"They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause. For my love they are my adversaries: but I will give myself unto prayer." - Psalm 109:3-4
What is your first instinct or what is the first thing that you do when opposition comes? If we all are honest, we would have to say that we probably would take some sort of action in our own strength to deal with the situation. I know that is one of my biggest faults, I try to handle things in my own power and wisdom.
Notice what David said that he did when opposition came his way. He said that he would give himself unto prayer. When people speak words of hatred to him, when they fight against him without a cause, when they go against him in spite of his love for them, David says that he will give himself unto prayer. When opposition comes our way, our flesh says that we need to respond, that we need to take action against it. However, you will find that Scripture tells us something completely different. When we face opposition, when people come against us without a cause, or when they reward our love by becoming our adversaries, the Bible tells us that we are to give ourselves unto prayer.
I must admit that I am a complete and utter failure when it comes to doing this. When I face the things that David is talking about, usually the last thing on my mind is giving myself unto prayer. I know that giving myself unto prayer is what I should do and it is what I must do, but for some reason I do not. If we all are honest, we all are guilty of this. I can't help but wonder what a difference we would see in our churches and our own lives if we all would give ourselves unto prayer when we face opposition. Satan has tricked us into thinking that we must do something to retaliate or that we must respond to the situation in some way. The only way that you and I should respond is by totally and completely giving ourselves unto prayer.
When you and I get on our knees before God, desperately cry out to Him, and utterly depend on Him, that is when He can work in our lives and the lives of others.
Will you give yourself unto prayer?
Prayer For Today:
Heavenly Father, when people speak words of hatred against me, when they fight against me without a cause, and when they become my adversary in spite of my love for them, may I completely and totally give myself unto prayer. Help me not to handle things or situations in my own power or wisdom, but rather I confess my utter and complete dependence on You and Your power to work in those situations. In Jesus name, Amen!
Showing posts with label Hatred. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hatred. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
It's Time To Move On
"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." - Ephesians 4:31-32
Have you ever heard someone say, "I can't forgive them, you don't know what they have done to me" or "I'll forgive them, but I won't forget." Maybe you have even said those very words yourself due to someone doing you wrong. However, the world has no rewards for those who remain bitter and angrily focused on the past, and neither does God.
Are you still holding a grudge or bitter about something that happened in the past? If so, most importantly, you are disobeying God's Word, but you are also just wasting your time. Hatred, bitterness, and remaining angry over the past are not part of God's plan for our lives.
Since we all have that old sin nature, we are quick to anger and quick to blame someone else, but then we are slow to forgive and even slower to forget. However, as Christians we are commanded by Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 5:43-48 to forgive those that wrong us, to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and to pray for them that despitefully use and persecute us. I remember a while back preaching on that very passage and I had a woman come up to me after the service to let me know what she thought about what I preached. She told me that I couldn't say that until I had been in the person's shoes who had been wronged or hurt by someone else. The only problem with her statement is that I was not the one telling her that she had to forgive this person who had done something terrible to a member of her family. I was merely reading the words that Christ had spoken. Jesus Christ is the one who says that we must forgive, no matter what.
Right about now you might be saying, "You don't know what they did, you don't know how terrible and heinous the thing was they did." While that may be true, I don't fully understand the impact of what someone else has had to go through, it still doesn't change the words of our Lord. Think about what Jesus Christ went through when He was crucified. He was completely innocent of the crime He was accused of. He was mocked, beaten so bad you could not recognize He was a man, He endured the agony of the cross, yet He said "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Jesus Christ was taking our place and the punishment that we deserved because of our sin and yet He asked the Father to forgive us for what we did to Him WOW!!!
If Christ could forgive someone like me for putting Him on that cross because of my sin, then surely I can forgive someone when they wrong me, no matter what. Now please don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that it is going to be easy to do this and to live this. It is going to be the hardest thing that you will ever do. This is one of those things that is so easy to preach and say, but it is so hard to do because of our sin nature.
Is there someone that you need to forgive? Is there something you need to let go? If so, forgive them, let it go, and then ask God to forgive you for your sin of holding on to that bitterness and hatred. Life is short and eternity is fast approaching. It's time to move on and show the love and forgiveness of Christ to others as He has shown it to us.
Prayer For Today:
Heavenly Father, forgive me for any hatred or bitterness that might be in my heart. Forgive me for my disobedience to Your Word. Thank you Lord for forgiving me even though I do not deserve it. Help me to show the love and forgiveness of Christ to those around me. In Jesus name, Amen!
Have you ever heard someone say, "I can't forgive them, you don't know what they have done to me" or "I'll forgive them, but I won't forget." Maybe you have even said those very words yourself due to someone doing you wrong. However, the world has no rewards for those who remain bitter and angrily focused on the past, and neither does God.
Are you still holding a grudge or bitter about something that happened in the past? If so, most importantly, you are disobeying God's Word, but you are also just wasting your time. Hatred, bitterness, and remaining angry over the past are not part of God's plan for our lives.
Since we all have that old sin nature, we are quick to anger and quick to blame someone else, but then we are slow to forgive and even slower to forget. However, as Christians we are commanded by Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 5:43-48 to forgive those that wrong us, to love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and to pray for them that despitefully use and persecute us. I remember a while back preaching on that very passage and I had a woman come up to me after the service to let me know what she thought about what I preached. She told me that I couldn't say that until I had been in the person's shoes who had been wronged or hurt by someone else. The only problem with her statement is that I was not the one telling her that she had to forgive this person who had done something terrible to a member of her family. I was merely reading the words that Christ had spoken. Jesus Christ is the one who says that we must forgive, no matter what.
Right about now you might be saying, "You don't know what they did, you don't know how terrible and heinous the thing was they did." While that may be true, I don't fully understand the impact of what someone else has had to go through, it still doesn't change the words of our Lord. Think about what Jesus Christ went through when He was crucified. He was completely innocent of the crime He was accused of. He was mocked, beaten so bad you could not recognize He was a man, He endured the agony of the cross, yet He said "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Jesus Christ was taking our place and the punishment that we deserved because of our sin and yet He asked the Father to forgive us for what we did to Him WOW!!!
If Christ could forgive someone like me for putting Him on that cross because of my sin, then surely I can forgive someone when they wrong me, no matter what. Now please don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that it is going to be easy to do this and to live this. It is going to be the hardest thing that you will ever do. This is one of those things that is so easy to preach and say, but it is so hard to do because of our sin nature.
Is there someone that you need to forgive? Is there something you need to let go? If so, forgive them, let it go, and then ask God to forgive you for your sin of holding on to that bitterness and hatred. Life is short and eternity is fast approaching. It's time to move on and show the love and forgiveness of Christ to others as He has shown it to us.
Prayer For Today:
Heavenly Father, forgive me for any hatred or bitterness that might be in my heart. Forgive me for my disobedience to Your Word. Thank you Lord for forgiving me even though I do not deserve it. Help me to show the love and forgiveness of Christ to those around me. In Jesus name, Amen!
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