What God Says

"We must love people, in the good and the bad"

WHAT GOD TELLS US is never meant for our judgment. Our judgment, not His. His judgment is just. Ours isn't. This thought goes to prophecy and to prayer. Prophecy is given for exhortation, edification, and comfort (1 Corinthians 14:3). Prayer is done from God’s love. And sometimes, He wants to direct us specifically. But if we take what He says in the secret place and make it criticism in public, He will stop speaking. What He says that needs change should bring grieving. This is the mourning of Matthew 5:4. It is a character trait of the Father that we must adopt. The end of the chapter says to be perfect or mature like Him.

We see His grief in Lamentations. There, the prophet Jeremiah, a Jew, cries out over destruction to Israel. I have done this for others and understood it as His mourning. Why would He trust us with His heart like that? We are pleased to know His goodness. We rejoice in His joy, His happiness. There is no difference between joy and happiness, despite what's been said otherwise. But point is, the good things we’re happy to know. The sorrowful, those that need correcting, we treat poorly.

The Father trusts us at times, and we need to value it. We don't. We criticize instead. This is NOT our right. God continually spoke to Israel of His love (Deuteronomy 6:5) and mercy. I have seen this in them, how generous and kind they are to the hurting, to their children, and their elders. Jesus IS them. He is the SO LOVE of the Father, shown upon the earth (John 3:16). We are to be like Him. His Spirit in us makes us willing. If you ever have a glimpse of the “breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of God’s love (Ephesians 3:18), loving others will be so easy. It is why we mourn the errors. It is why we preach in kindness. There is no place in us for hate. We must love people, in the good and the bad, which often means keeping silent. Less talk is better love when it comes to the secret place.

Men’s need for attention was Jesus’ criticism of prayer. There were leaders who made a scene so people would see them pray and/or fast (Matthew 2:7). We need to treasure God's trust and not use it for our personal advantage. That attitude should not be part of us, for that matter. We are not “in the ministry” for mammon (Matthew 6:24), for authority, or for control. All authority we are given is as service, to wash feet, spiritually speaking. To lust for control is the behavior of devils. Instead, it is as Jesus said: Do not enter the room and take the prominent seat, lest another, more mature than you enter and you are asked to move. In humbleness sit in the back and be bid to move forward (Luke 14:11). Our behavior shows our intent, and it is our intent that causes God to speak treasures of His heart to us. Because He knows we will treat it righteously.

I want to please Him. This is first in all I do. I want to truly know Him and never speak errors, and see clearly where He has placed me. For one thing that I have learned in staying submitted to Him: He is so very kind. And that most in the church have one foot to the left and the other far right, and they stand awkwardly placed between mismatched doctrines. In one breath, the devil is destroyed (Hebrews 2:14). In the next, they’re in a war with him. Which is it?

God would have us stop our personal interpretations and hear His Voice. But how we treat what He says will always determine what we hear and if He uses us.


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com