Considering Proverbs 10:8

8 The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.

As a Christian, the commandments we receive are different than the commandments of the Old Testament law—though, they are no different than what God always wanted from His people—and that is a heart that seeks to know God and obey Him out of love and sincerity.

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

As a Christian, I am thankful that even though we are babbling (prating) fools by nature, God sent His Son to die so that we could learn His ways—so that people of all nations could worship the One true God—and in so doing we are made free from the kingdoms of this world and the prince of it.

As a Christian, I am thankful that through the Holy Spirit, I can have the commandments of God written on my heart, changing me so that I am less foolish over time and more aligned with the wisdom of God—a wisdom that teaches us how to keep the commandments of God—which are more difficult than we might think.

It is not in our nature to love God and love others as we should. It is in our nature to destroy ourselves, to destroy others, and to rebel against God. It is in our nature to love death, and “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

Speaking words of death makes us babbling fools.

How much of what we speak is babble?

Do we speak things that are true or do we speak lies? Do we speak words that bring understanding, peace, and comfort, or do we speak words that bring confusion, fear, violence, and grief?

There is a lot of confusion, fear, violence, and grief in this world, and we are blessed to have it so. Think about it. Look at what is happening in this world and in our country. People eat up violence. Does it make you stop and think about your own violent and death-brining tendencies? Does the confusion of this world strengthen your appreciation for Jesus and for fellow Christians? It should. God has ordained that it would. All things are for our good.

 As Christians, we can seek to know Jesus better so that we are not adding to the noise.

As Christians, we are not to participate in Babble—and with the change of heart that the gospel brings, we will not.

“This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the LORD: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” 

I know we are still waiting for a Kingdom, but there is also a Kingdom of Heaven that is “not with observation” and “within you.”

We can seek that Kingdom, and in that Kingdom, we have rest in Jesus Christ. We have peace and life in a world of confusion and death. In the flesh, we will go astray from this Kingdom at times, but with the Holy Spirit within us we are convicted of sin, chastised if necessary, and brought back.

Let us keep pushing forward in the Kingdom of Heaven—though we live in Babble—and learn to keep the commandments of God, even in this world and in this time.

“Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”

It is not easy to stand fast in the ways of God in a world of iniquity and hate. We need supernatural power, and that is what we are promised as adopted sons of God.

“Those who walk after the Spirit of God are the sons of God.”

Jesus will return and establish His Kingdom—and no babbling fool will enter into it. By the grace and mercy of God towards us who love Jesus Christ, we are forgiven of our foolishness and transformed by His Spirit—and even now, in this present world, we can grow in the things of the Kingdom of God as the commandments of God are written in our hearts—and we will not be babbling, death-loving fools.

However, those who love death will not love us, and when Death comes to control this world in a very present way, they will love him and destroy us.

They hated Jesus first, and He knows exactly what we are dealing with and He will give us strength to overcome. We do so by continuing to seek Him. Though we fail and behave foolishly, He forgives us. Keep the faith and keep seeking Jesus. He will continue to work in your heart if you put Him first.

We all have room to grow in the Kingdom of Heaven—and in so doing, the kingdom of death has no more power over us, using us to bring death to others. In Jesus, we bring life and light to a world of confusion and babble—even a world of Babylon—and we though many of us might die, we have the resurrection. We have life. Let death have death.

Going Grey Rock from a Christian Perspective

Going “grey rock” is a method of dealing with attention-seeking, manipulative, or otherwise narcissistic and abusive behaviors.  When a person grey rocks, the goal is to simply not respond—like a rock—to any attempts by an attacker at eliciting a negative emotional response from you.

For example, if someone rages at you, instead of responding with hostility or catering to their anger by giving into their demands or soothing them, you simply do not respond at all.

If someone creates a scenario that is meant to hurt you in a passive-aggressive manner, instead of calling the person out or getting your feelings hurt, you do not respond at all.

If a person is creating drama between other people and attempts to pull you into it, either by putting on the role of victim or hero (and you suspect that they are not as they seem), then you do not allow yourself to become pons in their game. You do not respond.

If a person is flattering you with praise that you know you do not deserve, or you know is insincere or otherwise meant to manipulate you, do not respond.

The ways you “grey rock” can vary. It can be complete silence. You can walk away. You can deflect by changing the subject of the conversation.

