Author: marquitabp

To know me is to accept me, and to love me is to help me.
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Daily Devotion

Gain Peace by Praying for Your Enemies
 
"But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you;"  Matthew 5:44
 
 It took me praying for someone else for 7 days and I finally somewhat understood what this meant.  As you can recall, I encountered some difficulties last week.  But this morning my linesister sent out a scripture from Psalm on giving God the praise.  My own devotion said to shout praises to God, then the song I was listening to was saying to praise God.  So I shouted in my car, "Thank you God because I have the victory!"  See this morning, my supervisor returned to work and I had not yet spoken to him.  I prayed before getting out of my car that I had the victory and peace.  I sat at my desk and even as one of the maintenance staff walked in on me, I was praying that I had peace and that everything would work out; I said a special prayer for my supervisor.  About 5 minutes later, my phone rang for me to come over to his office.  So my anxiety increased, I started busying myself and had to calm down.  I called for prayer, prayed and I still had to calm down some more.  But I remembered my proclamation from earlier, that I already had the victory.  So I waited 2 hours later to go and talk to my supervisor.  And then God gave me some insight.  Through praying for my supervisor, I allowed myself to feel compassion as he told me things about his own family.  How his mother passed away with complications due to Parkinson's disease and how much she meant to him.  He told me of how his physically abusive father caused him to draw closer to her and his grandmother, who passed from colon cancer.  Then I knew why I had such difficulty to begin with, in relation to my getting permission to work from home to spend time with my father; indirectly, his own indifference to his father caused him to transfer those feelings–because every time I said something in relation to my father I would get a no.  It seemed like nothing I could say would change his mind.  But because God still reigns, I see the blessing God gave me in allowing me to spend time with my father; I was able to value every moment I had because of my supervisor's refusal to help me.  Now I won't have ill feelings towards him.  I was given a chance to get to know my dad with intentional focused attention and truly understand why he was the way he was; and in turn, love him more.  I was able to peel back the layers and the walls built over the years and truly draw close to my dad and in that one moment, realize that the time I had with him was precious and is something I will never forget; something my supervisor has not been able to have.
 
Praying for those that wrong you has a weird (DIVINE INTERVENTION) way of helping both parties.  In most cases, you may not get a swift action like that.  But truth be told, I had prayed for my supervisor before, just not consistently.  You have to consistently pray–1 Thessalonians 5:17 says NEVER stop praying–and make your requests known to God. (Ephesians 6:18, Philippians 4:6).  Even when the road seems dim and bleak, don't stop praying until God has brought His will to pass.  I allowed that anxiety to affect my sleep last Friday because I simply did not understand why my supervisor was being that way to me.  I had never wronged him, been offensive or anything.  Now, because I understand why he was the way he was to me, although it doesn't excuse the way he said things, I forgive him.  After our conversation, I left with peace because in spite of all of that, I knew that God had made me victorious by revealing what I had in my dad.  I would not have even gone into his office had it not been for God making it alright.
 
So folks, get that peace and get down on your knees and pray for that road block of a person in your life.  You never know how God may use you in that person's life or how that person may inadvertently help you.
 
"Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep."  Acts 7:60
"BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD."   Romans 12:20
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Daily Devotion

What Demons are You Feeding?

“Complain if you must, but don’t lash out.
Keep your mouth shut, and let your heart do the talking.
Build your case before God and wait for his verdict.” Psalm 4:4-5 The Message

“Be angry [or stand in awe] and sin not; commune with your own hearts upon your beds and be silent (sorry for the things you say in your hearts). Selah [pause, and calmly think of that.]” Psalm 4:4 AMP

“In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Selah” Psalm 4:4 NIV

“When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].” Ephesians 4:26-27 AMP

Yesterday I told you all to seek God before you act. The above verses (Psalm 4:4-5) tell you quite plainly to do that. I must say that I have truly grown; I used to say things when I got angry that were very hurtful—so just IMAGINE how much hurt would have been caused had I reacted to everything that went on? But you see, it’s even greater damage taking place than hurting someone else. When you act in anger, you allow the devil to dictate your actions. When you let anger stay past its welcome, Anger invites Bitterness over for the long haul. You take God away from the situation and seek to impart your own vengeance. I ask what demons are you feeding because when we act impulsively, there is always some demon, or even the devil himself, acting as the fuel behind that situation. By acting in anger or worse yet, allowing it to fester (and not just overnight, but by not addressing it and letting it linger on) you feed and nourish it. Anger is like the unwanted pest in your home. When you drop crumbs and do not clean them up, the pests feed on it. Then they start reproducing, causing more destruction. Before you know it, they have built a nest behind the walls and just drop by uninvited whenever they please. Pretty soon what started as one or two becomes a problem requiring “professional” intervention.

I chose to go to my mom or call my assistant pastor to vent and specifically them first for a reason. Had I called the wrong person, they would have added lighter fluid to my anger and could have perhaps caused me to do and say some unnecessary things. I decided to not call any of the offenders first because I was already angry, and why burn them with hurtful words? Not to mention the fact that they acted in self in the first place by considering their own opinion as more important than those of everyone involved; but what good would it have done, me calling or addressing them after they had already said their thoughts? I was a little bit exempt from Eph. 4:26 because some of the things did not happen in the daytime, rather they were discovered in the evening, lol. But no excuses! I read something today that applies here: if you desire to truly get over anger, the only way to do that is to forgive. And as un-fun as forgiving someone can be when you’ve been wronged, it is the only way to get past it because to forgive you have to stop bringing it up. You have to accept that you were wronged and let it go—because if you don’t, you have not forgiven that person! Trust I’ve complained about them, how selfish and uncaring they were, how their acts were definitely not helpful in the least way—because some people used every opportunity they could to get something out of my dad’s passing for themselves, and how much I wanted to curse them out or put my sneakers on and…well. But none of that would have helped me or would it have given me lasting satisfaction. Despite the fact that my father’s passing was supposed to be about comforting the people he loved the most—my mom, my brothers, and I—people always have a way of ruining things or making things about themselves especially when they feel some sort of guilt. Acting out would have done nothing but made me as ignorant as them; worse yet it would have hurt my family. Those that were genuinely there to help, gave their help with no questions asked, no backtalk and no unwanted opinions. I spent so much time being angry and worked up over everything that I missed out on sleep from anxiety attacks and feeling my heart racing.

I also read that if you have been wronged, you should try to keep it to yourself. Because once you keep telling people things, their reactions can negatively influence your reactions. It makes perfect sense though; keeping your mouth shut, searching your own heart and allowing God to be the final judge as said above keeps you from feeding that pride demon and giving in to the wrath demon where the lashing out is the sin! If you do not say anything, nobody knows what happened to you, how Joe Blow hurt your feelings and how you should never say anything to him again. Besides, maybe it is something you can work through. In my case, I probably will distance myself from the involved parties for a while because I’m just one of those people that believes helping and caring for others should happen without conditions. You should always be willing to help others when lead to do so. After this experience, it just makes me want to guard my heart even closer, but I do forgive them…can’t block my blessings being mad! Neither should you! Get the pestilence out of your mind, homes, and away from you because you end up hurting yourself even more!

“Get rid of your bitterness, hot tempers, anger, loud quarreling, cursing, and hatred.” Ephesians 4:31 GWT