Thank God for letting me see this today! Not that I am in a fighting mood or anything, It just served as a good reminder that we really don’t have to fight.
It seems that so many times our first reaction is to react to whatever force is opposing us. However, is this the solution? Be it arguing, being contentious, worrying, getting stressed, frustrated, depressed or whatever. In that moment, in that instance are we saying: God, I don’t trust you?
For me, what I have noticed over the past few years is that anger, fighting, stubbornness can be the simplest tool the devil can use against us. It by definition can cause those of us who are supposed to be together to separate to become combative with one another and be the most unproductive. However, what if we went into our differences understanding that God has a plan for us and no matter what you do to me, you will not get me off track for what God has for me. In knowing understanding this I know understand that God also wants me to give more than receive, to serve more than be served, to sometimes even suffer as Jesus suffered. So no I don’t have to fight you, I just have to do what I know understand is scriptural and correct.
Don’t get me wrong, I know there are times when we all get angry or feel the need to fight instead of flight. But that instinct comes from the premise of self preservation, survival of the fittest, yet the Bible tells us in Luke 9 23And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25“For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? 26“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27“But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
I by no way am professing to have the answers. I am seeking to better understanding why when there is chaos around me I feel better when I don’t fight. Why anger and frustration almost feel like a sickness when I experience them. Why I feel better once I have prayed and asked God to guide my tongue and worse when He directs me to be quiet and still and I don’t listen and fight my own battles. I know, there are many instances in the Bible where people fought, but they weren’t always fighting for their own gain nor were they guiding their own footsteps. When they did, it did not always work in their favor, for example David’s slaying of Uriah 2 Samuel 12 1The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
11“This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
13Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt,a the son born to you will die.” While what David experienced was not necessarily a fight against another person, his own internal struggle for what he wanted/to get his way vs. what God commanded inevitably caused him to sin and to be punished by God. What would have been different if he had surrendered the battle of his flesh unto the Lord? Did David being so favored by God go to his head give him a sense of entitlement that made him go too far?
Lord today and forever help me to bridle my tongue. Thank You for the promise to fight my battles for they are too great and too many for me to handle alone. Help me to be still and to allow You to work and move on my behalf. Lord help me to understand that right to the world is so insignificant in comparison to being right with You. Keep Your love and peace with me and grant me the strength to know the difference between my wants and Your plans. Thank You for being strong in my weakness and imperfections. Let Your presence in my life be so great that any force in opposition to Your will in my life be removed. Finally Lord thank You for the increase and expansion of peace in my life and the life of those that I Love.
Humbly written,
RiverAngel42
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