Why is the Bruce Jenner Story Important?

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.


In recent days and weeks we have been bombarded with the story of Bruce Jenner becoming now Caitlin Jenner.  His story as a transgender is being heralded throughout all of the media.  He is receiving awards for his heroism in being so public about his transformation from a man to a woman.  He is promoted as a hero to be followed and emulated.  It's a long cry from the box of Wheaties and the decathlon victory for which he was once heralded. 


Many people ask the question about this story, why should we care?  What is the big deal?  Aren't there more important things going on in the world?  Well this is a big deal.  We should care about this story.  It is something very important in the world.  I know people will be thinking, c'mon, really?  Yes really.


This nation was founded upon and operated under the general principles that were found in the Bible.  People like to argue that point, but the evidence is too overwhelming to deny it.  This creates a problem for some people.  They don't want to live their lives under those principles and would rather live some other way.  Probably the most vocal and outspoken of those folks would be your LGBT and whatever other initials you can add to talk about sexuality that goes against what God has said in his word.  They can't have the nation with its morals based on something that says what they do is sinful and wrong.


So, you must go about changing the culture and moving it away from those biblical principles.  This began in the 60s when Bibles and prayers were removed from the school systems.  Now people would no longer be educated on those Biblical principles and they can began exchanging those morals for "newer more modern thinking". 


Within a decade, the sexual revolution had begun.  A whole generation was set out into early adulthood without those old fashioned principles binding them in any way.  Free love and sexual experimentation were the order of the day, in direct conflict with what God says in His word.  Homosexuality was taken off the mental disorder list as a first step towards its "normalcy" and away from it being "sinful" (along with other sexual activity).


Later years the fight was for acceptance of the gays.  They wanted to be recognized as legitimate and not seen as awful sinners.  This was easier to do with a population becoming less and less knowledgeable of Gods word.  After another decade, being gay wasn't really seen as such a bad thing.  It was just a lifestyle choice.  The measure of what was good or right was no longer the Bible, but just generally about what people thought was right.


There was a little setback in the 80s with the onset of AIDS and a slight return to more Christian values with a bit of a revival.  Many saw the AIDS epidemic as a direct punishment from God upon the sinful ways of the homosexual.  Certainly it can be said that the consequences of the lifestyle that was being led by many of them made them much more susceptible to the disease.  AIDS was turned around though and really became the most socially acceptable deadly disease ever.  A strong campaign was waged to shift people away from that thinking.  Instead of pointing out the sinful activity, the focus became "practicing safe gay sex".  Condom use became promoted as the cure all, even though it was useless in prevention. 


Another decade goes by and then comes the final push for "normalcy" of the sinful homosexual lifestyle.  The fight for gay marriage began; a drive to redefine what had been considered a Biblical god centered union of a man and woman was now being challenged.  The past two decades have been spent trying to undermine holy matrimony and moving it away from a union of a man and woman making a vow before God to merely a state sponsored contract between two persons.


The whole time this has gone on, the argument has been about redefining morality so that their activities would no longer be seen as something bad, but as something good.  In the process, what has happened is that to do this they had to make the ones who hold to the Biblical standard as the bad guys.  They have to hold the view that the entire foundation of morality that we based this country on was bad, wrong, and needed to be changed.  Also, those that held to those views were to be looked at as the new evil people. 


This brings us to where we are today with a 70 year old former male athlete getting all kinds of press, and a TV show, and awards given to Jenner.  Why?  Because the media is celebrating and promoting the new morality, the morality they want of the nation.  they are wanting a promoting a morality that goes against God, and against what He stands for.  And this takes us back to the verse I quoted at the beginning of this article, Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.


It is really the same argument we saw Satan use in the Garden of Eden back in the book of Genesis; Hath God said?  You won't surely die.  Behind all of this, and unknown to even many of those involved, are Satan and his demons.  It has always been his agenda to undermine God in any way he could.  The United States has for most of it's history been recognized by the principles under which they lived found in the Word of God.  Now we are falling under the wrath of God for our movement away from those principles.


We recently found out why the terrorists hate us so much.  Osama Bin Ladens papers were released and he told us why he hates the US.  One of the reasons he hated the west so much is because of its acceptance of gays.   He attacked civilians because we voted in leaders that allowed homosexuality to become normalized.  It wasn't the only grievance, but it was front and center.  He hated the US because we had moved away from those Biblical principles for which we once stood.  He was punishing us for our sins, sins clearly spelled out in the Bible. 


