FAITHFUL FRIDAY

We hurt when fake friends disappoint us, talk behind our backs, mistreat us, and are not there for us when we really need them. The way the world is today we kind of expect this behavior. Nevertheless, it still hurts and the hurt is more so when this behavior comes from our brothers and sisters in Christ. When someone in your family does something to hurt you, it is more profound than if it was done by a neighbor or a friend. The same is true with our spiritual brothers and sisters. We are family. We are supposed to love each other as our Father loves us. Are our expectations even realistic? Yes they are because this is what our Father ask of us. However our sinful nature, the human in us  sometimes causes us to  hurt one another, be it intentionally or unintentionally, the hurt is real.  So what do we do? We have to realize that not all who profess to be Christians really belong to Christ. Jesus warned in his parable of the wheat and the tares that there would be false believers in the world, sown by the enemy satan, whose aim is to cripple the testimony of Christians so that our witness would be compromised. I know this to be true especially since I chose to follow Christ. The enemy is always using someone to try to snatch me out of my character. I’m not going to lie, the struggle is real! But I try to remember  that as hurt and mistreated as Jesus was, he never let them snatch Him out of His character. I honestly believe as Joyce Myers likes to say that God sometimes put “sandpaper people” (difficult people) in our lives for a reason. These are the people who are hard to love, they are also people who the enemy uses to hurt others. How we react to these people is what builds our Christlike character. Jesus Christ is a great example of how to respond when we are hurt. The Bible also gives us specific instructions on how to behave when we are hurt. The first response should be prayer. Psalm 50:15 says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble.” That is true for hurt as well as it does any other trouble. If you talk to God, He can give you the very words to say to your offender and He can bring conviction to that person’s heart when you approach them with a spirit of humility. Sometimes the Lord will deal with the offender directly and anything we say or do would just make matters worse. I know “Let go and let God” may seem like a cliché but He can always fix things better than we can. He can also comfort us and heal our hurt. Most important is that we have to forgive. When I think about the suffering and misery I put on myself just because I had been hurt and I did not know how to forgive. I cried many sleepless nights. I was angry and resentful. I wanted the people I loved to hurt as I was hurting. Hurt people hurt people. And then one night the Lord spoke to me during my pity party. He let me know that He had given me an assignment, and when He does that He uses all parties involved so that His purpose will be done. Sometimes, as He did with Pharaoh, He will harden hearts. (Exodus 9:12). It really doesn’t matter how wrong you think your offender is, you have to forgive. The healing process only began when I realized that. Forgiveness is for you, not the other person. Forgiveness and healing is a process and sometimes a slow one. But to be free from hurt, you have to start the process. This is God’s way. We hurt Him when we are disobedient. We hurt Him when we hurt each other. But He forgives us every day, all day. Love and Blessings…