has chosen not to remember our sins, and clearly told us to treat each other the same way. 

If we pretend to forgive, or even withhold forgiveness for one reason or another, we are short-circuiting His heavenly transaction and the possibility of redemption is not complete. It is a process – it can take time – so we just keep pressing on. We need to tear up and throw away those carefully hidden lists we have against people who have deeply hurt us … sometimes over and over again. You know the enemy lies to us and tells us that those nasty little lists of someone else’s faults are protecting us. What a rort! Love doesn’t keep a list of wrongs. 

Unfortunately, it is incredibly easy nowadays to label those lists as “things I need to be careful about with So and So, or they will hurt me again.” Even if we hear ourselves thinking ‘they have done to me again,’ that means we forgot to throw away the original list! My advice is, tear the list up and burn it, but write PAID IN FULL, BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST across it before you are done! In true forgiveness there is no AGAIN … Jesus doesn’t have an alternate book of life with things against US written in it!

He took His own blood and scrubbed our pages clean when we confessed our sins and asked Him to save us. Now all we have is a blank page, covered in His blood. Hallelujah! What’s more, when we confessed our sins to Him, plus other people, He took that list of our sins on Himself, and washed us clean with His Grace and His Word.

His Word is the greatest washing machine ever known to man! Even the sins we don’t know about at the time, are cleansed simply by digesting what the Scriptures say. His Word can wash out even the memory of wrong. We do this step by step, day by day…using our faith not our feelings.

Meanwhile, it is often likely that the other person will not change, because they may not be taking sin as seriously as we are! But we are now living in the freedom that comes from Grace … and they are not. So when the thought of whatever happened between you and that other person, pops up in your memory bank, take it captive. Find a scripture with His help and throw it all into the heavenly washing machine.

We no longer have to be suspicious of what that person says or does, because now we’ve handed our case over to our Lawyer, Jesus. That happened when we chose to enter into His Way of forgiving others. This means the Holy Spirit will fight for us, releasing His Grace to be quiet, or even genuinely kind, in those moments when we feel provoked by that other person.

However, forgiveness has nothing whatsoever to do with ACTING! Instead, it has everything to do with giving your active permission for the power of God to help you find your way through the enemy’s traps. We don’t just need His Grace, we must rely upon it – it is the power given to us by Christ to help us overcome.

And if the other person doesn’t change right away, their ignorance, or refusal cannot turn back the power of the Grace of God that has been released into their lives because of our decision to forgive them. Just don’t let any disappointment with the slowness of this process take it back in an off moment. NOW WE STAND. We’ve done everything we can and we stand still and watch what He will do.

We have chosen to apply what we know into our day-to-day lives in a concrete way. That’s how we digest it, it is what ‘walking it out’ – a day at a time, sometimes a minute at a time – means! Grace is an overlooked gift! Bye. ✞

Matthew 18:21,22.“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”  Ephesians 2:8,9. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

P 2542 Take the lid off …

/ DVH

When I was way younger – ( ie:12 years old) – I was forced by the existing school system to make a choice between the Arts, History, Science, etc. – and the business world. I loved all those former things passionately – outside of a business POV, English and Maths were also fascinating to me. But sadly, someone else chose my career path for me. 

Practically speaking that meant I had two more years at school trapped in a world that operated in opposition to everything I loved learning and doing. I remember looking with longing at those who went into art, while I trudged off to book-keeping. To this day, I still follow up all sorts of stuff on Google because I am extremely curious about the world around me. FYI, I have NEVER ONCE looked up business studies! 😂

Among the many things I had to learn to do in those days, was typing. I loathed it. That particular skill intimidated the daylights out of me. I have very poor hand to eye co-ordination, and that meant that physically regulated things like sport and typing were torture for me. My hands visibly shook every single time I faced a typewriter – of course that was hilarious to all the other kids in the class! After I left school, I was sent to work in a bank, and daily there were even more torments, because every single day I confronted adding machines, sorting machines AND typewriters. Things with KEYS on them! Aauuugghhhhhh!! 🙄

HOWEVER, today, over 60 years later … I am sitting here typing away without looking, or even thinking about it — because of a skill I gained – that I didn’t want! … back then.  At that time, and for years later, I let that fear and ineptitude intimidate me. My point today is this:  it is incredibly easy to think that WE are the only people who know what is best for us, but actually – only GOD knows what we will NEED. And there are days when you can learn stuff from other people too!  However, in my flesh, back then, the whole idea of typing of any kind, was an abomination.

At school, we used to have speed tests as a competitive way to improve our typing. I don’t like competitions, I turn into Wylie coyote – I get completely flattened by a downward speeding anvil! My point is this: the very thing that flattened me and weighed me down, was actually the first of many opportunities I had, to learn to embrace difficulties and learn from them. Plus it gave me room to try to tackle the things that I thought I wasn’t good at. But I inadvertently, and ill-advisedly used up all my energy by being afraid and actively hating the task!

