In Ephesians 4:30-32 the Bible says that we can grieve the Holy Spirit. We actually have the ability to make God cry.
I have just suffered through three of the most horrific years of my life and I have noticed that when another attack was happening many times it would be raining. I used to think that God was crying with me as my heart was breaking.
I don’t doubt that He felt my pain and that He had compassion on me maybe even to the point of making it rain but now I see things differently.
I may have caused Him to cry during those times. When I screamed out at Him, “Where are you God and why are you not doing anything to stop this evil?!”
My heart was filled with indignation and pain, far from the land of forgiveness.
In Ephesians 4:30 it says, ” And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
How on earth could I grieve God?
By holding bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander along with every form of malice in my heart. (Ephesians 4:30)
All of these emotions are insurmountable obstacles to God’s love and forgiveness.
It does not matter what someone else does to me on my judgment day. All that matters is how I treat other people and the response I have to evil and the intimacy I choose to have with my heavenly Father. .
Is it more important to hold evil in my heart or to block evil so that nothing stops the love of God from entering in and flowing out to others?
So how do I stop evil?
Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and compassionate, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
To do this to those who seek to harm you most, is to walk away from Satan and walk right back into the loving embrace of God.
May all of you have a day filled with the brilliant sunshine of God’s love unencumbered by the evil that others have sought to fill your heart with.
Be blessed with the freedom of forgiveness!
Gracie, my post that is not being shared, thank you by the way, is a perfect example of how “NOT” to write. The feeling and emotion I had when that event happened was priceless. However, I am unable to convey that feeling and emotion with words. I am just to clumsy and sometimes not a very good wordsmith. But you do a very good job of conveying what is in your heart and what you are feeling, and that is why you are such a good writer.
Hi Gracie. Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. There is a lot in this post that I can relate to. The emotions and feelings you put on paper are those I have felt or are still feeling. Where do I start.
When you say this: “Where are you God and why are you not doing anything to stop this evil?!” I have said this a thousand times. The answer I get back is ” I’ve been right here the whole time, where have you been?” Insert “Footprints in the Sand” reference here. Also, when we have this feeling we can just imagine what Jesus was feeling when on the Cross when he cried out ” My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” So yes, he intimately knows how we feel because he has been there before we were.
When you say this: “All that matters is how I treat other people and the response I have to evil and the intimacy I choose to have with my heavenly Father. ”
I am not going to reference the exact proverb or the passage where Paul says this but in proverbs it says something like this: ” when your enemy is thirsty give him something to drink, and when he is hungry give him something to eat, and let God heap burning coals on top of his head” So, as you have said, “all that matters is how I treat people and the response I have to evil” this is what the God’s Word in this proverb commands us to do. God will take care of all of his creations one way or the other. If he created it we should treat his creations kindly. (easier said than done by the way, but that is what he asks us to do)
So true about the people who are unkind. It is human to give tit for tat and I have done that way too many times. I am ashamed at how I have treated my ex. I have not treated him with the compassion of God at all. I have failed miserably but as I lumber through the darkness of my heart God’s word and Spirit keep leading me towards the light of forgiveness and unconditional love for others.
I think we have all made Him grieve a time or two. We all need to work on forgiveness for the forgiveness needed is beyond human ability when we have been broken. Thanks for sharing…
Yes, it is so easy to give tit for tat instead of love for hate. A very difficult thing to do.