This none-response might seem cruel, but in some instances, it is the only thing you can do to avoid giving the harmful person fuel for their fire. It is the only way to protect yourself, and it is a kindness to them also because you do not pander to their weaker traits, thereby enabling them and helping them to sin further.

If you continue to use this method, the person who is attacking you or attempting to manipulate you will eventually lose interest, or that’s the hope.

Sometimes they ramp things up to an extreme because they cannot stand that they did not get the response from you that they wanted. In some of these cases, extreme violence, slander, and other cruelties can result. So, the only thing you can do is remove yourself completely—and in very extreme cases—involve law enforcement for your own protection.

Going “grey rock” is not easy when dealing with people who know how to push your buttons, and they do so on purpose because they enjoy seeing you upset or because in their mind it restores a sense of superiority, power, and control over you.

It helps if we think about the mind of the person who is attempting to harm us.

In many cases, we are dealing with people who are very emotionally immature—and this immaturity most likely stems from a history of trauma, abuse, and neglect. In some ways, they are stunted. The responses you see are like that of a toddler throwing a tantrum or a young child manipulating people for their own gain.

So, try to find some compassion for them, but do not give in. In some instances, if the adult tantrums are small or if they are self-aware, they will want to overcome this and you can help them by remaining calm then showing forgiveness after the fact when they acknowledge what they have done.

If they are not self-aware but only blame-shift, gaslight, and triangulate you, then there is not much you can do except pray for them and do whatever you can to avoid getting sucked in.

When to Use the Grey Rock Method

Anytime a person or group is behaving in a manner that tempts you to sin, you can use this gray rock method to help restrain yourself.

This can be used when dealing with an abusive individual, and this can also be done when dealing with larger matters socially and politically. In general, you can go “grey rock” when a situations arises that tempts you to respond in anger, when you feel tempted to lie or flatter someone, when you feel tempted to gossip, or when you feel tempted to judge something or someone without having the full information.

Although there is a time for standing up for what is right, there is also a time to be silent. If we seek Jesus in all things, His Spirit will let us know what to do.

Going Grey Rock from a Christian Perspective

Did Jesus go “grey rock” when dealing with the authorities in His day? I think about when the Pharisees brought Jesus the woman who was caught in adultery, and instead of responding, Jesus stooped down and started writing in the sand (John 8).

He knew that they were tempting Him, and they were attacking this woman in the process. As they continued to push the matter, Jesus responded with one of His famous lines, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” then He resumed drawing in the sand.

His nonchalant attitude deflected the drama—along with His wise words—which is an incredible thing and this does seem to be a kind of “grey rock” thing to do.

There were many times when the Scribes and Pharisees tried to get at Jesus. They wanted to trip Him up or cause Him to sin so that they could have a reason to accuse Him.

The same is often true when dealing with people who have narcissistic personality traits. They do things to provoke you, then if you respond in a negative way, they use your response to shift the focus off of their behavior and onto you—and before you know it, you are the one apologizing to them or pandering to their demands in some other way.

Going “grey rock” takes practice, but it helps if we do not take ourselves so seriously. When we know that someone is trying to hurt us or manipulate us, if we can separate ourselves from the situation and not take it personally, then we can just let the person be. They will be who they are, and we can be who we are. Jesus sees it all, and He will deal with it. Getting upset does no one any good. Seek Jesus and He will protect your peace of mind, because He dealt with the same things.

I’m not a mental health professional. I write these articles based on my life experience. This life can teach us a lot about trauma, but Jesus can teach us a lot about recovery and His ways are so much better than anything we find in this world. If you have endured narcissistic abuse, turn to Jesus because He knows exactly what you are dealing with—and He has the answers that will heal.

Stand up for What is Right—But in the Right Way

I love it when I see someone standing up for the right things. I appreciate the love of goodness in the world and the bravery it takes to speak out and to resist strong opposition.

As Christians, we are supposed to defend goodness and truth, especially the Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ—a kingdom in which righteousness dwells.

As the Kingdom of Heaven grows within our hearts, we cannot help but stand up for what is good. We will also learn to prioritize according to our individual calling in Christ, because there are many evils in this world.

