Overcoming our bent toward bitterness and revenge ...

All the days of my life may this be my song and my story.

Oh.My.Goodness !!! It's almost August !!! - that means in a little while Jesus and I get to celebrate our 2nd year anniversary! Wow !!!! Just Wow! This is no small or ordinary news to me and it literally blows me away that this is the reality of my life story !! But I'll get more into that in next month's post, so look out for that!! That said - it hass not been an easy season and if anything, it's been getting harder. I am reminded that our minds need no nudge to think and feel negative - it is our default natural setting. The choice to deliberately choose to be positive no-matter the outcome or situation or season we are in, now that's the real job !! - but thank God for His Word, that helps me nullify every thought that dares me to doubt God's goodness and God's love and God's sovereignty. Thank God for He has already spoken and continues to speak and ultimately He alone has the final say. So like David, I choose to encourage myself in the Word especially in my dark and dry seasons, I choose to oppose and object every negative thought and feeling and counter it with the Word of the Living God. And even when I don't feel too good or too strong, I keep going, one foot after the other, remembering God's mercies are new every morning. "No matter what Rita - you will not fear" I tell myself, 'I will be bold and courageous like God tells me to be' I continue to say, " because in my weakness, God.is.Strong!. Lord I believe, help my unbelief......."

And trust me, I KNOOOOOWW from my own very real and present experience that this is easier said than done - but it is possible!! It is !! Definitely the harder and tougher way but also the much much better way!! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you and then let Him guide you and follow His lead.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. - 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

May "Fred Hammond's - Breathe Into Me Oh Lord"  minister to you like it has me!!
check it out here :).

So last month's blog titled "I tell you 490 times"  was about us learning about forgiveness - and you can read that here to get the foundation of our lesson. Soon after, I came across these on my Desiring God daily devotions and I will share them to further cement our lesson, let's call this a follow up.
So we remember that no-matter what our emotions justify, we have been commanded to forgive.
God will help us, so let us all learn to let it all go....

How Christ Conquered Bitterness

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter2:23)

No one was more grievously sinned against than Jesus. Every ounce of animosity against him was fully undeserved.

No one has ever lived who was more worthy of honor than Jesus; and no one has been dishonored more.

If anyone had a right to get angry and be bitter and vengeful, it was Jesus. How did he control himself when scoundrels, whose very lives he sustained, spit in his face? 1 Peter 2:23 gives the answer.

What this verse means is that Jesus had faith in the future grace of God’s righteous judgment. He did not need to avenge himself for all the indignities he suffered, because he entrusted his cause to God. He left vengeance in God’s hands and prayed for his enemies’ repentance (Luke23:34).

Peter gives this glimpse into Jesus’ faith so that we would learn how to live this way ourselves. He said, “You have been called [to endure harsh treatment patiently] . . . because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

If Christ conquered bitterness and vengeance by faith in future grace, how much more should we, since we have far less right to murmur for being mistreated than he did?

Give God Your Revenge

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)

Why is this such a crucial promise in overcoming our bent toward bitterness and revenge? The reason is that this promise answers to one of the most powerful impulses behind anger — an impulse that is not entirely wrong.

I can illustrate with an experience I had during my seminary days. I was in a small group for couples that began to relate at a fairly deep personal level. One evening we were discussing forgiveness and anger. One of the young wives said that she could not and would not forgive her mother for something she had done to her as a young girl.

We talked about some of the biblical commands and warnings concerning an unforgiving spirit.

• Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)
• “If you do not forgive others . . . neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:15)

But she would not budge. I warned her that her very soul was in danger if she kept on with such an attitude of unforgiving bitterness. But she was adamant that she would not forgive her mother.

The grace of God’s judgment is promised to us here in Romans 12 as a means of helping us overcome a spirit of revenge and bitterness.

Paul’s argument is that we should not take vengeance, because vengeance belongs to the Lord. And to motivate us to lay down our vengeful desires he gives us a promise — which we now know is a promise of future grace — “‘I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

The promise that frees us from an unforgiving, bitter, vengeful spirit is the promise that God will settle our accounts. He will do it more justly and more thoroughly than we ever could. Therefore we can back off and leave room for God to work.

