Based on the sermon "You are Built to Last" by Dr. Tony Medley, Sr.
Ephesians 6:10-11 "Finally, my brethern, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
God has laid out certian principles that we must follow for every type of relationship in a myriad of social settings:
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right." (Eph 6:1)
"...Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nuture and admonition of the Lord" (Eph 6:4)
"Servants (or employees) , be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of yoru heart, as unto Christ;" (Eph 6:5)
"...Masters (or employers), do the same things unto them, forbearing threating: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him." (Eph 6:9)
If we operate within these principles, God makes promises of longevity of life, success, blessings and provision and so much more.
There are a few important things to note about these proceeding scriptures (Eph 6:1-9):
What ever we project we will recieve (We reap what we sow - Gal 6:7)
Our return is not based on where we have sown (Matt 25:26)
Everything we do, we should do it as unto Christ (Eph 5:22)
God clarifies that we should not do these things just for show but as a servant of Christ (Eph 6:6)
Every opportunity we are given in life should be handled it as if we are honoring Christ
God does not give condition on our position. Notice that God did not say, you should only honor your parents if they are perfect. God did not say that you should only love your children if they become everything that you thought they should be. God also did not say, that you should obey your employer if you have a good job/manager or that you should treat your employees with respect if they are good employees.
Regardless of what they have done and how they have treated us, God has called us to respond to them based on our relationship with Him. We are not responding because of the person we are projecting our blessings to, we responding because God has projected His blessing on us, remembering that the blessings we experience are not because of us but because God first loved us.
Maybe you were not always treated fairly by your parents but look at you! You are still successful, you are still prosperous, and you are still favored because God has still blessed you!
Maybe your employer is trying to opress you, has overlooked you, and disrespected you. You still have all of your needs met and more! Why? Because it is God that provides all of your needs according to his riches and glory. He used the job but you don't need the job because God can order anything, even a raven to feed you (1 Kings 17:4-6).
Maybe your children are not following your advice or honoring you but God has still kept them. The things that could of happened to them haven't happened to them. Things that could have taken them out haven't taken them out all because of the grace of God.
Psalms 34:19 says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord deliverth him out of them all.
We should expect afflictions with our parents, our children and our job but know that you operate in a different realm: the Kingdom realm and you are built to last!
If you are not operating within the principles outlined in Ephesians 6:1-9, I pray that you align yourself with what God has commanded us to do. Wherever God places us, we have to represent him in that position no matter what comes agianst us. We have a responsibility to project his glory, honor and love on every person in every situation. We have to operate in love.
"And above all things have fervent charity (love) among yourselves: for charity (love) shall cover the multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8)
If you are not operating in love, you are limiting your success and your ability to succeeed.
Love covers sin instead of exposing sin. Love covers what was done to you. It does not expose what was done to you. This doesn't mean that you are hiding it or pretending that it didn't happen, this means that love covers sin in such a way that someone can be restored.
Moving Past Offenses
We are often times offended by someone we should be honoring or respecting because we feel they have sinned agianst us. But think about how much disrespect Jesus experienced. Think about the physical and emotional pain that Jesus endured as a consequence of our sin. Think about the sacrifice of life that he subjected himself to.
The bible says "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). We have sinned. If we say that we are without sin, we make him a liar (1 John 1:10) and if we continue in sin, we are crucifying Christ afresh (Hebrews 6:6).
When Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross it was on behalf of all of our sins: past, present and future and now He sits at the right hand of our glorius Father, making intercession for us (Romans 8:34).
We are supposed to be Christ-like. If we are going to be built to last we can not live in offense.
If you are operating in a state of offence, you are limiting your ability to move foward.
"Brethern, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phillippians 3:13-14)
When you live in offense, you are holding on to what happened to you. If you are holding on to what happened to you, you can not hold on to what is supposed to happen for you. You can not reach for things that are before if you are stuck on those things that are behind.
HEALING from the past
It's very awkward to reach backward. It limits your view and perspective, tt constrains your outlook and your ability, and tt restricts your mobility.
This is why it's imperative that you reach for things to come and not be bound to what has happened in your past. In order for your to heal from the past, there are three things you must do:
1. Give it to God and Trust Him to Fix it. Everything that has happened to us belongs to God. It belongs to him to fix, repair and restore. The bible says in Matthew 11:28, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest".
It is so much easier to hold on to Jesus than to hold on to the hurt and pain that you experienced from those who hurt you in your past.
2. Know that Vengence Belongs to the Lord. There is a reason why vengence belongs to God and not to us (Hebrews 10:30). If we willed the hands of vengence we would destroy everyone that ever hurt us and/or wreck havoc on all those who have wronged us. But when God wills the hands of vengence He seeks to restore those who are lost and lead them to the place of repentence.
God is in the business of saving souls not destroying souls. When God cuts off your enemies he does not cut them off to destroy them. He cuts them to circumcise their heart.
3. Understand God's Will for Others. God wants to heal and restore your enemies just as he has healed and restored you. He wants to extend the abundance of his love and grace to them just as he has done for you. When we understand God's will for the lives of others we can move forward in the things that God has called us to do, having a peace that surpasses all understanding. When you have a peace that surpasses all understanding, you can flow through life without being offended.
We have to let God handle it so that we can focus on the things that God wants us to focus on.
