How To Get Along With Everyone All The Time

Here we are again, shortly after 5:00 AM on a Saturday morning. Lord why do we always have to do this so early on a Saturday or Sunday morning? Oh, that's the only time I really listen? There may be something to that. It seems like life is very busy lately and little of it has to do with the holidays. Nonetheless, the Holy Spirit is compelling me to quickly follow up on the previous post. Apparently it sounded a little harsh, cold, or even cruel to some, although I have not received any feedback at all at this point. Perhaps this will bring a little balance.

This title is taken from a teaching done by Pastor Larry Lea in the late '70s. We heard the brief teaching live, and viewed it on video tape at least twice. Larry was teaching on The Lord's Prayer and this was the title of the section on the phrase, "And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors." (Matthew 6:12) As you might know from your study or a teaching on this phrase, it is in the Greek imperative mood. That means we are not begging God to forgive us. Rather we are telling Him we want to be forgiven for our debts incurred toward Him through our sins because we also forgive anyone who owes anything to us. Those things would include such things as common courtesy, assistance with the affairs of life, or real, tangible needs. I would apologize if your theology does not allow you to "tell" God anything, but you will have to deal with that on your own.

Whenever we offend another person with any action, whether intentionally or unintentionally, there is shared responsibility for the offense. Whether our actions should have offended them or not, we bear some of the responsibility for the fact they feel offended. Likewise, and again, whether we were intentional or accidental, they have the responsibility to forgive us. That is indeed a very tall order, on both ends. Nonetheless, it falls into the category of the second greatest commandment, "...love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:39)

Back to Larry Lea for a moment, he says that if we forgive everyone who will offend us first thing every morning, we will not have problem forgiving them when they do. That gets the old, mental wheels spinning. Forgive someone before they do us wrong? Whoa!

The Holy Spirit just gave me a little test we can all take. Call it a quiz. It is only one question. It will betray our ability to hear Him. Reread the previous paragraph slowly. Let it sink in. How does that concept strike you? The correct answer is something like, "That certainly would work. I would not be offended if I did that." Incorrect answers include, but are not limited to, "That's ridiculous." "How do you expect me to forgive someone before they do something to me?" and even, "I will have to think on that." or "I am not sure how I feel about that." You may have realized that all the wrong answers involve human reasoning or emotions, or both. You can read that as "soul". According to Proverbs 14:12, which you should know by heart by now, that is always the wrong way to look at something. We have not even suggested responses like, "But they hurt me, I have a right to be offended, at least for a little while." We left that one out on purpose. It is a lie of the enemy of our souls.

We do not have the right to hold an offense against anyone, any offense, any time. On the contrary, we have the responsibility to forgive them just as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. (Ephesians 4:32) When we fail to forgive another person for a wrong done to us, we block the flow of God's blessings toward us. Remember, we are asking forgiveness on the basis of being forgiving people ourselves. It is not that God will not forgive us when we do not forgive, it is that our unforgiveness inhibits the flow of His grace toward us. In any area in which we do not forgive, God's grace is limited because His justice and mercy are always balanced. He would like to be merciful with our failings, and He is, but His justice requires we be just and merciful to receive justice and mercy from Him.

Let us go back to the idea of forgiving people before they do us wrong. Borrowing a phrase from Bill Winston, we learn that, "God did not start until He had finished." There is no time with God. He is eternal. We entered into the eternal, timeless, life of God when we were born again. When we understand the concept of timelessness, miracles, healings, provision, and even forgiveness become possible right here and now (in time). Think about that. We often think (There is that pesky "way that seems right to a man" again.) that because we do not see (and the body) the answer to our prayers manifest in time, God did not answer them.

I recently had a Baptist friend question me on the erroneous concept of "name it and claim it." That is, of course a disparaging way of referring to anyone who thinks God will answer all our prayers. (So much to explain, so little space.) Gave myself away on that one. Anyway, as faithful as Baptists are to Biblical inerrancy, for some reason they almost universally reject the idea that we can ask God for anything and He will answer. Oh, and the answer will be yes. I could launch into a teaching on that concept, but if you study the subject through with your spirit open I am certain you will come to the same conclusion I have. No fewer than four times does the New Testament say we will receive what we ask for. Nowhere in the Bible that I have seen is there even an allusion to God saying "No" to our prayer". That idea is an invention of man to explain unanswered prayer. And do not even bore me with the whole, "If it is in His will" thing. Study 1 John 5:14-15. I will give you a hint. His will is not "what" we ask. His will is "that" we ask. If we need a full teaching on that please let me know. We will be happy to provide it, complete with a Greek grammar lesson, free of charge, as always.