One more thing,  Guess what ??!!! I found out some super exciting news !!! Heather and Cornelius Lindsey of The Gathering Oasis church in Atlanta are coming down February 2017 !! Kenya are you READY!!! ( their trip includes Tanzania and Nigeria) They've both featured on here but more especially for me, their walk and obedience to Christ is one of the ministries God strongly used to point me to Him and lead me to salvation, so you can only imagine my joy !! - I'm having conversations with Jesus like you sure know how to surprise your girl! So I have no details about any of it - but the news is out and that's enough for me to get me praising!! Let's all keep praying about their plans and may God show up in such a mighty mighty strong way !!! Also check out his & her pages !! May they teach you, grow you, bless you and lead you to Jesus !!!

Okay that's all for today, thanks for checking in, don't forget to look out for next months post!!! Aaaaahhhh **scream** - it's almost our Anniversary Jesus !!! Oh yea !!!!!! 

Love, Ree. 

Come over to My Facebook Page to stay in touch with me when I am not on here :)

Ps: If you are ever in Nairobi and are looking for a church family to visit with, during your short or long stay. My church Eagle's Faith Christian Centre ( EFCC) would be privileged to host you! OR if you live in Nairobi and are looking for a church family or if you simply want to visit and send our love back to your home church family, get in touch with me for directions, or Get Directions Here  !

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" I tell you - 490 times ... "

Growing in salvation comes with so many lessons and levels, there never is a really knowing it all in this journey, soooooooo much room in our hearts to learn and after we are done learning, to learn some more!! It's incredible !! I know God's really been working a good one on me on the topic of forgiveness, and not only the big obvious offences but also the tiny almost invisible ones that have you feeling resentment towards the person almost kinda 'out of nowhere', but yea there is no such thing, it built up because we let it accumulate !

Wanna be happy ? :)

My dictionary says forgive means: to stop feeling angry or resentful towards (someone) for an offence or mistake (an offence, flaw, or mistake). And according to Wiki, the act of forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offence, lets go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender well.

I saw this somewhere  -  Not forgiving someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.  Well I don't think God want us trying to kill other people but how true is it that not forgiving is literally killing you from the inside instead and  yet the person who offended you is moving along swiftly with their lives! God revealed this one thing to me when I 'rightly so' held resentment against abc or d's unjust actions towards me. He was like " Rita you've got to realise that when there is resentment and anger in your heart it messes up My free flow communication channel with you, now your spirit is clogged up and you won't be able to hear clearly from me. You are angry and you are bitter and those are not fruit of my Spirit dwelling inside of you. Yes I understand you are hurt and going by the facts on the table, you have a right to be - but you are forgetting that vengeance is mine. So give the pain and the hurt to me, lay it by my feet and leave it here, let me heal the wound they caused you, let it go - you don't have to wait for an apology from them, let it go and feel my love for you, isn't my unhindered presence much much much more worth having than you receiving the justice you want your own way? " and as soon as I obey Him, instantly I begin to feel better. It's like that season or hours or minutes of not forgiving took you off course and once you let it go to Jesus it's like your realign your focus and can see clearly again and His presence in and around you just starts to give you so much peace and joy and life!! I am reminded of a conversation I had with a friend sometime ago that helped me realise this other aspect of forgiveness, that when anyone hurts or offends you His creation - technically speaking it's God they are offending and hurting - it is Him we sin against, not man, plus He see's their heart and He see's all the evidence of the case, hidden and presented which we don't. So doesn't that mean He alone is the ultimate jury and not us?

The bible teaches us a whole lot about letting go - in fact it commands us to forgive as one of the way to resist the devil !! This to me means the enemy also uses and manipulates situations to get us into not forgiving to his own twisted advantage!! 

Ephesians 4:26 26“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger, 27and do not give the devil a foothold.
Matthew 6:14  14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 6:9 9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our sins, as we also have forgiven those who sin against us. 13 And lead us not into temptation,but deliver us from the evil one.’ 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 6:1414 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Mark 11:25 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
1 Peter 3:9 9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 
Romans 12:1717Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody. 
Colossians 3:1313Bear with each other and forgive any complaint you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 
Ephesians 4:32 32Be kind and tender-hearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