Shifting Your FOCUS
The reason why God wants us to let him handle the situations that arise from our relationships with others is because He wants us to focus on your higher purpose. This high calling in Christ Jesus requires us to focus on three things:
1. Conflict in The World. You should be in conflict of inteterest with the world. If you agree with everything in the world, you are not settled in the disposition that God expects you to be in. There should be things in the world, that conflict with your spirit, your thinking, and your acceptance because though you are in this world, because you have been born again, you are not of it (John 15:19).
This should not drive you to hate or escape the world but it should drive you to love it like God did; so much so that he gave his only begotten son for it (John 3:16).
You do this by loving people to righteousness and loving them into holiness.
You can express an opposing view without making the person you disagree with your enemy but you have to be settled in a position because if you are not settled in your position, you will fall for whatever they say to you.
We have to remember that we are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). If we loose our salty position or our salty dispositions, the earth looses its preservation. This is why your Christian conviction is important.
2. Conflict with your Flesh.
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." (James 1:13-14)
Every born again believer, has a sin-trait that is more dominant than others. Every born again believer has a sin-trait in their physical DNA that they are more inclined to do than other sins. It is that sin, in your flesh, that you are always enticed by (i.e. lying, fornication, homosexuality, stealing, gossping etc.).
You can never fill a void by acting out the commandment in your flesh. Your flesh is constantly trying to lure you away from the position that Christ is putting you in but if you operate in the love of Jesus, allowing him to be the space that fills the void that you feel in that area, you won't have to fill it with lying, cheating, fornicating, a homosexual lifestyle or some other thing. It is God who will perform the work in us.
The bible says that the law was not perfect in our flesh (Romans 8:3). It's not that the law is not powerful, it's that we can not give it power because of our flesh. We need the love, grace and Spirit of God to fulfill the perfection of the law.
Some Christians fall away, fall backwards, become depressed because spiritual elitists try to force them to make decisions and movements that they can not fulfill in their flesh. So they continue to fall short of the glory of God because of the demands that are on them, not understanding the power of grace.
We have to stay our our lane. The bible says that we are only to plant seeds or water (1 Corinthians 3:6 - 8). It is only God by his love, mercy and Spirit that brings the increase. Our responsiblity is to plant and water and then give up the change to God. Only God can change a person and only God has a heaven or hell to send a person to. Neither one of us have the power or the position to say where they are going. It is our job to continue to cover them in love.
3: Conflict with the Devil.
In Matthew 16:13, Jesus addresses the rumors and accusations others were saying about him when he asks, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" The disciples reply in verse 14 by saying, "...Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias: and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets."
Notice in Matt 16:15 that Jesus never defended what others were saying about him but what he did do was ask the disciples, "...whom say ye that I am?".
You don't have to defend yourself agianst other people. That is God's business, God will handle them. God never yields us audience to handle the accusations of other people. This is why he tells us to judge not, that ye not be judged (Matthew 7:1).
When the disciples responded that Jesus was the Christ (Matthew 16:16), he taught them that it was God who revealed this to them (Matt 16:17) and it was on this revelation (this understanding) that God said he would build his church. If we focus on this alone: one lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph 4:5 - 6), the kingdom of God can continue to be built.
The devil is our true enemy. The bible says he goes around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). He constantly tries to bring accusation against us but the only audience that the devil has is God. This is why the devil went to God to accuse Job (Job 1:6 - 12) because the only way that the devil can have accusation that yields power is if it is given to him by God.
Notice in the story of Job that God only allowed the devil in areas of Job's life that God already knew he had already prepared and equippted Job to be able to handle. God allowed him to attack every area of his life but didn't allow the devil to take his life. Why did God stop him there? Because God doesn't build us to be destroyed. He builds us to last.
"Know this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing". (James 1:3)
Conclusion
We are not wrestling against human beings, but the spiritual realm that controls human beings. If we make the object people we will begin to despise people. And if you are in a position of despising someone you are hindering movements of God in your life.
You can not be stuck in offense because God wants you to be free indeed (John 8:36). You can not be free indeed if you have a area that you are harboring.
God said in his Word that if there is any offense, you must leave your offering and go back and release yourself from the offense (Matthew 25:23-24)
How do you do this? Forgive them.
Maybe you were waiting for somebody to apologize, to utter the words "I'm sorry" or even acknowledge that they hurt you but God is telling me to share with you that this doesn't matter.
What if Jesus waited for the world to apologize? What if Jesus waited for the world to say, "I'm sorry", all of us would still be bound today. He didn't think it was robbery, he allowed himself to come out of a position of glory so that we could be with Him.
So what we must do is go back and say, "I forgive you". Even if they don't understand what they did to you. Even if they don't acknowledge what they did to you. Not only forgive them, love them: there's power in that.
Once you do this, you are free. You no longer have to keep score of how long, and how many times or how deeply they hurt you because you are free from all of that. When you do this you enter into the ranks of those referred to as the effectual, ferverent praying warriors because now when you pray it availest much! Now, when you bring an offering, it opens up the windows of heaven! Now, when you walk into a room, the annointing on you brings healing. Now, when you speak the Word, it is life. Now, when you prophesy, things come to pass. Now, when you praise, blessings begin to come down because you are free indeed!
Your stress begins to change, your physical ailment begins to change because you're free.
Your company begins to change because your free.
Your ministry begins to change because your free.
So be stong in the Lord and in the power of His might because you were built to last!
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