I was watching Longmire reruns when I heard this line, “Forgiveness is not a natural thing for most people.” That is true. When we get rejected or laughed at or betrayed it is not the first thought that comes to mind.
We are human after all. The first thought is more like:
I’m gonna get you for that
I will never forgive you
It’s over
I will never trust you ever again
I can’t wait to get my revenge
No wonder Jesus had so much to say about forgiveness.
Have you ever met someone who refuses to forgive someone? They are angry, they are bitter, and they are stuck. You know, they repeat the same old story about how somebody wronged them every time you see them. They refuse to let it go. They gossip, they cut others down, and they stir up drama – all to get the focus off themselves. They blame everybody for everything. It’s sad really. You know they are miserable.
I have known people who harden their hearts and develop a root of bitterness. Roots grow deep. Once this happens they lose their joy and hope. You can’t tell them anything because they don’t want to hear it. They poison the lives of those they touch. They bring strife, division, and even hatred.
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; – Hebrews 12:14-15 NKJV
So what should we do?
Repent of any unforgiveness in our hearts. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind those we have not yet forgiven.
Forgive them and forgive yourself for holding on to it.
Pray for the person you had a resentment against. Yes, pray for them. Ask God to bless them. Then you will be free of it.
Trust God to deal with it. “Vengeance is mine says the Lord, I will repay.” Let God take care of it. Trust Him to make it right.
What they did may be wrong. But so you really want to be stuck there forever? Do you really want to be tied to that wrong forever? God can’t deal with them or make it right until you let it go.
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” – Matthew 6:14-15
Are you a water carrier or a fire carrier? Great post on gossip and fault finding and what to do when someone is gossiping or putting you or someone else down.
we all have opportunities to make people look bad; we hear rumors, things that we don’t know for sure are true, but it’s tempting to repeat them. it’s not that we’re a bad person, we’re just telling what we heard. or maybe we know something about a person that is true, they made a mistake, they had a failure; it’s easy to justify telling that because it’s the truth. but there are a lot of things that are true that we don’t need to tell; we should do our best to never show people in an unflattering light
1 Peter 3:10 (MSG)
Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, Here’s what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful;
we live in a society that’s filled with rumors, gossip, innuendos. there’s a lot of chatter these days, people talking on the internet…
Blackbirds say they’re her friend
But their gossip never ends
Those Birds of a feather
really do flock together
The Bluebird sings as
She rides the waves in the wind
Down the river through the clouds
Her Spirit flies above the things they said
Bubbling brooks and rushing streams,
she’s chasing her dreams
Little boys with guns try to
shoot her down just for fun
Sunrise cracks open the skies
Out of her nest she flies higher
The Bluebird sings as
She rides the waves in the wind
Down the river through the clouds
Her Spirit flies above the things they said
Bubbling brooks and rushing streams,
she’s chasing her dreams
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God’s Sunrise will break in upon us, Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, Then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace. (Luke 1:78-79 MSG)
Letting go of toxic people. People that are out to hurt you. Jealousy, insecurity, fear…all lead to anger. And Ms. D is not playing that game. Here are my thoughts to my “haters”:
I will not let your anger control me. You anger is exactly that – your anger. I am sorry you see me as a threat. I am not against you. I pray for you. I want the best for you – even of you don’t. I will not enter your arena of gossip and bad mouthing. I am not interested.
My lesson, – live and let live. I love you enough to let you be fully responsible for your actions. Gossip kills. Back- biting kills. And every time you gossip to me about someone else – I know you are gossiping about me behind my back.
I am making a new choice. I cannot trust you with my life anymore. You do not value me or my life. You make fun of me and my family while you sit on your pedestal.
I forgive you. But I am not sharing my life with you anymore. You have shamed my children and me. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. I reject your inference that I am not right in the heart, and that I am not right with God. You don’t get a say. My relationship with God is my relationship, not yours. And who gave you the right to bad mouth and shame my kids?
You have no idea what my life is like. And the sad part is, I know you don’t really care. Take your self -righteous attitude, your big mouth, your pride and arrogance, and just keep it to yourself. I am not playing. I am not interested. You are not my friend, so stop pretending.
Yes, I have had enough. Forgive my rant. Can we just be real? Friends don’t do that. So stop calling me that.
[The] women likewise must be worthy of respect and serious, not gossipers, but temperate and self-controlled, [thoroughly] trustworthy in all things. (1 Timothy 3:11 AMP)
I know I am sensitive with this issue. I have been stalked. I have had people chase me with cars, on foot, on the phone, in person, and even show up outside my glass sliding door. I have had things outside destroyed. I have had nails in my driveway, cars vandalized, broken windows, etc. I have had people sneak into my apartment. I know the terror that comes with being stalked.
