Power Thoughts {WEEK 14}

READ: This month we will focus on pages 126-141 of Power Thoughts by Joyce Meyer .

As you read, Highlight the passages that jump out to you, the ones that grab your attention or tug on your heart strings. What is God revealing to you through these pages? Write down your thoughts in your book or journal.

I Am Difficult to Offend - Power Thought #4
Psalm 119:165
"Great peace have they who love Your law: nothing shall offend them or make them stumble"

Forgive others for your own well being....  resentment, anger, bitterness, grudges... they all effect us and not the other person.  When we don't fogive, we take matters into our own hands and try to fix other people.  Forgiving them allows God to work in their lives. 

Unforgiveness hinders our FAITH and we reap what we sow.  Satan would love nothing more than to stunt your growth spiritually...and he will use others to offend you.  He's fishing, don't take the bait!

ACTION:  List out the benefits from forgiveness.... which could you use most?  If there is anyone you have not forgiven, write their name on a piece of paper and what they did to hurt you.  Pray for them, then shred that paper and toss it away!  Let your feelings go in the trash with it....

PRAY: Dear Lord, Thank you for allowing us to forgive others just as you forgive us. Help me to make choices that limit hurt feelings in myself and to others. I continue to pray for those who have hurt me, I pray for favor with them and I pray that their hearts would be turned and they too would have all the desires of their hearts. In Jesus Name AMEN.

What Do I Do When Someone Hurts Me?

I came across a post on another blog today that I just have to share with you all because it is so fitting with what we are studying this month.  I wasn't looking for anything to blog about, or even anything to do with our study, so when I unintentionally find these little nuggets, I feel I must share what God is leading me to...because He wants to lead you there as well. 

I love how she says the first thing we must do is tell God the truth!  Even thought God knows my every thought, I can still lay it all out there to Him.  Like a best friend, I can put into words just how hurt and angry I am at someone or a situation.  Sometimes I feel better just getting it off my chest so to speak.  With God, I can speak the truth and not have to offend anyone or put words out there to be used against me.  What I say to God in my own private prayer closet, stays with Him. 



What I Do When Someone Hurts Me
by Judy @ InKindle

Life includes plenty of pain. Much of it comes from the realities of life in a fallen world: illness, accidents, natural disasters, financial crashes…
Sadly, too often, our pain is caused by other people. I am horrified at what people will choose to do to each other: theft, lies, abuse, slavery, rape, sexual trafficking, torture…
But the most painful is usually that inflicted by those we love—and we think love us. That pain is often unbearable, barely endured, deeply grieved, scarcely survived.

God’s Word has given me real help. I may not be able to control the cause of my pain, but I can choose how I respond.
So here are some responses that have made a difference for me.

1. Tell God the Truth

How do I feel about what this person has done to me? God knows what is in my heart and mind, and He can handle my rawest emotions. I tell Him the truth.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. “ (John 4:23)

2. Thank God in the pain, the hurt, the person who has hurt me.

Thanking God helps to refocus my mind and heart. It tells God that I know He is God and He is good. And giving thanks opens the door for what God wants to do in the situation.

“…give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

3. Look for the good that God is doing.

Sometimes the good is hiding for a later time, but often I can see glimpses of positive results: changes in my life or the life of the one who hurt me; insight into my past and my future; resolution of unhealed wounds; opportunities to encourage others.

“I will never stop doing good to them…” (Jeremiah 32:40)

4. Forgive the one who hurt me.

Really? Do they deserve to be forgiven? Probably not. But I’ve been given repeated admonitions to forgive and a powerful model.

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13)
“Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’” (Luke 23:34)

5. Bless the person who hurt me.

Once again, God is clear in His impossible requirements. He tells me to bless my enemies, and yes, even this one I love feels like an enemy when he hurts me.
My tendency is to strike out verbally, to accuse, to blame—to curse. But God says to leave the consequences to Him—He is a much better justice maker than I am. When I choose to bless, amazing things happens—my attitude begins to change, the person receives my blessing and that blessing invariably comes back to me.

Jesus: “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.“ (Luke 6:28)

“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:9)

When I do these things, does the hurt go away? Not usually. But these responses open my heart and mind to receive the love and grace God wants to pour all over me. And grace and love are powerful healers.

What about you? How does God help you when you have been hurt by someone you love?


 

Judy Douglass is the author of the blog In Kindle. She is a writer, editor, speaker, and missionary travelling the world encouraging others to step into all God has for them. 

Judy is author of Loving a Prodigal and Secrets of Success. Click here to download a Free e-version of Loving a Prodigal!

Tenth Avenue North - Losing

We can't control how others act....but we can control how we react to people. We are called to live according to God's Word, not according to the world or the flesh. There is wisdom in choosing to let go of offenses, hurt feelings, anger, bitterness... Watch this video by the group Tenth Avenue North. 

Losing is a song about offenses and forgiving those that offend us.  Forgiving, even when we feel like the ones losing....