Peace of Jesus Christ be with you all.
It is a great pleasure to greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Because of the grace of God, we found His mercy to see the last month of this year. This year, though we lost many servants of God, and the church faced many hindrances to worship Him in His sanctuary, we are still able to see God’s hand helping us to glorify Him. Amidst all these difficult situations, our Lord God never allowed us to perish. Therefore, let every worship of ours be meaningful. Let your life be meaningful by making others’ lives stronger and happier. Let every conversation and fellowship be filled with the fruits of love. Whatever opportunity you have to express your love, do it today, do not wait for tomorrow because tomorrow is not ours. In the previous newsletters I discussed a lot about many signs you see in a relationship which should not be tolerated. Many people encouraged me and expressed that it was a blessing in their lives. I was very blessed by these encouragements. However, all this praise belongs to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. These revelations played a very important role in my life, and that is the reason I decided to share the precious blessings with you all. Whenever you see the newsletter as a source of strength, kindly pray for the team which is behind this. Usually, I am the one who is the reason for the delay, so kindly bear with me.
In this passage, we are going to see one of the most common problems we face in our lives, which is, being abused. Many times, we feel that an abuse is an injustice done to us by others. Dear brothers and sisters, it is our mistakes and ignorance that gives strength to the abuser to destroy our happiness. Whenever you realise that you are victimised by an abuser, it is a red flag about that relationship. That does not mean it gives you the authority to become a judge and accuse the abuser or break the relationship. It means that it should not be tolerated and needs the attention of the physician to fix the problem. The one and only physician, Jesus Christ, will decide the course of the treatment. Sometimes, it may be healed by some small correction or sometimes it may require a treatment in the hospital where special attention is needed. In a rare case, He may remove the affected body so that the rest of the body can regain the strength in the Lord to express His love and bear witness for His glorious name. Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil. Therefore, do not worry about the situation or the cunningness of the abuser; it is the responsibility of Jesus Christ to bring it to justice, and he will serve the due reward. In Jeremiah 23:5 & 6 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 6 In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Do not worry about the injustice and all the abuses which are destroying you, just take them to Jesus the Christ. The Bible says that He has taken the responsibility for your justice. All you have to do is to cry out to our King and Saviour.
Who is the Abuser?
Dear brother and Sister, the first question we need to ask is, “who is the abuser?” It is clear that the devil is the abuser because he destroys our joy and happiness. Sometimes, even the correction, which is good, will destroy our joy because by nature we hate the truth. Hence, we should know the difference between destruction and correction. The devil destroys the eternal life by giving worthless temporal pleasures. As followers of Jesus Christ, we should know the difference between slandering and correction. The easiest way to identify this is by knowing the difference between accusation and realization. The devil will accuse us by either making us see our mistakes or others’ mistakes. Law will tell us what is right and wrong, thus making it a rule; but grace will lead us to realize it, so it becomes written in our hearts. The work of the Holy Spirit will make us realize the reason for sinning as well as the solution rather than commanding a “do” or “don’t.” Therefore, the correction that you learn from Jesus Christ is realization. We can see this in Zachariah 12:10,11 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. 11 In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. When the Holy Spirit convicts a person, he will mourn for betraying the Lord our God. On the other hand, the devil will break our hearts and make us feel guilty, feel sorry for the mistakes, and worry about consequences and never make us focus on salvation and repentance. He will never make us focus on our strained relationship with God, rather, he will shift the focus on our failure. Our God is the God of second chances. The devil will not allow us to remember that our Saviour Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins. Thus, anything that makes you feel bad about your past and breaks your heart is the voice of the serpent. See the testimony of Paul from Romans 7:24, 25 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. In this passage we see the hope of a sinner. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Many times, we mistake corrections as judgement and accuse ourselves. When you are convicted by the Holy Spirit, it is a blessing. The Holy Spirit gives us boldness and access to go to the throne of grace. In Hebrew 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. In a person’s life, correction will always lead to realization of his/her mistakes in the light of love. A person who corrects, will never judge a person, instead, he/she will stand with us in our mistakes and share our pain. In family life, many parents mistakenly abuse their children instead of correcting them. Just because a person has resources and strength and hence takes the advantage to scold or curse the little ones, it is abuse. When it comes to the abused, remember one thing: unless you give access to the abuser, they cannot harm you. That is the reason why the Bible gives us the command to resist the devil. In James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. When you disobey the command of Jesus Christ, and allow the abuser to remain in your life, then pain, suffering, burden, etc. will enter your life to destroy you. You may ask about the command Jesus Christ gave in Matthew 5: 38 – 42 You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. In the previous passage from James, the word ‘resist’ has a different meaning. We cannot show an abusive nature in return to the abuser. At the same time, we cannot allow the abuser to destroy our lives. In the epistle of Paul to Ephesians, Chapter 5:11 says like this: 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. Here, Paul uses the word ‘no fellowship’. In Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; So He turned Himself against them as an enemy, And He fought against them. Here, when they grieved the Holy Spirit, He broke the relationship with them. God did not allow them to keep on causing Him to grieve. Therefore, as per the verse from Matthew, ‘showing the other cheek’ does not mean you should allow the slanderer to keep on abusing you. It communicates the way of handling an abuse in a Godly manner. Therefore, we must resist the abuser. When we do that, God will do the battles for us.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, so far, we have seen about resisting the abuse and the abuser. Many times, we may have seen elderly parents living helplessly. In many situations, what they go through really breaks my heart. Regarding this, I want to express my opinion. In Matthew 7:2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Here, we see how the system is working in this world. What you sow, you will reap for sure, unless you realize and repent. When you are young and healthy, in the name of correction, if you abuse your parents, children, and fellow brothers and sisters, the same abuse will come back to you. If you show kindness as in James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment, then the same will come back to you. Here, we see that the mercy of God will be revealed in the lives of only those who have shown mercy to others. Do remember the warning of Jesus Christ which is written in Matthew 18:6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Therefore, when you correct people who were under you, be careful not to offend them. Correction is a must, yes, it is the responsibility of the elders, leaders, and parents, but it does not give the permission to offend them or abuse them. Beware not to become an abuser.