However, now I am finding stalking in a new arena – online. Has this happened to you? I find myself ‘hiding’ and not wanting to come online. All because someone wouldn’t be respectful. I have had ex’s stalk my Linkedin. I have had old High School people I know nothing about try to message and contact and put something on my FaceBook page everyday. And then when I deny a friend request – they ‘friend’ my brother just so they can post on my page. Did you know that ‘friends of friends’ can see everything on your FaceBook Page? I tried to change it and it went back. I am seriously thinking of deleting the whole thing.
I have had many, many people post negative things – all on my space. I get weary sometimes of monitoring all the online stuff. Yes, I have reached many – but with a cost. There are haters, there are trolls – those who hunt you down just to try to pull you under the bridge. And then there are some who will not take “NO” for an answer in this ‘instant’ age. P.S. I am not your ‘fix’. I am not your ‘drug’. I am not your ‘instant messenger’.
If you text me and I don’t answer – I am busy.
If you call me next and I don’t answer – perhaps I do not want to talk.
If you e-mail me next – I will not answer.
So why do you send another text?
And then post something on my FaceBook page? Post on your own page.
And then when I still do not answer why do you message me on FaceBook?
And then when I do not answer you instantly you start calling other people to bad mouth me – really?
Seriously? I didn’t answer. I am busy, or not available, or I DO NOT want to talk right now. I get to choose who and when I want to talk to. Please – respect my privacy. Respect my boundaries. No means No. I have choices too – it’s not always about YOU!
And the more you do it – the less I will answer.
In my opinion that is rude – and stalking. Knock it off!
ok, kind of a rant today. This is not true of all the Shepherds/Sheep I know – some are surrounded by the love of God and share with others. Some would give you the shirt off their back if they knew you needed one. Maybe I just have a bad attitude today, idk. Might just be me – so if so, forgive my rant.
But then there are those who like the power and control. And maybe it’s me – I know I am overly sensitive to that spirit. Yeah – paid the price for welcoming that thing into my life. But then again, that’s why it makes me so mad. It is such a destroying spirit. Tears down everything good to be on the throne. Wants everyone to worship it.
ugggh!
I have found that just like in the world, there are those in the church that thrive on power and control. And there are those who abuse it. Who take advantage of people when they are at their lowest. Those who kick you when you are down. And use religion to justify their ‘holier-than-thou attitude’. Maybe you have run into a few?
So, here’s my rant:
Sometimes the ‘religiosity’ of people in church drives me nuts. There, I said it. I have been beaten down by people, the world, my flesh, Satan, his demons, men, bosses, etc…and I am sure you have had your share too. And yet it infuriates me when other “Christians” insist that what Jesus did is not good enough. Like I could add something to that perfect sacrifice. Yeah, right.
You hear it..
You need to read your Bible more (How much is enough?)
You need to pray more (I do pray, I didn’t know we were in a contest)
You need to repent, again and again cuz you are such a screw up (I thought Jesus took care of that – yesterday, today, and even my mistakes I do tomorrow.)
You know, not everyone is getting into Heaven – implying they are, but none of us ‘sheep’ are. (Oh, I guess I better pay for the upgrade…)
You need to tithe more (Wow, guess I’ll stop paying my mortgage and electricity – yeah cardboard box, that will work.)
You need to go knock on some doors and bring those people here (I think they know they live next to a church)
You need to … blah, blah, blah
Newsflash –
I know I have sinned, do you need to beat me over the head with it?
How can I repent and come to the alter when you continually kick me when I am down?
I came to church to be forgiven – by Jesus, not by you. You are not my God, God is God all by himself. He really did do it without you.
While you are busy fighting with the other Shepherds about whose doctrine is right/wrong – your sheep are being eaten by the wolves. Yeah, that would be me. And other sheep I know.
If you don’t stop beating the sheep up, they are not going to keep coming back. Starving sheep don’t do well.
If you don’t guard and protect the sheep they will continue to get hurt buy the wolves. If you don’t lead, we won’t follow.
It really isn’t about you, or me. I am ok with that. It’s about HIM.
This is not your church. This isn’t your kingdom. That is not your money – It belongs to JESUS.
My dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.
Here’s how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God. And everyone who refuses to confess faith in Jesus has nothing in common with God. This is the spirit of antichrist that you heard was coming. Well, here it is, sooner than we thought!
My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world’s language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception. (1 John 4:1-6 The Message (MSG))
(P.S. Yes, I have been kicked out of places – me and my big mouth. I know, I need more healing here. What do you think?)
give you. But I am not sharing my life with you anymore. You have shamed my children and me. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. I reject your inference that I am not right in the heart, and that I am not right with God. You don’t get a say. My relationship with God is my relationship, not yours. And who gave you the right to bad mouth and shame my kids?