Matthew 18:22
21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times! ..........for Jesus was speaking not only about forgiving one another but about Christian character - they were still thinking in the limited terms of the law, rather than in the unlimited terms of grace. Jesus was not limiting forgiveness to 490 times, a number that is, for all practical purposes, beyond counting. Christians with forgiving hearts not only do not limit the number of times they forgive; they continue to forgive with as much grace the thousandth time as they do the first time. Christians are only capable of this type of forgiving spirit because the Spirit of God lives within us, and it is He who provides the ability to offer forgiveness over and over, just as God forgives us over and over. if we are forgiven the enormous debt of sin against a holy God, how much more should we be eager to forgive those who sin against us, who are just as sinful as they? - Source : gotquestions.org

You haven't truly forgiven that person if every time you see their name or hear their voice you get this feeling of disgust or irritation in the pit of your stomach. Instead of holding onto forgiveness, ask the Lord to help you to forgive by faith. Then, instead of replaying how they hurt you, pray for them. Praying for them will free you FOR you. - Source : Heather Lindsey

I am not belittling your pain, or in any way assuming this is an easy affair. The world is and does get very heavy, and so does the pain but God asks that we cast our cares and burdens on Him, that we stop moving around with this heavy load - and He promises to help you through it, never will He leave you or forsake you. He wants to take away your pain and make you whole, and you can't do that by holding on to this load. So trust Him, it is so worth your life to let go !

Let's all learn and purpose and be intentional to letting it go, to heed and follow the nudging and instruction of the Holy Spirit, to live without heavy laden hearts...  There is something so beautiful and so worth it on the other side of our obedience! When we hear His voice, let us not harden our hearts. Not forgiving makes our hearts hard and dark and sad.

So I'll end it here today with this beautiful exhortation reminding us about forgiving quickly as a Christian character that I stumbled onto if I am not mistaken via DesiringGod,org when I had already began to draft this - talk about confirmation !!

QUICK TO FORGIVE

Guard your heart but do not repay evil with evil

" Ephesians 4:32  "Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you."

The Bible teaches us to forgive “readily and freely.” That is God’s standard for us, no matter how we feel about it. We are to be quick to forgive.

According to 1 Peter 5:5, we can clothe ourselves with the character of Jesus Christ, meaning that we can choose to be long-suffering, patient, not easily offended, slow to anger, quick to forgive, and filled with mercy. My definition of “mercy” is to look beyond what is done to me that hurts and discover the reason why it was done. Many times people do things even they don’t understand themselves, but there is always a reason why people behave the way they do. Perhaps they are hurting and in their own pain they don’t even realize they are hurting someone else.

God forgives! We are to be merciful and forgiving, just as God in Christ forgives us our wrongdoing. He not only sees what we do that is wrong, but He understands why we did it and is merciful and long-suffering. The choice to forgive others is ours. God will not force anyone to do it. Even if you don’t understand it, believe that God’s way is the best. It works. He can take what Satan meant to destroy you and turn it for your good. "

We are to forgive in order to keep Satan from getting the advantage over us. Recognise seeds of anger and bitterness and grudges as the enemy's type of tools used to kill, steal and destroy our peace, joy, lives, our communion with God and even cost us eternity! and that they are not of God. God brings joy to those whose hearts are broken. Let us draw near to God and not allow anything to keep us from Him.  James 4:6 6But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts,

Through the all the storms that will come our way - Keep your heart on Jesus - the Holy Spirit will help you! He will comfort you in way no revenge would ever achieve.

Let us all choose to way of forgiveness.

[{ UPDATED }] When you get the time, check out this 12 minute video by Heather Lindsey titled The Poison of Unforgiveness , that I see today after I posted this blog yesterday - do check it out - and my take on this is God is repeating Himself because He really really wants us to search our hearts and let go, let it all go!

PS : Also listen to this song by Nathaniel Bassey - that has a very interesting warning message about unforgiveness.

I pray this blog post has blessed you as much as it has blessed me writing it.

God bless,

Love Ree.

In the spirit of TBT, I found this baby - sigh, I really need a holiday, lol

Come over to My Facebook Page to stay in touch with me when I am not on here :)

Ps: If you are ever in Nairobi and are looking for a church family to visit with, during your short or long stay. My church Eagle's Faith Christian Centre ( EFCC) would be privileged to host you! OR if you live in Nairobi and are looking for a church family or if you simply want to visit and send our love back to your home church family, get in touch with me for directions, or Get Directions Here  !

The published information in no way reflects the views and opinion of my employer and represents only my personal viewpoint.

Comments are not moderated but author reserves the right to remove any comment deemed defamatory, inappropriate, or spam.