One thing I strongly believe that we should make priority is meekness—or gentleness—and self-control. We should prioritize patience with our fellow man, seek understanding of where they are coming from, and try to persuade others rather than tear them down.

We should prioritize faith in God, knowing that all things are part of His plan—including things that are not aligned with His perfect and pleasing will—and these things have no place in the Kingdom of Heaven; He will deal with it in His time.

The theme I keep going back to is this: When Jesus returns, we do not want to be found “drunk with the drunken and beating our fellow servants.”

So, we should stand up for what is right—but we should do so in the right way—or else the right we think we are doing is wickedness, and a wickedness of the most deceitful kind because we feel completely justified in what we are doing. I know because I’ve been there. I’ve been there a lot.

In whatever calling we have, whether we are standing up for what is right in our families, in our communities, in our churches, in the realms of societal ideations, politics, and so forth, we should do our best to be mindful of “what spirit we are of.”

The Holy Spirit will show us what is good and true, and the Spirit will also help us grow in wisdom so that we can apply that truth more precisely and effectively.

There are times for sharp words. Jesus spoke sharp words. Paul the apostle spoke sharp words. Steven, when he was being stoned, spoke sharp words. The Spirit is not always soft-spoken, and we do not want to be like the “women who sew pillows on the arms of God.”

However, being sharp should not be our go-to position because when it is, we are often dealing in a “spirit” that is not of God—but of Satan. We are accusing, slandering, and murdering. We are proud, vain, and self-serving. We are fearful and unbelieving.

None of us are immune to the devices of our enemy, but we should not be ignorant of them either.

We do not want to be among those who would “kill thinking they do God’s service.”

So, stand up for what is right, but do so in the right way by seeking Jesus often in prayer and through regular self-assessment of your own sin and the spirit you are doing things in.  

The more we are exercised in this, the stronger we will get. We will get bolder, wiser, and more effective for the Kingdom of Heaven. We will also learn when to speak and in what manner, and when to be silent and watch the Lord work in a different way. We will make mistakes, but we will grow in the right direction.

Also, when making a stand for what is good and true, we don’t have to do some big thing. The most important stand we take is with ourselves.

We should not stand for any sin in our lives. We do not want to claim to be sinless and we want to be honest with our sin. However, sin is still severe and we should not grow complacent in our fight against sin with faith in the power of Jesus to help us overcome.

The more sin we have in our life, the more clouded our judgment is and the more damage we are able to do without realizing it because we do not know our God as we aught to.

“Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.”

We can all grow in our knowledge of God, especially through the person of Jesus as we form a better relationship with Him and learn to walk in the Spirit.

In all the fighting against evil that we do, standing on-guard against the corruptions of our own heart is what matters most, and this is an on-going focus we should carry until the end of our life or the coming of our Lord, Jesus.

In all things, keep moving forward and trust in Jesus. ❤

My Experience of Receiving the Holy Spirit

I know that the topic of receiving the Holy Spirit is one of contention among Christians, and I understand why. I don’t think we have to experience the same things, and to judge each other according to our experiences with the Holy Spirit leads to a lot of unnecessary accusations. I want to write more about that, but for this article I want to focus on what I experienced.

I was raised with a cessationist mindset, but when I turned my heart to Jesus as an adult, I learned that many people still received the Holy Spirit in a remarkable way, even today. I had heard of such things as a child, but I did not believe them until I heard the testimony of a brother that rang true to me, and because I trusted this person I decided to seek more from the Holy Spirit myself.

I started asking to receive the Holy Spirit in late 2014.

I was learning about Christian doctrine, and I was also learning about how the teaching of Jesus encourage righteous living—and the more I learned about His teachings the more clearly I saw my sin—and the more I hated it. The more I learned, the more confused I felt also because the things I experienced within popular Christianity seemed contradictory to many of the things I was learning.

I wanted the Spirit because I heard that the Spirit would help me to overcome the sins I was struggling with. I also wanted better understanding of scripture and what God wanted from me as a Christian. I asked for the Holy Spirit often, but I did not notice anything remarkable until January of 2016. I did not think to remember the date. I wish I had. I do know it was in the last week of January, a couple of weeks after my 29th birthday.

I was feeling very down because of my inability to overcome sin in my life. I also started a Christian blog a few months prior, and I was afraid that I did not have any business writing such articles without the Holy Spirit.

