Shiloh Place Ministries
Seeing The World Experience the Father's Healing Love
Through the Hearts of the Leaders
www.shilohplace.org

Would You Rather Be Right Or Have a Relationship? Part 2
(Or Where Would You Be Without Judas?)

"Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice, and be glad for your reward in heaven is great But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you" Matthew 5:11, 12, 44-4

These verses imply that there is no blessing or reward when we do good to good people. Blessing comes when we do good to the people who hurt us. The blessing is Sonship! We end up with the feeling of full acceptance and unconditional love with the Father. We begin walking in a deeper intimacy with God and we start taking on His spirit of grace. That releases intimacy in most of our relationships. We then start becoming comfortable with love and forgiveness. This is the place where healing and the blessings of God begin to overtake you.

A study by Mark Virkler reveals that eighty percent of most Christian's thoughts are negative. "They didn't value me! They didn't speak to me! They were not concerned with my need! They! They! They!" You can take most of your thoughts or conversations about a difficult person in your life, and in one way or another line them up under one of two categories:

THOUGHTS OF RESTORATION AND RELATIONSHIP

or

THOUGHTS OF VINDICATION AND EXPOSURE

One way leads to blessing and the other way releases a self-imposed curse. Satan wants us to inherit a curse. If the majority of our thoughts and conversations are in agreement with him, he has a right to release the curse. "He also loved cursing, so it came to him; and he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him. But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, and it entered into his body like water, and like oil into his bones." (Psalm 109:17, 18)

God wants us to inherit a blessing. All we have to do is give the person a gift that they do not deserve, a gift of forgiveness and grace. "To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing." (1 Peter 3:8, 9)

It really comes down to this, WOULD WE RATHER BE RIGHT OR HAVE RELATIONSHIP? How often our thoughts come into agreement with Satan when we strive to be right in our relationships, especially at home. The biggest problem is we usually are right about others' faults! But you can be right and have the wrong attitude and you are dead wrong. Jesus didn't "grasp" for position or authority (Philippians 2:5-8). Satan did. Jesus sought to humble Himself. Satan sought to exalt himself. Satan lost his position in God's presence. Christ was exalted to the right hand of the Father. When you choose the behavior, you choose the consequences!

Jesus revealed the path to blessing and intimacy in Luke 6:27, 28, 35: "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High"

"Love your enemies" and you take on the spirit of Christ!

"Do good to those who hate you" and you may make them your friend!

"Bless those who curse you" and you inherit a blessing!

"Pray for those who mistreat you" and you see them through the loving eyes of the Father!

Jesus walked out these principles with the one who hurt Him most, Judas. He knew what was in Judas' heart from the beginning, yet Jesus continued to serve and minister to him for three years. He allowed Judas to minister beside Him. He washed Judas' feet right before the betrayal. He broke bread with him and lived faithful to the covenant of loyalty with Judas in spite of Judas' actions towards Him. He never stopped receiving and valuing Judas.

Have you received the difficult person whom God has placed in your life as an instrument of blessing? If you do not value and respect them, then you may be treating them like a curse, thus inheriting a curse! When we receive them as a blessing to help us find out what is in us, then God can take every negative relationship and use it to bring us into spiritual maturity. This releases us to be an instrument of His love to our family and to the nations!

"And as for you, you (Joseph's brothers) meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive." (Genesis 50:20)

Do you have a pattern of struggling with strife or conflict in relationships? Are your thoughts or words often accusatory towards those who hurt or disappoint you? Are you part of a team that lacks unity? Do churches in your city seem to be competitive and just do not flow well together as the Body of Christ? We have material available that will help you to mature in this area of life and ministry. Call SPM and ask for Robin. He will help you find the resources best suited to ministering to your area of need.

"Where Would You Be Without Your Judas?" (single audio tape)

"The Grace of Yielding" (single audio tape on the need to be right)

"The Salt of the Covenant" (two- tape audio series on loyalty)

"Avoiding Pitfalls for Leaders" (an awesome two-tape audio series on ministering out of a need to be needed)

"Confronting the Taskmasters of Your Life" (a life changing six-tape audio series that gets to the root of impure motivations)

In the Father's love,
Jack & Trisha Frost

---

PO Box 5
Conway, SC 29528, USA
(843) 365-8990
http://www.shilohplace.org
info@shilohplace.org