We all have experienced “Bold People & Bullies” in our lives and there is a vast difference between the two. Many, if not all of us, have experienced bullies when we were small and today I think bullies are on the rampage in many adults.

No one likes a bully unless you are a bully yourself.  Maybe the worst part about talking about bullies is that they can be secular or religious. For me, I understand secular bullies but religious ones seem more evil because they are supposed to represent knowing and loving God. It’s one thing to see a bully who confesses he or she is one, but it is a travesty when a religious person tries to hide their bullying nature by using scripture and religious words to fool people while claiming to be humble.

When someone has boldness, especially about their faith in Christ, we admire them but we need to know what motivates them, pride or humility. Pretending to care about issues or scripture while wounding and harming other believers is a sin against the body of Christ and Jesus does not treat those who wound his people kindly. 

Let me be clear, sometimes we are called to challenge or rebuke fellow believers when necessary and those rebukes can and often do cause pain initially, but the motives for any rebuke need to be anchored in the love of God and not being motivated by pride,  arrogance or any measure of animosity or hatred. Let me also be clear that God warns all believers not to judge others, meaning we are not to condemn others with our spiritual knowledge. Lastly,  it is my belief that the average believer needs to leave the rebuking to church leadership who hopefully have the spiritual discernment and attitude that God requires of them.

Here is just an interesting background on the word “BULLY”:

The term “Bully” comes from the Middle Dutch word boele, which means “lover”, which seems surprising. At that time, bully was used in English to mean “sweetheart.” Its use then became more general, coming to mean “fine fellow,” and, eventually, the opposite. Bully began to be used in a negative sense around the 1700s.  This goes to show that the roots of words can and often do lose their true meaning and become twisted over time.

One of the best scriptural illustrations of a bully being created is when Israel began to desire a king. God warned Israel many times that having a king ruling them would lead to their downfall but the Israelites kept pestering Samuel primarily because they wanted to be just like the nations around them. Why you might ask? Because the Jewish people wanted to “FIT IN” with all the other nations instead of standing out for their beliefs in the one God. All the other nations believed in multiple gods. Many Christ followers compromised their faith for the same reason.  It is sad when believers want deception just to feel good about themselves.

As Christians we are called to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus and we can fall into the same trap of not wanting to stand out from the people around us so we end up compromising on so many levels, from our morals and ethics to scripture. When we as parents compromise with our kids they end up wanting to wear revealing clothes or listening to inappropriate music just like worldly, secular kids.

Why do parents wonder why their kids leave Jesus and the church when they leave the house for college?  Believers, whether young or old, compromise either because of fear or a lack of true commitment, which leads to the destruction of their faith. They may say they still believe but their lifestyle does not reflect the love of God.

If you are on Facebook at all like I am, you witness this same bullying spirit in the people that post as Christ followers. Every day when I post a devotional I review what people are posting to see what is going on with so called people of faith and I am sometimes disgusted. Although there are believers posting about trusting God in their every day life there are far too many looking for someone to beat up in the name of religious purity.

Unfortunately, there is one consistent thread from people who claim to follow Jesus and that is arguing about who is wrong and who is right. A vast majority of them are slamming different believers either because they believe a certain doctrine differently than themselves or because they don’t read the KJV bible. I have never seen such mean spirited people who claim to know God and yet want to put other believers down and ridicule them. They claim they just want to warn others of their sinfulness but you realize they are just mean in their souls and not loving at all.  Simply, they are just being bullies!

A bully can be religious or secular but they drink from the same well and that well is “PRIDE”. Humility, which comes from brokenness, softens the heart and while pride hardens the heart. If you are a strong believer you can smell pride a mile away and there is much pride being advertised on Facebook.  So, you can imagine what is bubbling in people’s souls when they attend church each week critiquing others in the name of God. 

Here is a key for those of us who claim to follow Jesus. This key is a warning and an encouragement from God

James 4:6                                                                                                                                                                                                                  But He ( God ) gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, but gives greater grace to the humble.

