Hey y'all welcome back to GRACED! It feels so good to finally be posting regularly. I'm excited to see what God is going to do in this season.
I believe that today God has a word for all of us: it doesn't matter what they did! What does that mean exactly? It just means that other people have to answer to God for what they did, but you also have to answer to God for what you did in response, so it shouldn't matter to you what they did, good or bad. Let's take a deeper look:
Did They Do You Wrong?
A lot of times when someone has done something to hurt us, we don't want to be the bigger person and reach out or forgive.* And we definitely don't want to keep pushing to make things work while the other person continues the same negative patterns. We want to give them that "same energy" that they showed us. Why? Because it doesn't feel fair!
I get it; I have gone through and I'm still going through this continual battle in my mind and heart, and God is keeping me. But God wanted me to know and share this: it doesn't matter what they did. He is concerned with what we do. Are we allowing anger and frustration to dictate our actions, when the Word of God clearly tell us, "be angry, and do not sin... nor give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:26-27)?" The Message Bible says it like this, "'Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the devil that kind of foothold in your life." Yes, we are allowed to be angry or frustrated or hurt, but we are NOT allowed let our actions stem from these emotions. Our actions should always be in line with our Heavenly Father. We will each know what He is telling us to do (and what He's NOT telling us to do) when we spend time with Him in prayer and in His Word.
God is a healer, a comforter, a provider, and a protector. He can heal you from the pain if you let Him. He can provide in the midst of a messy situation if you let Him. He needs YOU to seek His kingdom and His righteousness above all, and His Word says that "He will give you everything that you need (Matthew 6:33 NLT)." That means that no matter what they did to you, you're choosing to be like Jesus and trust and obey God. He'll take care of the rest.
Did They Prepare You Well?
The a flip side to this conversation: when people do good in your life. How does that not matter? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's look at it in two ways:
Maybe you've grown up with a church family who encouraged you throughout life with scripture and testimony. Maybe you have/had a praying grandma or auntie or mother, so you've been covered by their prayers. Maybe because of this, you believe that God exists, but you don't have a personal relationship with Him. If this resonates with you, God has a message for you too: it doesn't matter what they did! YOU have to make your own decision to follow God and grow a relationship with Him. What a joy it is when just one person gives their life to Christ, not just for us on the earth, but in heaven as well. Jesus tell us that "'there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance (Luke 15:7 NKJV)." Choose to follow Jesus for yourself! Not because of your momma and auntie and them. He will welcome you with open arms into His family, so come on in.
There are also lots of us who believe in God and attend services regularly, but we are not maintaining a personal connection with Him. We can feel His presence in a worship service and write sermon notes every week. The pastor prays a blessing over us, and that might be the last time that God hears from us until our next "church gathering." We're covered right? The bishop prayed over us, the worship team led us into the transformative presence of God, so we should be good, right? It doesn't matter what they did! Yes, it's important to have leaders who are in tune with and follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. Yes, their worship and prayers can have power. But we have to continue our relationship with God outside of the walls of the church. We cannot get to the judgement seat and say, "my pastor prayed over me every Sunday." God wants to know what YOU did with that. How did you apply what you learned from your pastor your daily life? How did you represent God at school, in the workplace, at home with your family? Paul reminds us that we need to "work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling; (Philippians 2:12 NKJV). The NLT version says, "obeying God with reverence and fear." The pastor, elders, and other leaders cannot obey God for you; that is something that only you or I can do for ourselves.
It Doesn't Matter What Your Situation
The point of all of this is that we each have to make our OWN decision to build and maintain a relationship with God. We need to make our OWN decision to obey His commands. Whether someone hurt you or they helped you may affect your time on this earth, but how you respond will affect your eternity. Ultimately, when we stand before God and have to answer for our actions, God is not going to ask us how they made us feel or what they did for us. He is going to want an account of our obedience to His voice and His Word. So I implore you, just as God downloaded this into my heart, to shift your focus from what they did because it doesn't matter what they did.
What truly matters is what YOU do, starting right now. So take some time to ask God what it is that you need to do. 'And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for' (1 John 5:14-15 NLT). God will be pleased to know that we have decided to know Him, seek Him, and obey Him, so if we ask Him what He wants us to do, He will surely answer.
(I chose this photo because it reminds me that children get caught up in what someone else did. It's when we are immature that we worry about other people's actions. When we grow with God, we don't have to focus on/worry about others because we know that He will take care of them when we life them up to Him)
Always remember that you are GRACED and that God loves you so much <3
March 31, 2020
***If you're interested in a message on forgiveness, go to the "About Me" page click my most recent IG post about the importance of forgiveness [me smiling in the grey dress].