Spirit – Pastor Pushie
Pastor Pushie shares how choosing to do right after you’ve been wronged always yields bigger and better blessings
The Bible says Job was the most upright and greatest man in the East. He had seven sons and three daughters, and was very rich. And he feared God and shunned evil. But Satan said to the Lord, “The only reason Job loves you is because you put a hedge of protection around him.” In other words, Job only loves you because you have blessed him. If you stop blessing him, and strike everything he has, He will surely curse you. So the Lord said to Satan, “Okay, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself, do not lay a finger.”
And so the attacks began. First, Job lost his livestock and servants and then, finally, all his children.
In a short space of time, Job lost everything. Have you ever lost it all? This is what we call buffeting – when there’s one attack after another and you can’t seem to get a break. Just when it seems like you’re coming out of one crisis, another comes along. People observing your suffering may assume you must’ve done something to deserve it when, in fact, the opposite could be true. Sometimes the reason everything ’s going wrong in your life is not because you did something wrong, but because you did something right.
What do you do when you find yourself in a position where it feels like your life has fallen apart? How do you respond to unexpected losses? Do you get angry with God? Do you blame Him and become bitter? At some point or the other, we all face situations in our lives when we must choose to either get better or run the risk of growing bitter. In Psalms 51:10-13, David said, “Create in me a clean heart O Lord, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.”
This was when David faced one of the most challenging times of his life. And yet he asks God to create in him a clean and pure heart. Your heart pumps blood throughout your body and supplies oxygen to your brain. Your life depends on it. You can’t afford for anything to block it. You might have lost the baby, the job, the marriage, the house, and it hurts, but no matter what happens, you have to keep a clean heart even in the midst of pain and betrayal. Because when you’re called to greater things, you can’t do to people what they do to you. You can’t afford to pay anyone back for what they did to you because you’ll reap a harvest of what you sow, good or bad. You can’t let anger, jealousy, hatred, pain, and bitterness clog your heart and block your destiny when you still have a long way to go. So David asks God to renew in him a steadfast spirit — a loyal, committed, devoted, dedicated, reliable, steady, unwavering, consistent spirit within him. In the good times and the bad times. Married or single. With money or without. With a job or no job. At all times, in every season. Your circumstances cannot dictate your love for God. In Bible college, a teacher said to me, “Never lose your passion.” Years later, I interviewed a very well-known pastor and asked him what the secret to his longevity in ministry was. He said, “Never develop a wounded spirit.” In other words, keep your heart right through it all.
When you’ve been through a lot, when it feels like you’re running on empty, ask God to restore and fill you up again. Say, “Restore me Lord. Restore my heart, my joy, my peace, my strength, my passion, my purpose, my love.” Not so you can show off, but so that you can be a testimony. If your output is greater than your intake, your upkeep will become your downfall. The secret to restoration is forgiveness. Forgiveness is not excusing what was done to you – it’s a gift to yourself! The jewel of Job is not that God restored double what he had lost, but the beauty in the Bible is that, after we pray, and choose the right response in a wrong situation, God restores us to more than we were before. – Pastor P
At some point or the other, we all face situations in in our lives when we must choose to either get better or run the risk of growing bitter.