Resisting the abuse:
Resisting the abuse is an important thing. Because someone is abusing you, you are not given authority to rebel against them or fight against them. Jesus Christ fought against them because He is the King, and the battle is His. In Exodus 14:13,14 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Here, we see how a battle is fought against the abuser. It is not our responsibility to do the battle, but it is the responsibility of Jesus Christ since He is our saviour. Then what should we do in the battle against our abuser? In James 4:7-10 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. Here, the methodology is mentioned in a clear way. The First step is to draw close to Jesus Christ. Unless we have fellowship with Jesus Christ, there is no way we can fight the battles. In this battle, flesh will weaken you, but the Spirit will give the willingness to go forward. Remember one thing in any battle, when the whole world was without form, but was filled with void and darkness, once the word was uttered from God’s mouth, the whole battle was over. Hence, all we need to do is to wait for the word to be uttered by God. The Second step is, we should be cleansed from the worldly system. Unless the source for the problem is removed from our lives, we cannot expect God’s salvation. Therefore, giving up our old lives plays an important role in our deliverance. The subject of the whole Bible is about repentance. Hence, it is better to understand that without the message of repentance, nothing is going to change in your life. Thirdly, cry out for mercy to God. Without the mercy of God no one can come to Jesus Christ. Finally humble yourself. Accept and acknowledge that your strength and ability is not enough for the battle. These four steps will help you to resist the abuser.
Abuser’s true nature:
In my life, for many years, I was always surrounded by abusive people. I could not figure out how and where I allowed these abusers to enter my life. Then a revelation came to me. They abused me because they felt insecure. They felt threatened by the growth I was experiencing. In Revelation 12:13 – 17 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. This verse is about the old dragon who accuses the children of God, day and night. From these verses we can figure out a few important characteristics of abusers. First, the abuser was thrown out of his place. The main problem for the abuser is, though they are qualified and trained to be in a nice place, they are destroyed by their pride. In this passage, satan was not created to be thrown into the earth but to be a chief; but, his attitude destroyed everything. Second, the effort he put in to covering up his defeat failed. The devil could not win the battle against God, so to cover up his defeat he started his second fight with the woman. In the same way, abusers will not fight with the people who are equal with them. This is the reason why in our battles we are attacked only in the areas in which we are weak. Nevertheless, do not worry about your weakness because the Lord God, whom we worship, promised to be our strength in our weakness. Do not allow your hearts to be moved or dismayed. The third reason for abusers to abuse is their mean mindset. The devil could not keep the word of God in his personal life, so he is against all who try to keep the word of God in their lives. All that the abusers want to see is their failure to be in your life as well. Therefore, when they try to abuse you, remember, they are already defeated people. Just resist the relationship, soon their defeat will consume them. You do not need to do anything.
Conclusion:
To conclude, I want to talk about the warning regarding the battle against the abusers. For sure, abusers will reap the consequence but they will use very cunning tactics which are very hard to resist. They use our sympathy in the wrong way. Abusers will try to continue to stay in our lives by manipulating our good intentions. Showing mercy to the weak is a Godly character. As followers of Jesus Christ, we should always be ready to help the needy. However, in the case of abusers, we cannot simply go out of our way and help them. Unless they feel sorry for their abusive nature and set right the relationship right with us, we cannot help them. In 2 Chronicles 19:1,2 Then Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned safely to his house in Jerusalem. 2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Therefore the wrath of the Lord is upon you. This is a good example to know whom we can help. Helping an abuser is not a good idea; it can destroy us. When David sinned, he was warned and corrected, not just helped. Hence, blindly helping an abusive person instead of helping him/ her in the process of repentance, is an abomination. That is why it is important that when you help someone you should not be driven by your flesh.
May the God Lord help to understand the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
May this Christmas season help you to become sensitive to the joy which comes through the salvation of Jesus the Christ. May His birth be celebrated with His Love and holiness. I pray to the Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ for the strength you need to focus on what is important in your life.
May the Love, mercy and grace of Jesus Christ lead, comfort, and protect you. May God bless you all.