So, I prayed again to Jesus, asking Him to send me His Holy Spirit. I expressed a desire to find freedom from the sins that I could not escape, and I wanted understanding. I wanted to know what He wants from us a Christians today so that I could find some clarity amid all the different ideas about the Christian faith today, and I wanted to share His will with others so that they could find a way out of confusion too.

I did not fully know what I was asking for, as far as the implications of the understanding I wanted, but I know that my heart was in the right place and what I wanted most was His Spirit so that I could live for Jesus more fully and help others also.

Jesus heard.

I was very upset when I was praying. I was crying and pleading, and I felt a lot of fear because of my sin and because of the state of the Christian world as I saw it at the time. As I was praying, that fear melted away and was instantly replaced with the most soothing peace I have experienced—and I have never experienced peace like it since, not to that same degree.

I also felt a sensation come over my body that is hard to explain. I’ve heard others describe it as a soft vibration, and that kind of describes it, but I can’t really describe it. It was a feeling from inside of me, not from the outside, and I have no words for it.

Once I realized what was happening, I thought, “This is it! It’s really happening!” I had bee laying in my bed crying prior to. I sat up and looked at my hands, kind of expecting to see something for some reason. I did not see anything, but I did begin to sing. I sang in another language that I did not understand, but I had the sense that I was singing about Christian churches. I did not know anything beyond that, other than the song was both a song of rebuke and a song of comfort.

Once that experience ended, some things changed.

I found instant relief from crippling social anxiety. I still have a strong dislike for public speaking, but the way I was before the Holy Spirit was much worse. I could not go shopping during peak hours, for example, because I’d have a panic attack. I could barely talk to people unless I was very comfortable with them. A lot of that was simply gone. This might seem small, but to me it was a big deal.

I also found the ability to resist drugs and alcohol, which was a crutch I used to deal with my social anxiety and depression.

I also thought that I would not sin anymore, but that was not the case. I still have sins that I struggle with. Most freedom from sin that I have experienced has been a gradual undoing of deeply ingrained issues. I will write more about that at some point, because I know that many think that we do not sin after receiving the Holy Spirit, but I know that my experience and that of others was not the case. So, this accusation needs to be addressed.

I understand how this story can be off-putting. For most of my life, I did not believe that such things could happen today, and if someone had told me this, I probably would not believe them. I would be more inclined to now, but I also know that we have to judge the fruit of such things because people can indeed be manipulated by their environment. I also realize that the specifics of my experience are not typical, and it makes me feel uncomfortable writing about it.

Even so, this is what happened, and I know that there is much that we can receive from the Holy Spirit—even today. So, I want to encourage people to seek the Holy Spirit by calling on the Name of Jesus.

I have a lot more that I want to write about this. I want to write about the things Jesus brought me through after I received the Spirit. His methods for teaching me were not what I expected, and I am still learning.

I also want to write about the contention surrounding the things of the Spirit for Christians today. I don’t think our experience has to go just one way. We should not accuse people who have not experienced anything remarkable as lacking the Spirit, and we should not accuse those who did as faking experiences, being mentally ill, or following a cult.

All things work according to the will and work of God and His purposes for us. Some of us are like Thomas, and we need something more or else we will fall away. I know I would have. I also know that Jesus is made strong in weakness, so it is the weakest of us who get to experience His power very often, and it is the weakest among us who are used to edify the brethren.

So, if you feel weak in the faith, the best advice I have is to seek the Holy Spirit—and seek often. I asked for about a year and a half—and nearly every day—before He came to me. He will do so according to His timing and ways, not ours. You don’t need to recite a special prayer. You don’t need to have people lay hands on you. However, if you feel convicted to visit a church that believes in receiving the Spirit with power to have people pray for you, you can.

I do know that our heart should be in the right place. If we are seeking the Spirit simply because we want to have some great experience, or because we want to conform to the social pressures of our denomination, then He might wait until we are seeking Him for more righteous reasons—like having the power to live more uprightly or to have stronger faith.

If you have questions about the things written here, if you want someone to talk to about your Christian journey, or if you have a story that you would not mind me sharing here, feel free to leave a comment or send an email.

