Instead, I can make a decision that I am not going to get into a confrontation and end up with a bad attitude myself. I can allow the love of God that is shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost to come forth, and I can respond with the love of God. When you do that, you can see something amazing happen. It is very difficult for somebody to maintain a bad attitude when they are confronted with the love of Jesus flowing out of your heart.
We ought to be kindhearted and tenderhearted toward one another. We ought to allow the tenderness of heaven to work through us. The flesh wants to say, “I’m not going to let that person get away with that. I’m going to tell them what I think.” But if somebody is not teachable, you may simply escalate the situation into a confrontation that is not worth having. There is a better way. Let the love of God rule the way you respond.
I saw a news report on YouTube about a gentleman who was around 67 years old. He was shopping in a store and wearing a mask, and a woman was standing very close behind him. He politely asked her if she could give him a little space. She moved aside, but apparently her boyfriend became angry because this man had asked his girlfriend to move away from him. According to the report, the boyfriend waited outside, followed the gentleman toward his vehicle, and punched him in the chest. The man had recently undergone open-heart surgery, and naturally he was concerned about what that blow might have done to him. The police eventually found the attacker and arrested him.
Think about what happened there. In one moment, somebody allowed anger and the flesh to take control, and suddenly his whole life was turned upside down. That is why we have to be so careful that we do not react or overreact in the natural. It is not worth it. I would rather react with the love of God. I would rather allow the Holy Spirit to rise up on the inside of me and show me how He wants me to respond.
When we have fervent love for one another, it also changes the way we look at other people in the body of Christ. There are people who may irritate you just by nature. They rub you the wrong way. But when you walk in the love of God, it does not really matter because love covers a multitude of sin. Instead of simply seeing somebody with a bad attitude, maybe I can recognize that this is a person who has a problem that I can help them with. Maybe, because there is compassion in my heart instead of irritation, God can give me a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom that will help that person overcome whatever is causing the bad attitude. Then we become the hand of Jesus extended, helping somebody else to become free.
Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” I love that. The joy of the Lord is your strength. The people had been hearing the scroll read, and they were sorrowful and crying, but Nehemiah told them not to sorrow. He told them to go their way, eat the fat and drink the sweet, because the joy of the Lord was their strength.
When I read about eating the fat and drinking the sweet, I think about the "fat" represention the oil of joy and the anointing, the presence of God. Get filled and stay filled with the anointing. Receive the anointing and live in the anointing, because the anointing destroys the yoke of bondage and lifts the burden from off your shoulder.
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing." Isaiah 10:27 Of course God was talking about the yoke of the Assyrian occupation, that would be broken by the power of God. But the same principle is true of our lives. Whatever is opressing you, bad habits, anger, bitterness, fear etc, the anointing will destroy it and as the original Hebrew text puts it, "Will prevent it from coming back"
God does not want us continually living under the weight of human emotions, fear, anxiety, and all the other things that try to assail mankind. The joy of the Lord is our strength.
We can talk about the gifts of the Spirit. We can talk about how God wants to bless our ministries, and receive prophetic words, and all the wonderful things God wants to do through His people. But the things I am talking about here are foundational. We need these foundations in the body of Christ. We cannot become the true body of Christ walking in the freedom that is in Christ until we learn how to overcome these things.
Forgive and forget. Walk in the peace of God. Walk in the love of God. Let the joy of the Lord be your strength. These are foundational truths that help us live every day in Freedom in Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” Notice what it says. It does not say give thanks for all circumstances. It says give thanks in all circumstances. There is a big difference.
Maybe you are going through financial pressure. You can sit there looking at your finances and thinking, “What am I going to do? How am I going to pay this? Where is the money going to come from?” If we focus on the problem all day and every day, depression, fear and anxiety will take hold, because all we can see is the problem in front of us.
Instead of continually focusing on the problem, begin to give God thanks right in the middle of the circumstances. When you begin giving thanks, the joy of the Lord begins to rise up on the inside of you. The love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost. Fear begins to leave because the word of God says "There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror!" 1st John 4:18 AMPC. I love the way the Amplified Classic translates the Hebrew text " love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror"
When we give thanks and praise the Lord, Anxiety begins to leave. The joy of the Lord becomes our strength, and the peace of God begins to flood our hearts. Suddenly we begin looking at the problem differently.
- God is never caught by surprise by human frailty.
- He is never caught by surprise by the mistakes you and I make as human beings.
God knows exactly where we are and what we are doing and thinking, and He will "always cause us to triumph in Christ Jesus" 2 Cor. 2:14 .
So we can say,
- Lord, I thank You that You are going to cause me to triumph through this thing.
- I don’t know how I’m going to get through this mess.
- I don’t know where the finances are going to come from for what I need, but I am going to trust You because You are my Provider.
- You are El Shaddai, the God who is more than enough.
- You are Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides all my needs.
- I am going to trust You, and
- I am going to give You thanks.
Give Him thanks on purpose, and do it with a rejoicing heart. Instead of coming before God continually rehearsing how terrible everything is, begin to rejoice. Say,
- Father, I thank You Lord, that in the midst of the storm You cause me to triumph.
- I thank You that whatever I am going through right now, You are going to bring me through.”
That is how we begin to walk differently.
- Instead of allowing somebody else’s attitude to determine our attitude, we respond with love.
- Instead of allowing sorrow and heaviness to dominate us, we let the joy of the Lord become our strength.
- Instead of allowing circumstances to fill us with fear and anxiety, we give thanks in the midst of those circumstances and
- allow the peace of God to fill our hearts.
* Walk in love. * Walk in joy. * Give thanks in all circumstances.
Let the love of God determine how you respond to people. Let the joy of the Lord become your strength, and when you are facing something you do not know how to overcome, give thanks to God in the middle of it and trust Him to bring you through.
These are not just nice thoughts.
They are foundational truths for living in Freedom in Christ.
God bless you richly,
Gil Howard-Browne www.revivaltimes.com
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