Years, later I had to walk back from that place I chose for myself. Since then God has also given me plenty of opportunities to deal with the pile of animosity I had against the person who forced me to do something I despised! And at the same time, I know I have learnt something, retrospectively … I am much bigger and braver inside than I think I am. Jesus and I are a majority – as I let Him lead me.

My point in relaying this story today is that it is oh! sooooo easy to limit ourselves! But this new life we have been given can teach us about our old selves, if we let it. Gideon found he was far bigger inside than he ever imagined possible when God became His coach! You know … you and I, …we have a live-in Coach! The Holy Spirit will walk us through the hard scary bits, step by step – if we just keep our eyes on Him, and follow His instructions.

Perhaps we need to stop telling ourselves that we can’t do this and that – and start taking the lid off our perceptions.  Living with a list of things we can’t do hanging over our heads, indicates that we are also actively removing possibilities from our lives that could bring us joy! How do we know what we can do with Christ’s very own Spirit residing within us? (Philippians 4:13.) Maybe, here and now, it is time to drag out all those dusty dreams we had about serving Jesus way back when. Personally, I think the Body of Christ has self-limited itself long enough.

It is time to remember that Peter, James and John were just ordinary fishermen with no particularly spectacular skills. Perhaps they were even forced to do that kind of work because it was the family business. Yet, there were some days when those experienced men couldn’t even catch fish! But under the Lord’s leadership and the Holy Spirit’s power they did extraordinary things – they even caught fish they didn’t know were there!!  So can WE. If we just ask for His help and take the lid off. 👋

P 2170 Don’t restrict yourself…or your prayers.

/ DVH

The word the bible uses for restricting yourself is “hinder.” It means: ‘to make it difficult for (someone) to do something or for something to happen.’ Let’s start this blog by talking about close relationships: like your spouse, or your kids, or immediate family.  Personally I do my best, with His help, to make sure all my close relationships with my family are working. Because, I want to pray and not shoot myself in the foot by being habitually grumpy at someone else. It is important to me to be able to hear what He wants, and pray the way He wants me to. Unfortunately sometimes my tolerance of sin makes me DEAF. Here’s some stuff to think on:

1 Peter 3:5-7 “… and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” ← Did you get that? Did you know that you and/or your spouse can make it difficult for your prayers together or apart, to be heard? Just saying “Amen” together, isn’t all there is!  You can trip each other up with unredeemed animosity, fear, and lack of loving consideration between you both. In other words you can shoot your prayers in the foot if you do not place a priority on living a life of love. 

Our better halves can test that kind of lifestyle to its limit! Now, before we all grab our phones or laptops and stick it under our spouse’s nose and say “read this blog – you need to know this!” Remember, if we end up aggressively accentuating our point to others, even that response should be enough for us to hit our knees and ask the Lord: “What’s wrong with ME?” I am not here today to rabbit on about spousal submission, which BTW, needs to be mutual.

Instead, I merely want to point out that in order for our prayers to be heard and answered, you and I are going to need to learn how to live in harmony with each other.  And that doesn’t mean keeping the people around us at arm’s length! We can all look fabulous and sweet when we are not close enough to annoy the living daylights out of each other! Distancing ourselves from each other is not the answer. Animosity towards someone else will colour the way I pray.  Now, I am not looking for good anymore – I have an agenda.

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Harmony starts with the issue of Who is the Lord of your life?! Agree on that. Human beings often disagree about the minutiae of this life, whilst allowing differences the size of a Greyhound bus to remain! But the real point is – Who is your Lord? If your spouse does not agree with you on this point, then pray and fast for them, about… that! People do not change for our convenience, they are changed for His purposes. We must stop straining out gnats and letting camels through our filters! And BTW, Lordship is not lip-service, it’s a way of life. 

Here are some other verses on the subject of hindering yourself that also apply – Romans 14:13 “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.” Isaiah 57:14: “And it will be said,“Build up, build up, prepare the way, Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.” My big mouth should not cause you or anyone else to stumble. And if it has in the past then please, sincerely, forgive me.🙏  My priority is to build you up not tear you down. 

We need to decide that the only absolute premise worth having in our lives, is the premise that ‘Jesus is Lord.’ And everything else is negotiable. Jesus is Lord is the only sure foundation. We dare not apply our own nitty gritty self-made rules to each other … they waste our time. Plus our enemies are laughing at us because we are hindering our own prayers! “… why not suffer wrong?” 1 Corinthians 6:7. I am not suggesting that letting your spouse beat you up is OK, but we can all easily end up majoring on minor things.

We are not alive on earth for our agendas anymore – we are here to live for Him! His agenda is my agenda. And I will always need SomeOne Else watching my back. Thank you Holy Spirit. Remember, humility helps!  I’m not trusting in other people, I am trusting in GOD in my life. And if I can’t see God in them then I am not looking through His Eyes of love. Always remember, we have the power to speak His life into others – then we will stop hindering our own prayers.  Bye. 👋🏻