Considering Proverbs 10:7

7 The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.

When we think about the “name of the wicked,” it can be easy to think about those extreme characters within the history of mankind. It can also be easy to think about people in our lives. Mankind is capable of a lot of wickedness, and we don’t have to look far to see it.

In-fact, if we want to see what mankind is capable of, all we really need to do is look at ourselves.

It can be easy to look at the sins of others, but if we consider ourselves to be among the “just” while someone else is among the “wicked,” then we are at risk of having a holier-than-thou mindset. To God, this is “a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.”

It is true that some people are more harmful than others, but a step in the direction of becoming holier-than-thou can lead us off a cliff. We focus on a certain wickedness in the world, find influential people who do the same, pledge our allegiance to these leaders and to our so-called righteous cause, then before long we feel completely just in our murderous actions towards others.

We see this a lot in the world today.

No one feels justified in destroying another human being like a person who rides on the red horse of self-righteous indignation—and these are not counted among the just, as they so esteem themselves—but among the wicked, the proud, the blind, the starving, and the dead.

It is kind of ironic. Those who consider themselves to be on the side of the “just” are often considered by God to be on the side of the “wicked.” We should not be so proud to think that we are immune to this.

There are many opportunities for falling into this trap in both large and small ways. However, if we look at our own sin first and foremost—including the sins for which we were graciously led away from by the mercy of God towards us—then we are more likely to stand in a humbled mindset that is not as prone to the blindness of the proud.

It is blindness to murder other human beings, and as Jesus teaches, murder occurs on a spectrum and none of us have clean hands in this. We have all killed, at least in the spirit, and we are all worthy of death.

Yet, though we are worthy of death, we have the blood of the Son of God covering us. We have His righteousness covering us and growing within us, transforming us into His likeness. We are even given a new name in the Kingdom of Heaven—a name, that as the name of Jesus Christ, will never pass away.

However, our old self must pass away. All things that belong to death must pass away, and that includes us. Should we remember our old self? Will we remember the wicked in the Kingdom of Heaven?

If we have progressed in righteous living, then taking some time to remember where we were brought from can be good for us. We should remember. Just as God’s people of old remembered how He brought them up out of the bondage of Egypt, we should remember how Jesus led us away from a life of bondage to sin.

We should never forget our sin and the mercy and grace of God in the person of Jesus that was shown to us—a grace and mercy that we do not deserve any more than anyone else.

However, in times of great distress and persecution, we can take comfort in knowing that the Lord does see the suffering of His saints and He will repay. The name of the wicked will rot and they will experience the second death.

Though their name will rot, we will not forget. “The smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever.” I believe that we will always know what Jesus did for us and we will never forget the fate of those who received His wrath instead of His mercy. We will be forever grateful and humbled before God. If it will be so in the eternity, then we should seek to have the same mindset now.

I want to remember the smoke of my own torment. A life of sin is torment. Being bound to sin that I cannot escape is torment. Going through hardship in this life as necessary to find freedom from sinful living is torment. Having my faith tried “as by fire” is torment. This life is torment—but the end thereof is Christ—and we have so much to look forward to.

When the torment is too much, we can have hope in all that we stand to inherit in the Kingdom of Heaven—and we should strive to endure with patience in our torment so that we do not justify tormenting others. If we can stand in such a manner, I believe that there is peace for us and a glorious entry into the Kingdom of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

I’ll Be Back

I don’t want to leave anyone hanging, so I want to write a little note letting everyone know that I fully intend to continue posting regularly as soon as possible.

I have some new challenges to adapt to and some ideas in the faith to work out, then I will be back, Lord willing. All is well. God is good!

❤

Amanda

Considering Proverbs 10:6

Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

What does this mean?

Those who do justly receive blessing from God. That makes sense. What about, “violence covers the mouth of the wicked?”

Does this mean that the wicked will have their mouth stopped violently?

Does this mean that the speech of the wicked is violence?

I’m not sure what the author meant by this, but all of these ideas are true.

There are scriptures in the New Testament about the importance of taming our tongue, because we can do a lot of damage with it.

For example, we can read this passage in James 3:

1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.

4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.

5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

We know that Jesus teaches against all forms of violence including violent words. During His sermon on the mount, Jesus said that those who murder are in danger of the judgment, and this includes our words. Calling someone a rude name for example is on the same spectrum of sin as murder.

