"He who comes from above is above all;
he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth.
He who comes from heaven is above all."
JOHN 3:31
If people come against you in the flesh, let them come against you.
If they wish to rail and argue with you according to the flesh, do
not respond in kind.
If they attack you without cause, let them attack, because the fleshly, the carnal, the natural cannot defeat the spiritual.
The one who is submitted to the Lord has authority over those who
remain unsubmitted to Him.
Flesh is overruled by Spirit.
Hate is overruled by Love.
Darkness is overruled by Light.
Death is overruled by Life.
Earth is overruled by Heaven.
Hattip: Chip Brogden The School of Christ
12 comments:
Ticker - Certainly this is Good Stuff that he writes.
But Sometimes - Ticker - don't we need to Stand Up against People who do and say mean things about us?
Have you ever heard this Ticker - when People say that 'Jesus wouldn't want us to be a Doormat.
I'ave always thought about that and now I wonder what you think.
Thanks - Ticker.
Jesus said to turn the other cheek when others come against you and in that passage he was speaking of coming against you in the flesh because to strike back would only match your flesh against their flesh.
When we walk in the spirit, that is walk with Him, then we have nothing to fear of those who would attack us from their flesh.
This is a short explanation of walking in the spirit.
Galatians 5:15-17
15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
Walking in the Spirit ( this is speaking of in the flesh..)
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
Paul says it in another way when speaking to the Romans.
Romans 8:3-5
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
Through Christ the flesh has been defeated. The list of things in the post are examples of all of the things that Christ's death and resurrection did. Read each of those and say through Christ Flesh.... Hate.... Darkness... Death... Earth....
"When it comes, don't fight it.
When it leaves, don't chase after it."
The Buddha had this figured out long before Christ.
ducky - But why does it have to leave?
Ticker - Isn't Paul great?
His words are so deep and meaningful - but sometimes I have to read them over and over - and Really think about them - and Even Then - I can't always understanding their Meaning.
Sometimes I think I get a 'glimmer' of what they Mean - and then it is gone.
I always say "Do not respond in UNkind" :-)
Ducky, what does this have to do with Ticker's message or anything in Christianity? "When it comes, don't fight it.
When it leaves, don't chase after it."
Sue, a thing some of us get tripped up by, and your question is a good one, is that we're not expected to FORGET but to FORGIVE. We don't need to stand there waiting for someone to hurt us again and again. We can move on, we can walk in the Spirit and wish the offender well and heal our hearts from the hurt, forgiving, but not necessarily forgetting.
While I'll never reach perfection by a VERY VERY long shot...finally just thinking "let them think what they will about me" is so freeing but SO difficult to do at first. We want to be right! We want to be admired! But that's our flesh talking....our spirit will start saying "Well, that's his opinion and I'm right with God, so bless him and let him go his way..." It starts actually feeling very 'full' and 'whole' to put God first and know the opinion of others is their business. Though I do try (TRY, not DO all the time!) to behave well as we may be the only Bible some people ever see (in shoes :-)
Thanks, Ticker...good stuff here.
Tick, I have an actress friend you'd know and she was a Buddhist for 20 years and you should hear her testimonial about having found Christ. It's amazing. She never felt true peace, she always felt like she had to do better and better .... and now she feels some guilt over having led so many to Buddha.
But, she's on sets now having actors and actresses come to her quietly and ask her to pray for them! God's really using her.
You would love her.
She was raised by a black nanny who she thinks prayed her into finally finding CHrist years later (tho my belief is He found her) because her parents were East Coast academic elitists who forbade the nanny to talk about Jesus to her.
Z - About Forgiving & Forgetting -
I have a problem with that.
Always have.
I can Forgive - but if I don't
Forget - then in Remembering -
I continue to have trouble Forgiving.
See what I mean - Z?
It's something I have to work on - on a daily basis - and I do.
But it just keeps comin' back at me.
Sue, I do see what you mean. I didn't say it'd be easy! If you keep in the habit of forgiving every time you think of it, or giving it to God...it'll start to sink in, I think.
Sue, I would like to address forgiving and forgetting. Forgiving is a choice. In our human condition it is difficult if not impossible to forget. I learned several years ago something that has helped me understand this principle. That is, that when we forgive someone, it DOES NOT mean that we EVER have to trust them again or make ourselves vulnerable to them.
Nan said it well and she's absolutely right...that's the whole point; we don't have to put ourselves back in the line of fire again... we choose to forgive but we don't choose to be hurt again in any way. It's not what God would want for us, either.
Nan seems to say things so much better than I most of the time.
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