Welcome to Weekly Topic Saturdays!
Hello all, I pray that your week was filled with joy and love. Welcome back to those who have been with me here at A Golden Dream. For my first-timers, a great big hello there, if you haven't already please check out my previous posts when you get a chance.
Please don't hesitate to join the conversation, there are no right or wrong answers or questions. I'm not proclaiming to know everything, I am simply just discussing and picking topics on things that I personally have gone through and that I know would help someone.
A hater by definition is a person who greatly dislikes a specific person or thing. Another definition also describes a hater to be negative or a critical person.
Be honest, are you a hater?
Has someone hated you?
The root word for hater is HATE. Hate is the opposite of love, so why do others hate. God is love and we are not supposed to hate because of that reason. So why do we become hateful or hate on each other?
The bible gives us strict instructions on how to deal with haters/enemies or people that come against you. Let's take a look.
1.Don't Engage!
Everyone will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. Stand firm, and you will win life.
Luke 21:17-19
If you were wondering why people can't stand you or are mean to you for no reason, well there you go. They hated Jesus first.
As Christians, we are supposed to do nothing. It’s not our fight, but our response speaks volumes. In Exodus 14:14, it reads that the Lord will indeed fight for us and all we have to do is be silent. So boom!! Be still.
I know it's hard. It's hard for me too, because, in the heat of the moment, I'm not meditating on what the Word says. I'm not calm or refining my self-control. I am upset and ready to fight. But that's my flesh talking. We have to separate the things of the flesh from what is spiritual.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Galatians 5: 16-26
2. Don't match their mentality
Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing
1 PETER 3:9
When a fire breaks out, You wouldn’t add gasoline to it, would you? No, so what makes it okay to stoop down to another person's mentality and start yelling, screaming, and cursing. If your only rebuttal is because they did it first, you aut- to-be put in time out. Tsk tsk tsk. Practice what we talked about in Facing Confrontation, and Resolving Old Conflicts.
What has helped me deal with people that hate is this simple phrase. Hurt people-Hurt People. My best friend's mother told some great advice when I was having a hard time processing my parent's divorce and holding on to the resentment that I had towards them. I was hurt and badly broken and I would lash out at others until I realized this was not who I am, and furthermore, this is not how I should handle my hurt. Self-correction is a process y'all.
When you find yourself in a situation where people are hurting you. Check your response and then know that they are indeed hurting themselves.
3. Never Mind "The Why"
Many have become my enemies without cause; those who hate me without reason are numerous.
Psalm 38:19
If your haters don't hate you for a specific reason, the majority of them don't like you because they simply don't have one. This should encourage you, even more, to keep pressing forward and to stay the course.
4. Forgiveness is a MUST!
Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:32
These last two instructions are the hardest, at least for me they were. Forgiveness is a process, so is letting go after you forgave them. Whew! We are led by the Spirit when we do what is right when nobody's looking nor expects us to. Forgive because God forgave you. We are born into sin and Jesus died for all of your sins that we can be renewed and born again. Choose forgiveness or bitterness.
5. Pray For and Bless Them Anyhow
Bless those who persecute you;bless and do not curse them
Romans 12:14
I told you these last two are a doozy. Not only do we have to ignore them, never match their mentality, never seek to understand the reason, forgive me, but we also have to bless them. I know, God laying it on thick with this scripture. We have to bless those who come against us. We have to speak life and not wickedness towards others. It's hard I know but walking with Christ is a full-time scripture, so it won't be easy but it is indeed possible.
Questions To Ask Yourself:
1. Do you find yourself becoming negative towards other people?
2. What can I do to spread positive regard to myself and to others?
3. How well can I conduct myself when others are not kind?
4. What keeps hopeful to not engage in negative behaviors?
With Love, when people come up against you do not speak ill of them, instead speak life. We have to strengthen our faith, endurance, and discernment when coming against others that mean to cause us harm. Choose your response. Will it be of the Spirit or the Flesh. Will it be Love or Hatred?
~Just Breathe...A Golden Dream~
Amen.