I am always asking God to show me the way. To tell me what to do! He is always answers me. Maybe not as quickly as I would like or not always in the way I would have liked the information, but He is good, He is so very good! I have been struggling with forgiveness and just plain downright hatefulness. I work with a woman that is such a loose canon it is frightening. Being the strong willed woman that I am I refuse to let her get the best of me! In the process the devil takes hold of my heart and I have a time loosing his gripe! It is only in the faith that I have in Jesus Christ that helps me let it go, eventually!
So I am sending you over to the shortest Old Testament book with me to learn a valuable lesson. Then we will head over to Jude in the New Testament and wind up in the book of Romans with a stop over in Proverbs! Obadiah says "You should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity; nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction." 1:12 To put this is a mini nugget check the book of Proverbs "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles." 24;17. Through the years I have learned to understand the bible by digging more deeply into the bible! I use a lot of references . I always have my hubby to help me out too! When you pray God helps you answer the questions that you ask.
Forgiving people for their wrongdoings is often hard for most of us. I am not a punching bag nor am I less then the ground that I walk upon. So I like to be treated respectfully. It is a give and take situation. You know that old saying "You can catch more flies with honey then vinegar!" It is so true.
I pray for this woman I work with. I have always told you I would never push anything I strongly agree with on anyone but when it comes to faith I know the "truth". His name is Jesus and I am sad when someone dies suddenly or I see they believed in all the wrong things. I wonder what God feels. I feel sad. We live in such a politically correct society you should choose your words carefully and all that jazz. But for whatever reason God pulled me to these bible verses today and I feel strongly that I need to share while struggled with the devil and bitterness.
Jude says "But Michael the archangel when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment but said, "the Lord rebuke you." " 1:9
Do you see a pattern here? God wants us to trust Him and let Him take the lead. He says "Vengeance is Mine." Romans 12:19. He says this in a lot of difference places in the bible just using different books to show His work. See Deuteronomy 32:35. Psalm 94:1. Proverbs 20:22. Proverbs 24:29. Romans 12:17. 1 Thessalonians 4:6 and Hebrews 10:30.
Romans 12 shows us how to handle people problems. Be patient (v12), bless persecutors (v14), be humble (v16) don't take revenge (v.19); defeat evil with good (v 21).
My late father-in-law use to say if people just read their bibles and folllowed God's lead there is nothing in this world we can not handle. It is so true. We all would like the bible to "do it our way" but we must do it God's way. His way is the right way.
Pray with me today for those I work with and for all of you struggling with forgiveness and bitterness and sinful desires.Pray for me. I never reject a prayerful request for myself from anyone willing to take their time to take it to the Lord.
Let's thank Charlotte and Ginger today at http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/ Blessings to all!
Anne,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post and one so many struggle with. The thing I find most comforting is that by forgiving our enemies it really frees us in the process while allowing God to deal with them.
It also is easy to remember that God never says to forget about things just forgive. In time however I have discovered if you are willing to turn over that issue to God after you have forgiven that person for whatever wrong that they may have caused you, God will even take care of the forgetting part as well in time.
Great post Anne! And one to bear repeating.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
oh, that is hard, especially since you see her all the time...good luck with that...regards to my craft cottage, go to my pages under my header and you can see where I started, thanks for the visit
ReplyDeleteDealing with difficult people is never easy. Sounds like you are getting a handle on it. Your father-in-law is a wise man.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Charlotte
I struggle with this as well.
ReplyDeleteGood post.
Thank you.
People problems are the toughest! It's wise to lean on God to help us relate.
ReplyDeleteHi Anne,
ReplyDeleteGood post today! This is one of the most difficult challenges I think. But, I have really made myself sit down and regroup when I feel my heart start to fill with a wasted emotion like anger or hatefullness towards someone. I have a couple of people in my life that are like your co-worker.
Most of the time I can mentally step back and and realize that I feel sorry for these people. With their attiude and obvious self loathing, they tend to spew these dark feelings out toward everyone around them. I think, "what a horrible day to day life they must life".
Sometimes I still struggle when this ugliness is directed at someone I love but, for the mst part I have been getting better and better with praying for them and hoping they can somehow find some peace in their heart.
It would be a terrible way to go through life! All that darkness and anger inside you. I ultimately feel sad for them. I know God talks to them and is trying to help. I pray one day they will listen.
What a lovely post. I thought the illustrations were especially powerful! Happy Sunday!
ReplyDeleteI've always heard that hate does more damage to the vessel it's stored in - then to what it's poured on!
ReplyDeletePrayerfully,
sandie♥