We spend all this time concerned over offending the terrorists because of pictures being drawn, or TV shows showing the prophet, or some other such silly thing.  We think we can appease them this way, but what it turns out is that to appease them really means that we need to return to the ways of God spelled out in the Holy Bible.  We need to stop promoting sin and glorifying sin.  This is why this Bruce Jenner transgender story is so important.  Bruce/Caitlin is now that face of the morality being shopped out by America. 


This is a main reason we have terror troubles.  We are promoting sinful lifestyles and trying to get other peoples of the world to live sinfully also.  How repulsive it must be for our leaders to be heard in many parts of the world calling for the acceptance and promotion of lifestyles that many find repugnant and evil.  This is why we are called the great Satan, because we are promoting satanic ways.  What is a Muslim, or Jew, or devout Christian to think when they see a pop magazine cover pasted with images of a man who is trying to be a woman?  Given awards on national TV because he doesn't know what sex he is?  Starring in a TV reality show that glorifies this perversion? 


Those of us who are serious believers need to take these things very seriously and get down on our knees, begging Gods forgiveness.  God writes, 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  We need to clean up our houses and be the shining examples of what Godly people are and what they stand for.  Then we need to take that message out.  It is the only way, and the only chance we have, now, before further judgement comes.  What we have seen with attacks, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, riots, unrest, and all the rest are just warnings meant to bring us to repentance before God fully removes His hand of protection from us. 


This is why the Bruce Jenner news is important.

Standing In The Gap

The last few weeks have been really tough.  They really have not been terribly tough on what is going on with me personally, but it seems like recently those that are around me are suffering from a myriad of personal crises', some of which are deserving of the personal foul flag for piling on.  Because I care about the people in my life, I am invested into their lives and care about what happens to them.  The biggest frustrations seems to be not being able to do very much about things.  I want to help but I can't in the way that I would like to.


There was a phrase that I learned a long time ago, both by just hearing about it, and by practical application.  The term was 'standing in the gap'.  What I have always understood the term to mean was that an individual would be able to help another through doing things for the person that they may not be able to do for themselves, or taking part of the heat for them to lessen their burdens, or another way was to spiritually breach a gap for them. 


The idea of standing in the gap comes generally from Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.  The previous verse shows that the condition of Israel had gone downhill and the people were acting wickedly.  The idea of seeking one to stand in the gap was to say that one could plead for the people to God.  Someone to stand as an intermediary and plead for mercy from God on behalf of the people.  This same idea can be brought to an individual level as well where some righteous person would plead to god on behalf of others.  I guess some would call this intercessory prayer.


One example of this might be when Abraham was pleading with God over Sodom and Gomorrah, knowing that Lot and his family were there.  Abraham pleaded to spare the place for the righteous folks sake.  Unfortunately for the city, Lot and his immediate family did not add up to enough.  But this was a case where Abraham kind of stood in the gap for Lot and family, as well as any other righteous folks that may have been there.


Sometimes standing in the gap for another may put yourself on the line.  Jesus tells us that no greater love does a man have than to lay down his life for his friends.  Sometimes, we have to put ourselves out there to protect friends, family, fellow believers.  It could require literally jumping into the middle of a fight, or placing yourself in harms way to protect another.  Again we can look to Abraham and Lot for this also when Lot was captured and Abraham got his band together to go take out Lots captors and rescue Lot.


There are times too when standing in the gap can be purely spiritual.  You pray and pray hard for lost loved ones and friends, asking God to intervene in their lives and open their eyes to accept Jesus Christ.  Daniel 10:11-13 gives us some insight into this.  We see how when Daniel prayed, the prayer was immediately heard and responded to, but it took 21 days for the angels to fight their way past the demons to accomplish the prayer.  This happens when we pray too, especially when we are praying for the lost.  We are in a war.


Doing these battles takes its own toll on those of us standing in the gap.  We get tired, depressed, weak, etc, during these times.  The Holy Spirit that resides in us as believers desires to help us through this.  He will give us strength, wisdom, understanding, and can do some simple things like making sure our needs our met during these times.  I kings 19 tells the story of how Elijah was ministered to after doing some of the Lords work.  Elijah was so depressed he wished to die, and God had an angel bring him some food to eat to help strengthen him and bring him back into balance.


