"The devil does not want us to talk things through. His scheme is to have us remain silent and allow walls to go up. This way he is able to defeat us separately. He can't defeat a United Church."
That's my Dad's quote up there. He has a lot of insight. God has shown me time and time again how cutting off communication allows Satan to do his best work. When the lines of communication are down, we can start to imagine all kinds of false realities/motives/attitudes and pin them on the people we are not talking to. When we get face-to-face, heart-to-heart, and allow ourselves to see the image of God reflecting from another person's soul, it's really hard to still conjure up false impressions of who they are.
Confrontation can be hard. It can be scary. It can cause pain. It can sometimes make things worse. HOWEVER- if it is done in love (confronting the issue, not the person), it can only make things better. LOVE being the key word there. And not just saying it, not just hoping you're doing it in love, and not just thinking you're gonna be loving... Those are all in our own strength. It's in surrendering to the power of Christ in us, asking for his eyes and heart toward others, because only in and through him do we have the power to truly love those created in His image.
I wanna die to me, and live for Him, and learn to choose relationship over taking offense any and every time, because when we are a united body, fighting together, and not against each other, the gates of hell cannot prevail against us!!
this is such a powerful thing. confrontation is hard and i struggle with it all the time. thanks for the inspiration to rise above!
ReplyDeleteI still struggle with it too, it is so easy for me to go into the mindset of "I'm protecting/defending myself" and that it must be better to not confront an issue and possibly make it worse.... but anytime that I have truly prayed through it and chosen to talk it through, it ends up so beautiful and there's just such a joy and freedom in having it all out on the table and walking away with forgiveness and even friendship... beauty for ashes!
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