HOW ARE WE TO HANDLE OUR ENEMIES?

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VENGEANCE


Nahum 1:1-3, “The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.”
“God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is
furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth
wrath for his enemies.”
“The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all
acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and
the clouds are the dust of his feet.”
God is saying here that he is a
God of vengeance. He is saying the Lord revengeth. He then goes on to say he
will not acquit the wicked. God then says there are something’s that help him.
He has the lever that turns on and off the whirlwind. He has the buttons that
turn on and off the storm. He has the power to make the clouds to come. He has
tornadoes and hurricanes at his disposal. God is telling his people that he has
all of these things at his disposal.
Our God is a loving God but our
God will not acquit the wicked. He is a God of vengeance. Please do not misunderstand
this but God wants people who do wrong to receive their just desserts. God will
not acquit the wicked. God has three ways to see to it that people receive
their just vengeance.


GOD’S PART
Romans 12:19, ”Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but
rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will
repay saith the Lord.”
You are not to get back at
anyone! “avenge not yourselves” is in the same Bible that promises you Heaven
if you trust Christ as your personal Saviour! The same God wrote this too. You
are to attempt to get back and anybody.
God is not saying here that he
does not want those who have wronged you to get away with it and not receive
their just punishment. He is just saying you will not do the best job of
vengeance. You want to scrape while God wants to salvage! God does what them to
receive their just dues but it is not your job or my jog. “… give place to wrath…”
God’s children are to transfer
vengeance to someone else. Defer to someone else who can do a much better job
than you can! God wants people to get their come uppins! God wants people to
pay for their wrong.

In my 45 years of ministry I have experienced every attack imaginable from every person possible.  Men who thought they held my ministry in their hands to make or break failed. They failed for two reasons; because I would not bow or back down to them and the realization that God could handle this far better than I.

When I started INDEPENDENT BAPTIST ONLINE COLLEGE you would have thought I had started a college for Satan. I obeyed God to start a college to help those who quit and never returned to finish what God had started in their hearts. Our first year we had over 1,000 students. Our second year God gave us 560 new students after 4 months in 2017.

It cost us financially. Mrs. G and I are making it, but no thanks to some who would want us to disappear. It would be very easy for me to fight back, but God loves my enemies as He loves me. I would be in essence fighting God not my enemies.

I have decided to use the attacks as a teachable moment to help others who will go through what we have gone through. I’m 71 as of the writing of this article and I honestly thought the days of battling were behind me.  But, the enemies still keep sticking their heads up.  What can I do?  2 things- I will not bow nor back down-I will leave the vengeance up to God.
Ezekiel 18:4, “Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of
the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it
shall die.”
However, God’s children are not
the judge, jury, and executioner. If someone does you wrong then “give place to
wrath”
or defer to someone else who can do the job properly. God said, “…I will repay…”
   
God’s children are not to get back at anyone
I wish all of us would stop and
think about this before we react. In my 33 years of pastoring I spent more time
refereeing stupid disagreements between church members. The Scripture says,
“Bless those that curse you” and “Pray for those that despitefully use you”
and  “Do good to those who do evil
to you.”
God is for avenging wrong
It is not that God does not want
the guilty to be punished. It is just that God wants it done right. We want to
kill em’ while God wants to salvage em’! God will do it right and we will
always do it wrong!
God says avenging is his job
If God is in charge of the
storms, the whirlwind, and the tornadoes I would suspect God could get back at
them far better than you and I could. You and I cannot send lightening, a
hurricane, a tornado, or thunder. God has the entire universe at his disposal
and God is saying stay out of my business and let me take care of this
thing.  I’ll take care of it for
you and I’ll do it right because you will blow it and mess of the job. You will
and cannot do it right!
Please do not misunderstand me
God does not want them punished for it is just that God wants it done right and
he is the best one to do it. God is not saying here let the sinner go free for
he is saying back out of it and I will take care of it. The truth is if you
really want your enemy to get what he deserves then step out of the was and let
God do it!

God will avenge
In verse 19 God said simply, “…I will repay…”! God will get vengeance
on those that do wrong. God will see to it because he is a God of justice.
God can do a better job than we can
God admonishes his children to
“…give place to wrath…” or in other words step back and let God do his work!
Please understand personally I do not want any bad thing to happen to any of my
enemies. There was a time when I wanted them to suffer but after 71 years of
life and 45 years of ministry I do not wish anything bad on anyone. Life is
tough enough as it is!
I have learned that God can do a
much better job of taking care of my enemies than I can. I suffer maybe because
of lies but truth always prevails. I do not have to defend myself I only have
to stand and fight for the truth of God’s word!
God is telling us he will get him for you
When I was 13 my dad took me one
summer to work with him loading gravel for a road construction job. I was to
operate a front end loader and daddy was driving the truck to the road
construction area. He would pull the truck up and I would load it with gravel.
He then would deliver the gravel. While he was gone I took the front end loader
and went into the mound of gravel to have a load ready to load daddy’s truck
when he returned. 

When I took the front end loader and pushed into the mound I
hit a water line that I did not know was there. A man came running out of the
worker’s shed screaming and cussing at me. He pulled me off of the tractor and
threw me into the mound of gravel. He was on top of me and I was no match for
him, but here came daddy pulling up in his dump truck. He jumped out of the cab
and grabbed the man on top of me pulling him off of me and beat the snot out of
him! I was never so happy in my life to see my daddy!
Hey, I was no match for my enemy
but my father was. Could it be that we are no match for our enemies but our
Heavenly Father is?

One Comment on “HOW ARE WE TO HANDLE OUR ENEMIES?”

  1. Great reminder! This is why I keep reading sermons on the same subject, and submit myself to the teaching and preaching of God's Word. This message, as most do, had one new thought, one new statement of truth that stood out for me. And, it reminded me once again that: God's thoughts and ways are not as man's thoughts, they are higher, better, and wiser.

    Here's the statement that was made that jumped out at me in this message:

    "God wants to salvage the offender, while we want to savage the offender."

    Which made me thank God that when I need chastening, it is a gift from the person I offended and hurt, to yield to God's vengeance upon me, for as Hebrews 12 states, it is for our "profit" He chastens, and not His pleasure.

    God so detests our "getting back" and vengeance that Proverbs 24 tells us He backs away from the offender because He is not a God double jeopardy. Either He takes care of it perfectly and for the offender's profit, or we take care of it for the express purpose of the momentary pleasure that retribution brings to our pathetic souls. No wonder it is "Amazing Grace!"

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