Jesus also teaches us that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

Jesus also teaches that we should “make clean the inside of the cup so that the outside is clean also.”

So, it makes sense what James is saying. If we can bridle our tongue, then we are nearing perfection because we could not do so unless we had control over our hearts—and it’s these inner-man changes that are pleasing to Jesus—and He will perform it through the Holy Spirit.

I know how hard it is to tame the tongue. This has been one of my greatest struggles, and I have known that the issue goes deeper than the words I say. There are heart issues at work, and some of them have seemed like a tangled mess that’s hard to sort out. Things like fear, pride, jealousy, resentment, and unforgiveness can greatly corrupt the way we look at things and the way we respond to people around us.

Jesus is patient with us and He knows our frame. He will work on us so that we can learn to abstain from ungodly speech. However, we need to turn to Him in prayer often concerning this. We should never justify the harmful things we say, and we should certainly never blame others. We are responsible for what we do regardless of what someone did to us first.

If we are faithful to confess our sins and seek Jesus so that our heart issues are dealt with, then He is faithful to forgive us and lead us on a path of transformation.

We want to be those who “confess Jesus.” I don’t want my confession to be a one-time confession, but an on-going transformation that changes my heart so that the words of my mouth are without sin. I also want the ability to grow in speaking the words of God.

His words provide us with a defense that can work in many ways. Sometimes His words anger our enemies and exposes who they are, and when faced with the truth they destroy themselves by resisting and by the hatred they spew out onto those who speak God’s words.

Sometimes His words turn our enemies into our friends—and that should be the goal. I think if our hearts are cleansed, we will get more of the latter than the former. We will learn not to “cast our pearls before swine” and we will focus on those who need to hear words of light that encourage healing. In so doing, the enemy we destroy is not “flesh and blood, but principalities and powers of darkness.”

However, some of the “principalities and powers of darkness” include man-made systems and “kings” of all sorts—to which many men pledge their allegiance. Speaking the words of God against these will provoke many to violence and this cannot be helped. However, we should strive to remember the patience of the Lord and know that our weapons are of Spirit, and it is in the spirit we fight.

I know that those who are faithful to Jesus have a helmet of salvation, so we do not fear the violence of the wicked. We trust in the resurrection and the coming of our Lord who will avenge us of our adversaries.

Jesus also gives authority to His servants, and this is a kind of blessing on our head as well. I want more healing of heart. That is the blessing of the Lord that I seek most of all.

I know that the wicked speak violently and I also know that they will be destroyed with violence. I also want more ability to speak the words of God, and I know that I “cannot serve two masters.”

So, I will keep seeking the change of heart that I need so that I can speak His words faithfully—and His words are violence to the wicked well enough without me adding my own guile to them—and in-fact, my own guile prevents me from fighting the real enemy in the realms of “principalities and powers of darkness.”  My own guile turns the words of God into the words of the enemy—and I do not want to “kill you thinking I do God’s service.”

Maybe I am not seeing this correctly, but if not, I trust that the Lord will reveal it. He will lead us all to better understanding according to His perfect timing and perfect ways.

Remember Who Loved Us First

I’ve always had the mindset that a person must repent before they can be forgiven. I think this is true to a degree. How can we approach someone for forgiveness if we don’t see and admit to our fault? It is also important to admit our faults to the people we harmed, because validating their experience and showing sincere remorse for the harm we caused provides that person with closure, and this makes forgiveness much easier for the person we harmed.

I thought that if a person had wronged me and failed to admit to it, then I was justified in not forgiving them. Maybe so. In some cases, this might be the right thing because we do not want to enable people in their sin.

However, maybe that is not the most excellent way.

Jesus forgave us before we repented to Him. “We love Him because He first loved us.” If we want to be Christ-like, should we not do the same?

What if the person who harms us and others does so because they know that deep down you never forgave them for past mistakes?

That might sound strange at first, but think about it.

How would it feel to be in their shoes?

Imagine that you did some wrong to someone you love, and you were sorry but had a hard time admitting that fault because you did not think that the person could forgive you. Maybe they say that they did forgive you, but you don’t really believe it. Then, when you do something wrong and the person points it out, you don’t feel love from them. It might not matter how gentle the person was with you, all you can see is their unforgiveness. All you can feel is judgment. This temps you to harden your heart, so you do.

