Power Thoughts by Joyce Meyer

Author:Joyce Meyer [MEYER, JOYCE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL012000
ISBN: 9780446574853
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2010-09-13T16:00:00+00:00

Think about It

List three benefits that you will receive by forgiving.

A Key Issue for Desperate Times

Some people say over and over, “I am just touchy and I get my feelings hurt easily. That is just the way I am and I cannot help it.” This is what they believe about themselves, and this belief controls their words and actions, which is so unfortunate because it is so ungodly! It is also an excuse to continue the wrong behavior.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to become a person who is difficult to offend. Satan desperately tries to prevent us from making spiritual progress. If he can keep us focused on who we are angry with and what they did to offend us, then we cannot focus on God’s Word and His plan for us, and we will not grow spiritually. Once again let me remind you that Satan is fishing, hoping to catch someone in his trap; don’t take his bait!

Most of us sense that we are living in desperate times among desperate people and we should be more careful than ever before to not let our emotions take the lead role in our lives. Instead of being quick to become angry or being easily offended, we must take the Bible’s advice and be wise as serpents and gentle as doves (see Matthew 10:16). In other words, we should be spiritually mature, patient, kind, and gentle with others and wise enough not to allow them to offend us. We cannot control what people do to us, but through God we can control the way we respond to them. The world seems to be getting darker and darker; everywhere we look, we hear and read about people whose anger leads them to do drastic, even tragic, things. We want to represent God and express His love in these difficult days, and to do so, we will have to guard our hearts diligently against offense and anger. Building a new mind-set that you are not easy to offend will be very helpful to you and all those you love.

This principle is also very important to teach our children. One of the reasons it was so difficult for me to forgive was because I never had it modeled in front of me. All the people I grew up around stayed angry most of the time and if anyone ever did anything to hurt or disappoint them, their natural response was to angrily shut that person out of their lives forever. What we do in front of our children affects them even more than what we say, so remember to set a good example for them. Take every opportunity to teach them the importance of prompt and complete forgiveness. If you train them early not to be easily offended, you can save them years of pain and frustration.

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