There are conditions to having all our prayers answered. We must ask. (Duh?) (1 John 5 :14) We must ask in Jesus' name. (John 14:14, 15:16). That latter verse also talks about abiding in the vine. Our prayer is strengthened by agreement. (Matthew 18:19)

I do this all the time in class too, start on one subject and finish on another. We were talking about getting along with everyone all the time and we ended with how to have our prayers answered. Yes, I do mean we ended with that. We hope you got something out of this post anyway. God bless.

The Ordering of Events

I spent the day travelling to and from the headquarters of the Rescue Mission Alliance. For those of you who do not know, they are the folks who write me a couple paychecks each month. I am very thankful for my job. I may be even more thankful for my wife's job since she makes more money than I do, but that is another story. Usually once a month I go down there--to Oxnard, CA, the headquarters, for some kind of meeting. Today there were two of them so I saw lots of my fellow employees. I also learned a thing or two. Imagine that.


I have met a lot of great people since taking this position. And of course I never realized just how boring my life really was until I started working with people in recovery. I just want to say thank you. I am able to write this blog because they write me a couple checks each month. Thank you RMA!


The previous paragraph was something more than simple reminicenses. God always orders our lives according to His purposes. In fact, the Bible tells us, "...we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) Sometimes we feel that our lives are a series of random events. However, it is clear from scripture that God not only knows what the events of our lives are, but He has prepared the works He wants us to do in advance. In that regard, He does what a football coach does in drawing up plays. He draws x's and o's on the board then draws the lines and directions to show what each of us is supposed to do as the play unfolds. For that reason, we must understand the things that come to us or against us, whether good or bad, all happen under the watchful eye of our loving Heavenly Father. If we can get that concept into our minds and from there to our spirits, we would live our lives entirely differently than we do. We would be free to do whatever God has for us to do at anytime without concerns about His care, guidance, protection, and provision. We would know in our spirits those things are already givens in the Kingdom of God. In fact it seems I have read something somewhere like not worrying about tomorrow because today has enough of its own problems.


Since, then, the course of our lives are ordered by God, it seems things should be going simply wonderfully all the time. Many of you know I am a classic introvert. People bug me sometimes. Yes, seriously. Sometimes I imagine how nice the commute would be to work if all y'all would just stay off the freeway. And if I stop to get a beverage at the local mini market will you please just pay with cash. Use exact change if you can. Oh, and you guys at the mission, (yes, staff too) sometimes I just need a little space and there really are a few things I cannot change anyway. I think I manage to deal with most people pretty well most of the time. In fact, most of you know I have made a concerted effort within the past few months to walk in love toward everybody. That does not mean I am going to quit being me. I can only please a few people a day. Maybe this is not your day.


Yes, I am making a point here. I am afraid it's another kind of an ugly one. I would apologize, but one of the things I learned today at the first meeting is that sometimes it is easier to be nice than to be honest. (So many things going through my head as I write that.) Along with the love walk, I have recently seen the importance of being honest. That story is too long to fit in this space, but somehow I know it is going to come up in the future, and probably sooner rather than later.


This blog and the spiritual warfare that initiated it are an unfolding revelation. Please, never make the mistake of thinking any of us have it all figured out. Heck, most of the time I'm surprised when I see the words come up on my monitor. Trust me, I am not that smart. If you see anything impressive in these pages, thank the Holy Spirit whom we hope is the real writer.


Ok so the point is, bad things are going to happen to good people. Often we bring them on ourselves through ignorance, stupidity, or rebellion. Sometimes they come by way of other men. (Deep breath, here is where it gets ugly.) Occasionally, those bad things come into our lives as a result of other people doing the wrong things toward us, or simply not doing the right things. Jesus said, "Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!" (Matthew 18:7) In other words, people are going to do the wrong things toward us sometimes. That is going to be between them and God. Those times give us the opportunity to work on our own love walk. Admittedly, it would have been better had they been walking love toward us, but for some reason they were not. That is going to be between them and God. Our responsibility is to continue to walk in love toward them. We have no doubt everyone reading this post has someone to forgive for something and, conversely, we all have things for which we need to ask forgiveness. God is gracious. In fact if you have been born again, He has already put those things under the blood of Jesus and will not bring them up again. We still need to deal with them by airing them out with the other party.


We would be remiss if we did not close this post with an invitation. Perhaps there are those of you out there who feel you have been offended, snubbed, insulted, or otherwise injured by something we have done--or did not do. We ask that you would make that known to us so that we can do whatever is possible to make it right. Maybe in reading some of this material you have come to realize we did not mean to do evil against you and have already found it in your heart to forgive us for it. Thank you. It would be very encouraging for us to hear about those things too.