How can you move forward with the relationship if there is no real trust, safety, and accountability? There is pain and hardness of heart that might cause both people to view everything the other person does in the worst light. Problems are inevitable in such a case.

What then, if the person who you wronged, were to come to you and admit that they have had trouble forgiving you? What’s more, what if they blame their own hardness of heart instead of blaming you for what you have done?

You always knew they didn’t forgive you. Hearing them admit to this while also demonstrating a desire to find a place of forgiveness validates your experience. You drop your guard, just a bit.

What then, if the person expresses reasons why they have had a hard time forgiving you—not in a tone of accusing you—but in a tone of self-accountability for their own hardness of heart and unforgiveness?

Would you not hear them out? Maybe, you would even be willing to admit to the wrongs you have done that have gotten in the way of their ability to forgive?

Sometimes people have a hard time repenting, and sometimes we can make that easier on them by demonstrating a sincere desire to find a place of forgiveness—but not lying and saying that we have forgiven them when we haven’t. People can tell when you have not really forgiven them.

Sometimes we need to love others first, just as Jesus loved us first, and in so doing we create a place of repentance for them—just as He did for us.

If they still will not hear, then I don’t know. There comes a time when a person is dead in their sins if they will not hear the truth—but we must exhaust all resources and consider our own hearts very closely. If it is possible that our own unforgiveness is standing in the way, then that is something we should think about.

In any case, it is never our place to judge and condemn another person—not at their core level. God alone is the judge. Those who assume this position “stand where they ought not.”

We can judge the actions of another and the “fruit,” but there are many variables beneath the surface that we cannot see. I think if we were able to see them, we could find a place of healing for most things.

I love that about Jesus. “His eyes are as a flame of fire.” He sees it all—and though He sees our sin, He also can find reasons for mercy and I know we serve a God that loves mercy.

I think if we created a place in which people could show us their heart without fear of judgment, we would find a place of mercy and healing for most.

Therefore, we cannot condemn anyone. If God decides to condemn someone, then that is His right, and we all deserve condemnation.

“Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.” We all deserve to be an Esau. We all need the grace of God, and if we have received it, we should act as if we have received it.

It is easy to think that others are worse than us, especially those who hurt us or people we love. Yet, we are all sinful in like manner. Even if someone is doing more harm than us, making them feel like a sinner above all sinners will not help. Reassuring them that we are all sinful in like manner helps, and it helps even more if we can point to our own sins that are of a similar fashion.

We should try to humble ourselves enough that we are divorced from our emotions of being wronged so that we can do what is right. This can be hard, but the Lord will work all things in us according to His time and His way. Sometimes He hardens people so that His purposes are revealed—and that might include us at times—but He will show us the light. He will do all things in us as He has promised, and we will see His purposes and His working. How wonderful are His ways and how far beyond our ability to comprehend!

Forgiveness can be so hard. It is especially hard when we are not getting the validation and closure we desire. However, if the Lord leads us to do so, we should remember Who loved us and forgave us first—and how His doing so provided us a place of repentance.

There is no one way for every situation. Life is complicated. People are complicated and relationships are complicated. The Lord will lead us in all things if we humble ourselves, seek justice and truth, and love mercy. If we do these things, we will see the light and we will have peace.

If we do not do these things, we will have conflict, division, murder, and so forth—and the more we continue therein the more blind we become and the harder our hearts get.

Evil repays evil and the world is consumed and made void of any good thing. All that remains is death.

That was the fate of humanity.

 The gospel freed us from this.

A world that rejects the gospel will have to face this harsh reality, but we who are alive in Jesus Christ will overcome because He overcame first.

The Hour of Temptation

What happens when you expose someone who is as a “white-washed tomb filled with dead man’s bones?”

Sometimes they might rage at you in attempts to scare you off so that you will back down.

Sometimes they polish their tomb so that it is as white and bright as possible, so that they can continue to deceive people.

Sometimes they grab their filth, smear it onto you, then point at it and say, “ah ha! look at this filthy person.”

Sometimes they do all three.

The thing is, we are all as whitewashed tombs without Jesus. We all need healing from the inside out. Any good thing in us is of God, and if it were not for the grace of God we would have no hope. So, we love our enemies anyway.