We as Christians are involved in some deep struggles whether we know it or not.  We will often be asked to or feel the need to stand in the gap for others individually or as a group.   It is what we do.  Sharing the gospel and ministering is hard work and may require much of us mentally, physically, and spiritually.  We can trust that God will see us through if we are acting under His authority. 


Isaiah 26:4 Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

The Babies Bathwater

Often times we wonder where it is that we strayed.  Not just personally, but collectively.  There was a time where the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in His word the Bible was the foundation for us as individuals, families, communities, regions, states, and as a nation.  It was such an infused part of most everyone lifestyles and our overall culture that Christianity and the United States were seen as inseparable.  


Now we look around today and see all manner of ungodliness occurring and accepted as normal.  Our own leader has even declared that we are no longer a Christian nation, and he is right.  In the void left by peoples lack of personal responsibility as forged by their fear of the Lord, government has stepped into that role as God and savior of the people.  Because of peoples immoralities, government has had to make laws that infringe upon every aspect of our lives.  We as a people can no linger be trusted to do what is right.  Sadly though, those same people are in the government trying to tell us what is right.


We know the situation we are in, but we do wonder how we got here.  The last couple of weeks and a little light bulb action from above and I think I can put a finger on a least a good portion of what happened.  I've talked to a lot of different people from a lot of different churches and other beliefs as well as no belief at all.  It seems like everyone has their own doctrine, and it has gotten to the point where unless you are in lock step with what the other believes, you are a heretic, a false teacher, someone to be shunned.  The Love of God does not reside with many any longer.  The Gospel of Christ has been replaced with doctrines of men.  We are full of pride and arrogance.  We are backbiters, and lovers of self.  I say these things with great shame.


This I don't believe is an accident.  The enemy has always set about to divide and conquer.  Many of the divisions are like long lasting feuds that linger on and on even to the point where no one remembers what really started it, but they all know their talking points and have their preconceived ideas to label each other with.  It's gotten to be a free for all or a witch hunt where everyone is pointing fingers and yelling FALSE TEACHER!  


I think this goes on because we are so woefully illiterate biblically.  Many folks know the scriptures... the ones that support their church doctrine.  Show them some others that contradict that and hoo boy, thems fightin words.  Others know so much that they literally can't see the forest through the trees.  They have gone to colleges and were taught under liberal professors who sliced and diced, shaked and baked that Bible so much that it was left looking like a lump of unrecognizable slop.


This fear of false teachers is a big one.  We have whole segments of the gospel torn away because we are afraid of false teaching.  This is where we throw the baby out with the bathwater.    Many folks are horribly weak in faith because they threw out the scriptures about faith because there was a word of faith false teaching.  So as to avoid going anywhere near there, they throw out the teachings on faith.  Because we have charlatans running around with their miracle circus', many throw out completely that God can and does work supernaturally in our lives and will heal and deliver us.  People are so afraid to be under the law that they want to throw out the law completely as if it did not exist.  then there are others who throw out everything God says about prospering us in our lives because they are afraid of the false prosperity gospel.  And it goes on.


The only way to safely navigate oneself through all of this mess is by getting into the word themselves and setting aside the teachings of the church or a particular teacher and do so with a sincere heart in asking God to reveal the truth to you.  The Holy spirit will guide the sincere heart in the path to take and safely guide us through the dark and dangerous forests of doubt, disbelief, and skepticism. 


Will it be an easy journey?    No.  Friends, family, strangers, everyone might accuse you, negate you, get mad at you, deny you, abandon you...  and yes, there are times where they could even hurt or kill you for the sake of the truth of the Gospel.  Remember that it was the religious folks that put Jesus to death.  Jesus assures us that for His sake people will indeed hate you and persecute you.   He tells us to count it all joy when this happens.  The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is all that matters though.  Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life; no man going to the father but by Him.  You won't get to heaven following a church doctrine or a teaching of men.  


Read your bibles, and talk to God as you do.  Let your questions and concerns be known to him.  His spirit will answer a sincere heart.

Oh My People

Oh my People
Where are my people?

Down I came
From up on high
And took a walk
To find out this thing.
I walked to and fro
Hither and yonder
Visited here and there

Oh My People
Where are my people?

I stopped at a building
That bore my name.
I sat quietly in the back pew
Just watching
They spoke
They sung
They prayed
Not a one greeted me.
Several I visited
All the same
I slipped out
And no one noticed.

Oh my people
Where are my people?

