Christianity Oasis Forum

[saint701]

Hello All,


Blessings!

Here is how I believe we will keep our high place in the Kingdom of Heaven by choosing the spiritual path of retribution during any end time trial we may suffer.

Have you ever heard of such a thing, a spiritual path of retribution? According to the Encarta World English Dictionary retribution is punishment, something done or given to somebody as punishment or vengeance for something he or she has done. So let's get even, right? Wrong! The spiritual path of retribution is the exact opposite and opposed to our natural way of thinking. The spiritual path is as much a gift of the grace of God applied by His Spirit into our hearts and minds to enable us to retaliate to the wrongs done to us in His love way.

Since Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only life, we look to His words to enlighten our understanding.

[38] Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
[39] But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
[40] And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
[41] And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
[42] Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
[43] Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
[44] But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
[45] That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
[46] For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
[47] And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
[48] Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Such is called going the extra mile. What we are to understand is this, taking the spiritual path of retribution does not necessarily change those enemies we love, bless, do good to, and pray for, but such changes not only us for the better, but eventually our circumstances.

This is a true story. There was a man in the U.S. Navy years ago during the "high times" of the 1970's. His coworkers were die hard pot smokers. The man wouldn't smoke with them and they made his life at work a place of intense suffering. At first he became depressed to the point of death, but after reading a book on how to endure suffering, he determined to embrace it, and bless and pray for those persecuting him. Things didn't change immediately, but after several nights of prayer for his persecutors he had a dream.

In the dream he saw himself and his coworkers holding on to a raft in the ocean. The man saw himself climb up on that raft first, then the others followed. So what did that mean? Six months later before they left aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise for a nine month overseas tour, the man was promoted to be chief in charge of all the pot smokers that were persecuting him.

Doing things the way of our Lord may take longer than a temper tantrum, but it is His straight and narrow pathway that leads to eternal life and a high place in the Kingdom of Heaven.


Blessings!
Love, In Christ Jesus, Saint701.

[Mackenaw]

Hello Saint

God bless you this day.

Interesting topic -- thank you for sharing with us.

Let our responses to others always be a tribute to The Lord. This lesson was a little challenging to me. Oh, I could act like I was not offended, cater to their requests, but deep inside I was fuming. And of course, I weighed the odds -- if there was something in it for me, something to be gained, I would -- if not, nope.

As I grew in the knowledge of God and His Word, it still confused me a little. I didn't like pretending because it felt wrong. I knew how I truly felt about the people that were my perceived enemies, and what thoughts I had in my heart about them, and most of them were not godly.

Learning about the fruit of The Holy Spirit helped me immensely. He lives inside of me, and He has all this awesome fruit which He freely gives to me, and one of those blessed fruit is temperance (a.k.a self-control), and another: longsuffering (patience). And let's not forget the very first Holy Spirit fruit ...Love.

So instead of me believing it as me acting, I instead choose to believe...ok, I'm doing this out of obedience to God, and trusting that He will rid me of the ugly thoughts and feelings simmering deep within, and give me an awesome boost of His love, and it will over flow onto that person. Woooooohoooooo!!! He did!!! Woooooohooooo, He will and He does!!!

There is a learning curve there for us, and it takes time and practice, but He is faithful to His Word. We are not alone. In our obedience to God, we have assurance that He will complete what He has started in us -- and that's a Good thing.

Thank You Jesus.

Thank you, again, Saint.

God bless and keep you.
In His love,
Mack

[JCsmediator]

amen and u nevah know whos watching like our kids

then they do same exact or react same way being an example da example is so imporant

now i see my past in dem and think oh now dats not how God would want us to be or handle our selves ...

not sayn they do react like me all da time but when it does i see it and want to dieee

also can relate to being around uncomfortable situations saint and da hardest thing for me was not being able to change it or help and some times hurt so bad and made me want to discipline and get all ova dem all da tme but God was showing me something more and dat was to pray for dem ...

and i did and i would pray not jus for dem but for me too i remember sayn why Lord what is ur purpose in dis ...

showed me latter dat even tho some dont see it right away or change before our eyes dont mean dey wont and dont or cant ..

we do leave our message of hope and Love ... GB all

[saint701]

Hello Mack, JCSM, All,


Blessings!

Thanks for the wonderful replies!


Love you all, Den.