Yet, there are those who hide behind their white-washed tombs then come out and hurt other people–again and again and again without real accountability. If you hold them accountable, or if you simply refuse to play their mind-games, they turn on you, as mentioned above.

It is hard to watch. It is hard to see someone make an outer Christian show, but you know better. On one hand, we all have our bad days. We all fail to measure up. Yet, there is a level of hypocrisy that is not acceptable.

Lord, judge it. That’s all I can say.

We cannot see the hearts of others, but sometimes the fruit is so fake or rotten, we can become tempted to judge our fellow servants in Christ. We should not. If they have fake or rotten fruit, then that stems from a wounded heart. If they are blind, then God has ordained it.

Lord, heal them and give us peace and patience and reveal our hidden sins to us as well.

God will do all things in the way that He deems best. If He wants to reveal their hidden sins, He will. If He wants them to pay for what they have done, He will repay. If He wants to extend mercy because they wear the blood of His Son, He will. If He judges them to count the blood of His Son as an unworthy thing by continuing in hypocrisy, lying, strife, and mercilessness, then so be it.

Seal the things of God up in your heart. Do not be overcome with evil. This can be a hard temptation–and one that will come upon the whole world. I have been tempted too. Lord willing, I will resist and keep resisting.

“They had almost consumed me on the earth, but I forsook not thy precepts. Quicken me after thy lovingkindness, so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth forever. Oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. They faithfulness is unto all generations. Thou hast established the earth and it abides. They continue this day according to thy ordinances, for all are thy servants.”

“When he shall come and find them drunken and beating their fellow servants, then the master of that house shall appoint their portion with the unbelievers.”

“Except thy law had been my delight, I had perished in my affliction. I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me. I am thine. Save me for I have sought thy precepts. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I will consider thy testimonies. I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad. Oh how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day.”

“And this is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do as I command you.”

I have been through my own kind of “hour of temptation” again and again–and these deal with the same sorts of temptations, just in different packages. This might be arrogant to say, but I think this is for a reason. Lord willing, I am coming out of this time. God’s will be done. I feel at peace about it. We shall see. ❤

How I Judge Forgiveness and Unforgiveness (Clarification)

What do I mean when I say, “Maybe if the Holy Spirit gives you the right words, they will repent. If not, they will die. It is a sad reality.”

Please do not take this in a literal sense as an excuse to harm someone. I do not advocate violence. I sometimes say things that are provocative because we are dealing with a serious matter, but then I realize how my words can be misused. If we find ourselves in a place in which we find no mercy, then we are dead in our sins.

How can we find freedom and life if we think that we are alive already, but dead? That is what I mean.

It can also be taken in this sense: If a person so grievously sins against us, they can become dead to us metaphorically unless they hear the voice of Jesus and come out of their grave, repent, and rise through proper reverence for the gospel.

We never forget this: The time comes that whosoever will kill you will think they do God’s service, and this they will do because they have not known the Father nor me,” says the Lord, Jesus.

I believe there will come a time in which many claim to be Christians but kill others–and they could do so thinking that they are saving their soul. They might justify themselves with scripture, thinking that they must destroy the flesh so that the spirit can be saved. This is speculation on my part, so take it as such.

If someone must be destroyed so that they can be saved, that is for God to handle because vengeance is His. If and when He does so, He will send and enemy to perform this work–an enemy who God will later destroy. We do not take this upon ourselves. We speak the truth, and if they do not hear, then they are dead.

Of course, this is in the context of dealing with serious issues of damaging sin that harms others without any accountability, and all things are judged on a case by case bases, and we seek the Spirit to help us know what is right.

Mercy is always best. Sometimes, in very rare cases, it is mercy to allow a person to face the consequences for what they have done, because forgiveness only enables them and leaves them trapped in their sin and in death.

There are multi layers of forgiveness. You can forgive in one sense, not letting resentment take hold. You can continue to hold hope for the person to heal and change, and we should hope that all will face a desirable judgment of God. Yet, we do not forgive them in the sense that they should be held accountable rather than free from the consequents of their actions. I hope that makes sense. Feel free to comment as always.

**This post was added to the bottom of the previous post as well as a precaution. It is scary at times to think of how our words can be misused. I will try to be more careful.**