I went to a mall
And stood on the balcony watching
People running to and fro
Concerned about mateial possessions
Not a one gave a
To another passing soul
Scampering about
Bags in hand
Chasing after things
That matter not
I walked away
And no one noticed

Oh my people
Where are my people?

I went downtown
And walked amongst the towers
So Cold
Business suits bustling
Chasing mammon
Deadlines to meet
Deals to be
Each looking past
Their fellow man
Sirens blaring
Horns beeping
I walked away
And no one noticed

Oh my people
Where are my people?

I sat down
In the city park
I must have looked
Down and lonely
A grizzled old man
Pushing a shopping cart
Stopped and gave me greeting
And sat down with me
We talked of life
We talked of death
He shared with me
His only food
I walked away
And he blessed me

Oh my people
There are my people.

I walked along 
The city street
Near dusk by
And getting cold
A man walked up
And greeted me
He asked me how I was
And if I needed help
I walked with him
Nearly two miles
I was fed
Given a bed
And an offer for some clothes
In the morn I walked away
And was blessed

                                             Oh my people
                                        There are my people

I Heard A Word

A long awaited vacation had arrived and I was ready.  It was my plan to kind of right the ship and straighten some things out with my free time.  I had kind of slipped into some old habits that I had tried to change so I figured this time would be good to get back into the ways I wanted to go.  At least, that was the plan.  


One thing that I am passionate about is weather photography and videography.  I can't seem to let a good storm slip by, but I had little inklings in my head to stay at home instead of traveling out.  This was going to be difficult since severe weather was in the forecast for the whole week.  I wanted to go out badly, but that inner voice kept saying no.  I watched as online people I know were out catching once in a lifetime twin violent tornadoes, and knew that I could have been there.  But, I had just had the feeling not to.


After a couple days of watching this, and the threat being closer to home, I decided to go out.  I still had the inner voice saying no, but I just kind of half ignored it and figured on a short tentative trip.  I would just drive a few hours, see some storms and be home in the wee hours of the next morning.  


One thing about storm chasing is that you get a lot of time to think...  at least I do since I chase alone.  I sometimes spend that time thinking or talking out loud to God.  That is what I started out doing as I drove off.  The main thing I kept thinking is that I want to hear from God, and hear directly and clearly from Him.  I would like to hear His voice clearly and distinctly without any doubt about whether I was just thinking to myself.  I truly want to know God better.


As the day wore on I just kept on driving.  I kept trying to listen for God, but was not really hearing Him.  my mind would wander about a little, but I really did spend a bit of time trying to listen, almost pleading to hear from Him.  It really was not anything specific I wanted to hear, just a burning desire to hear, to have a closer relationship with my creator.  I often long and ache for that.  I want to be told what I should be doing.  I suppose I was having an ecclesiastical moment where I was looking at life and all of its vanity.  I want meaning, purpose and direction.


After about 4 or 5 hours I found myself half way across the next state and it was closer to get to the storms than to return home.  Tornadoes were starting to drop and I might have a chance to make it before dark; so I kept driving.  I was too late and too dark to see tornadoes but was treated to a fantastic light show and was around 2 tornadic storms.  I was still getting the feeling that I should have stayed home though.


The next day the forecast was the same so I decided to stick around.  A friend offered to feed the cat, so I seemed to have the green light.  It was going to be a great day of storm chasing, or so I thought.  In reality it turned out to be one of the most frustrating chase days I have ever been on.
 

In the morning the car battery died.  My fault really, but I did get a jump rather quickly.  I took a nap around noon parked in this church parking lot only to wake up with the car full of biting flies.  It took hours to finally get most of them out of the car.  I did not notice the moths, but I am still getting them out of the car 3 days later.  I thought I only had one, but I believe I am up to 4 now.


The next thing that happened was the forecast changed some and pushed the threat further away, but I decided as ling as I was there; so I started heading out.  I was using the map to plot a course, but the map could not tell me what was in store.  I was following the highway and entered a town.  Next thing I knew I was on detours and surrounded by water and sandbags on all sides.  A dam had broken and a levee gave way and the entire town had been flooded...  well, the parts that were not sandbagged.  I could not cross the river there...  or in fact hardly anywhere.  I had to backtrack 30 miles before I found a way across the river.  


On the way I decided I might as well document some of the flooding.  I stopped at on flooded out crossing and was taking pictures of the creek that was now a lake when I heard this cracking sound.  Yep, someone was out shooting.  I began looking around and then saw a splash and heard a crack again.  Then I saw two old folks in their back yard shooting.  I doubt they knew they were shooting in my direction, so I high tailed it out of there.


