Monday, May 17, 2010

Supporting Your Other



Whether you are married or part of a small covenant group, supporting another brother or sister in the Lord needs to mirror that patience that the Bridegroom displays with us.

Hello I'm freedom 1 & today I'm talking about "Supporting Your Other".  I'll be using an example from within my marriage today, but this isn't for just married people... this understanding is broader, as in people in a covenant relationship-- beyond marriage, who's your accountability partner, or your inner circle you share with?  So if you're single but in a small prayer group or the like, this is definitely for you too.

On to my story:
I was purchasing an item from someone in our locale via an online message board, and so I was arranging a pay and pick-up for the items.  I remembered that my husband had business in that part of town & asked him if he could go get them.  So, I forwarded him my email chat with the seller so he could see the price and the address in which to pick up the items from.

Later, I receive an email from the seller telling me my husband left twice as much money as he was supposed to & that although she appreciated it, that if it was an error, that she'd be happy to refund the extra money.  This comes after a few riffs and tiffs earlier in the week where I just didn't feel listened to by my wonderful spouse.

The amount of money wasn't enough to really worry about... I figured he didn't pay attention to the email and thought it was that amount per item & not for both together.... sure enough He confessed that later.   But...  I found myself so hung up on the fact that he didn't pay attention that I took it personally and got angry about it.  My response to the seller was:  "Nope, men that don't pay attention to directions should lose their money. --Ha ha."

Boom!  Things went downhill after that.  The seller, also a woman,
L O V E D my comment and told me she was rolling and laughing, but something happened to me... even though I was in good company for a laugh, I started to feel bad about having said it.  I do joke with my husband and I don't say things that I'd be ashamed for him to find out... but I realized that this was more than just jesting talk... my spirit had agreed with this statement.  And that 'badness' that I felt was the Holy Spirit's displeasure... I was feeling a separation from God. 

When my husband came home I told him his err & told him what I told the woman & he didn't care... but still... I felt bad.... I had wished he cared & would reprimand me, but only I knew that I had agreed with that spirit.  My 'laughing words' were not a joke.  They were said out of anger.  How many times do we get bombarded with media & let it roll off of us, with no effect?  Bad movies, bad shows... How many times there's a sad song on the radio, but we don't allow the sadness to creep inside?  But in this very small situation God was teaching me and showing me that I know His heart... & that I KNOW BETTER.

Soon, I found myself needing my wallet for some reason & I swore I had placed it in my back pocket... not there.  On the counter where I always keep it... not there.  Not, not, not anywhere.  Soon I enlist the kids to look for it & ask my husband to keep an eye out for it as well.  Retracing all my steps... even wondering if I flushed it inadvertently down the toilet. 

Finally, I find myself out in the garage with my face to the floor looking under an organizer I had moved previously that day & all the sudden the Spirit of God echoed those words to me...  "...should lose their money".  I felt grieved in my spirit & realized I needed to apologize to God and man.  I realized that looking was a fruitless waste of my time...even if I had flushed it down the toilet... the God of all creation could make it appear & be completely dry if He wanted to.  This was not a misplaced or lost item... it was an intentional lesson.

I ran in the house & proclaimed that I was suffering judgement for my words & apologized to my husband.  I stopped looking & quietly apologized to God with earnest prayer & from across the room I could hear my husband inviting the angels in to show us where to look.  Immediately after that, I found my black wallet on my office chair.

My husband was notably shaken because he had already looked on that chair 2 times during the search.

So what can we learn from this today... 
...that we really do know better, & it takes humility to rise from it though.  

We can't judge others because we don't know if their spirit has aligned with the words, thus, giving them power.  And I say this because we can't go around playing moral cop with everything that people say because we're not perfect & will eventually fall short and besides... who wants to listen to "Don't do that, do this!"  We just do our part by not agreeing with words. 

In my case, I instituted the judgement and the seller agreed with me.  So, guess what I did next?  I told her my testimony experience to right my wrong.  God will always turn your failures around for an even greater testimony, but you must humble yourself to reveal His glory. 

As I wrote her all that happened, I prayed for her and I felt a very deep wound that God was addressing within her.  My words became as living water to help her hurting heart and validate His goodness to those who seek Him.

I'll never forget that He waited to correct me as I was literally with my face to the floor!  We can look at this many ways.  When we are at our lowest... at that bottom of the barrel... He's there.  When we are low, it is He that lifts us up.  "Come up higher & sit with Me here at this place of honor."...
Is anyone immune from failure?  Can we really judge any person?

Remember, the devil is right there to get us to believe we are justified for behaving badly. 
"But he does this..." 
"She doesn't do this..."
Do we take that 'bad feeling' of Godly conviction and allow the enemy to work it into some kind of twisted justification?  No.  The bible isn't a veritable sand box where we pick and choose what we believe; everything is taken in full context. 
We war against what?  (wicked spirits)
We honor what? (God through loving our neighbor as ourself) 
We judge what?  (the fruit only... if it's good then praise God....  if it's bad, then walk away from it)

Is there a brother or sister in Jesus that you've lost patience with & 'blew it'?  Only you and God know it.  Remember, God will always turn your failures around for an even greater testimony, but you must first humble yourself to reveal His glory. 
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