The floods and the dilly dallying cost me a chance at more tornadoes.  I finally made it to the area just after dark and the storms were dying.  I started heading back.  I was watching the lightning from tornadic storms about 40 miles to my NE as I drove down the highway when I believe God spoke to me.  No it was not audible as I had asked, but it was unmistakeable and a clear thought in my head and feeling in my heart that goes right along with scripture.  I could almost feel my spirit leap at the thought and I had to write it down right away.


"If you put as much effort into serving Me as you do pursuing your hobby, amazing things will happen."


I know that to be so true.  If only I got as excited about going to fellowship with other believers like I do when I know storms are going to fire up.  If only I so anticipated seeing or hearing  my favorite preachers TV or radio show as I do about watching shows on the weather.  If only I got as jacked up about reading the word as I do about reading the weather forecasts.  If only I was as urgent in alerting others of their spiritual dangers as much as I am about warning them about dangerous weather.  My life would be completely changed.


What are you really passionate about? 

Prayer Ap

I have a confession to make.  I have never been the prayer warrior that I should be or want to be; at least with what I would call "formal" prayer.  I do find myself praying as I go about my life.  I talk to God in the shower, while I am working, as I am in my hobby of storm chasing and heading into a possibly tornadic storm, lol.  I do seem to be lacking in time at home on my knees though.  I always feel like I should be doing that more.

It's not like I haven't tried.  Quite a number of times I have fallen asleep.  Sometimes  I get distracted in thought and kind of drift away from praying.  Quite often I just don't think about doing so.  It has never been an ingrained habit to do formal prayers and have a prayer time.

In my quest to improve in this area, an idea struck me.  What if I downloaded an ap for my phone where I could keep a list of what to pray for, and whether that prayer was answered.  One that would also give me a reminder when it was time to pray.  Surely there has to be one of those.

I went to the ap store and tried several combinations of searches.  I never found exactly what I was looking for.  I did find one free prayer journal but no time reminder on it.  That will be sufficient for now I think. 

What surprised me was how many prayer aps there were, and what the content of them was.  The Muslims seem very devout in their prayers.  There were lots of aps for their prayer times and what to pray.  The Catholics too seem to be very devout in their prayers and have specific prayers to repeat for almost every situation.  They are not all to Jesus, but they have lots of repeatable prayers.  Protestants are not to be outdone when it comes to this.  There too were many aps with repeatable prayers.  And the smattering of other groups had their prayer aps as well.  Come to think of it, I did not see one for Jewish prayer. 

This all struck me as very odd.  It felt to me like all of this was like speaking a magic spell to get what you wanted rather than a deep conversation with your loving creator.  I suppose the "now I lay me down to sleep" memorized prayers are good for little children to remember, but when you grow up, I think you should be able to formulate your own thoughts and words when expressing yourself to your creator. 

Mathew 6:7-8  But when you pray, don't use vain repetitions as the heathen do: for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.  Therefore, don't be like them: for your Father knows what things you need before you ask Him.

Going by what Jesus says here, all those formulaic prayers so many repeat over and over don't get past the ceiling.  Even the prayer that Jesus recites in the following verses has become a vain repetition.  The "Our Father who art in heaven" prayer is not one that will be heard just because you say it over and over.    Jesus in verse 9 explains that we are to pray "after this manner".  The Lords prayer is an outline, not a formula.  I'll save that exposition for another day though.

I guess the point I am getting at is this, prayer is having two way communication with Yahweh.  We speak, He listens.  He speaks, we listen.  Prayer is a way to find out what God wants for us.  Prayer is done so that we can find out how we are supposed to be aligned with what God wants, not for God to answer to what we want.

Jehovah is not some magic genie that is on out beck and call.  We are to be submitted to Him and bend our ways and our thoughts to match His.

I Thessalonians 5:17  Pray without ceasing. 

Formal prayers are great, and I would like to do so more, but we should always be in prayer mode, communicating with Adonai; not with repetitious softly spoken magic spells, but with our heartfelt needs, desires, wishes, concerns, etc..  And we should be ready to really listen for a reply.  Communication is a two way street.

So Frustrating!

Something just isn't right.  For the past several days, in fact, nearly a week now, I have been feeling very unsettled.  Things have been bothering me, annoying me.  My patience is very thin.  I have been finding myself going around upset.  This is not like me.  Normally I am a very positive person, upbeat, happy, and making jokes.  What is going on?

Seems like lately I have been bombarded with stupid.  Not just your average everyday stupid, but some real hardcore stupidity.  I got people who don't care about their job, doing things wrong and it doesn't even concern them.  I've got vandals messing up my work area.  Things are breaking and not getting repaired.  I have multiple bosses giving conflicting orders and me taking the blame from each for doing what the other said do.  People are acting like jerks for no reason.

Recently it has just been like a tsunami of stupid has flooded into my life and I seem powerless to be able to do anything about it.  I'm being battered by the idiotic debris and sucked under by the turbulence of imbecility.  I'm trying to gasp for air as I bob above the surface for a moment only to be pushed under again by some other ridiculousness pushing me down.  HELP!  Dwayne the bathtub!  I'm dwowning!

Psalm 46:10 (a) Be still, and know that I am God:

Amid all the turmoil and craziness that continues to overwhelm me, I took my 15 minutes break, grabbed a chair, and sat silent in a closet, praying and thinking.  No great revelation came to me, but a peace came to me that I had mot felt in a while.  I was calm again; relaxed.  I felt some of the joy return.  I was energized.  The weirdness no longer worried me.

I think that is just a little mini lesson for me to do what I often forget to do, and that is just to be still and know the God is God.  He is in control of it all.  He knows what is happening always and when we love, trust, and obey Him, He will cause everything to work to our benefit.  So how is all the recent madness going to be worked for my benefit?  haven't a clue.  That is for God to do.

Psalm 28:7  The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

I Am SOOOO MAD!!!

Romans 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Boy, this is a hard saying.  Sometimes it just no longer lies within me to keep my peace.  tonight was one of those nights.  My nemesis thorn in the side for the last 9 years crossed the line.  I let them know in no uncertain terms that they had done so.  I asked the boss to intervene and asked that it go up the chain of command.  9 years and nothing has changed, nothing has been done. 

People have praised me for being able to put up with so much for so long, but there are limits.  We all have our limits.  Some days our fuses are a bit shorter than other days and it takes less to light those fuses, and they burn faster.  It was just the wrong day to try pulling passive aggressive stunts on me; the wrong day to swear at me and make false accusations in half under your breath but loud enough to hear tones. 

As I sit and look at these verses in Romans 12, it gets harder though.  What God is asking me to do in the word is beyond me at times.  it is not what I want to do.  It is not what I feel like doing.  I'd like to be able to go back behind the woodshed and open up a can of whoopass.  That is not what the word says to do.  Oh Lord help me in my weakness. 

This little segment of Romans 12 starts out with this admonition, 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.  When we get mad, we are not supposed to act like the world and try to do something to the other person in a sneaky or underhanded way.  No backbiting.  No lying in wait to set them up.  We must be honest in our dealings.  Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:


We go past our opening verse now to verse 19: Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.  Along with the part of not returning evil for evil, we should not avenge ourselves.  Perhaps snapping back in anger was a bit of that, I'm not sure.  Telling the boss?  It is what we should do in the situation.  Taking it silently for so long is sometimes beyond me, so I must ask for God's spirit to infuse me the right things to do. 


Verse 20: 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.  This verse parallels the word of Jesus when he said,  Matthew 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  Oh, that is so hard and I try so hard to be like this. This kind of attitude can only come through the Spirit of God.  It does not lie within me to do so. 


This part about pray for them I am hit with in this situation.  This person has been my sworn enemy from almost my first day at the job and for reasons that have nothing to do with me.  In thier head I am somehow at fault for some percieved wrong years in the past that he cannot seem to let go of.  It strikes me at the moment that when we pray for people, especially our enemies, we begin to see them as Jesus sees them, a lost soul in need of a savior just as we were. 


verse 21 concludes: Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.  This is hard too, but we cannot let evil people and their ways get the better of us.  Being the humans we are, we can only appeal to the holy Spirit to empower us to not be overcome of evil.  It is also the Holy spirit that will reveal ways and empower us to to good to overcome the evil.


I don't wish any ill will toward this person, but I do pray they would just go away or change.  One or the other.  I suppose with Gods sense of humor, I would be the one through which this instrument of change should come about.  Things cannot remain as they are though.  I am at my limit of being able to live peacably with this person.  I've tried the doing good to them.  I'm tired and wanted to rant a bit and end up led into a lesson of how I should be acting in this situation.  Praise the Lord.