If we want “GREATER GRACE” from God we had better check our heart to see if pride is motivating our conversation and actions or if we are being motivated by the love of God. 

The “Spirit of Pride” is given and motivated by Satan himself and he has many ways of disguising pride to look and smell good to unsuspecting souls. Don’t fall for his deception but rather be filled with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Make today a “SPIRIT” led day by walking in the love of Jesus and glorifying your Heavenly Father. By doing so, pride will not find a home in your soul and your heart will stay soft and pliable as you chose humility rather than pride.

Questions:

1) Have you been attacked by religious people on Facebook or in person? Realize where that spirit comes from and it’s not God. Pray for them that the deception would be exposed and they would find freedom in Jesus.

2) Have you been caught up in bullying others? 1 John 1:9 is a good place to find wisdom and then confess and apologize to those you have wronged.

Desiring to walk with a pure heart and encouraging others likewise,

Pastor Dale

I have heard a good many sermons on “The Mustard Seed,” but always it has revolved around the idea of us gaining stronger faith for different things in our lives, from the need and desire for healing, to financial provision, to preaching the gospel. But what if there was more to the whole “Mustard Seed” idea that was meant to bring us into a new dimension in the spirit?

As people watch the recent shootings in Texas where 19 young kids and 2 teachers were killed by an 18 year-old boy, it should be a stark reminder of how violence is the outcome of a heart devoid of God. Seeing such sights reminds us of what demons did, and still do, in and through people devoid of the spirit of God. Throughout the gospels Jesus was constantly casting out demons that torment people. These demonic spirits are more active today as we get near to the return of Jesus and the final judgement of Satan and his demons.

In this article on “WHY” the power of God comes,  I want to explore what God’s power is for. So much has been taught about God’s desire to heal us from our brokenness, whether it is physical, emotional or spiritual brokenness.  All too often believers get a distorted or lopsided perspective on God’s intentions and willingness to release power for our equipping. That being said, I will take us through various scriptures to unpack what God’s intentions are for a release of his power.  Some of this may be elementary for some of you but, whatever the case, it will remind all of the purpose and plan of God in the believer.

So often believers have one of two mindsets about when and if we have God’s power actively working in our lives. Having or experiencing power from God to perform healing or experience miracles often is confusing at best, and can tend to create a misunderstanding of scripture that makes us stumble in our beliefs or practices.

Somehow the body of Christ seems to think that if we are humble we should never desire or even confess the desire to be great. Why is this? Is it because we think or have been taught that to desire such a bold thing is sinful or carnal? 

The body of Christ so often seems to have the ability to take a revelation that God gives us about some important spiritual truth and turn it into some doctrine or theology instead of learning how to apply that truth. Shouldn’t we be asking the Holy Spirit to explain how that revelation should be understood and applied? After all, Jesus specifically said the Holy Spirit would be our counselor.

In article one, I shared how many believers never seem to get past the infancy stage in their Christian walk because they have not been taught to live a surrendered life to Christ and the kingdom of God. They agree with the principles Jesus taught about seeking the kingdom of God but, for them, that mainly means not engaging in a sinful lifestyle. Most of their personal study in the scriptures revolves around discovering God’s promises on how to get their personal needs and desire fulfilled rather than embracing God’s promises to fulfill God’s purpose for them.  The idea of living for a higher calling, one of divine purpose, seems to always be challenged by their focus on themselves and thus they can’t hear God’s voice on much else.

A calling, as defined in the first article, is when we perceive God defining a purpose we are intended to pursue to change the world around us. In Matthew 5, Jesus is teaching on what is called “The Beatitudes” in which he defines people who will be blessed by God. One category of such people are those who work at establishing peace.

I was recently asked to teach a group of pastors in Tanzania about what it means to know you’re calling and how to identify it. I have taught on Christian leadership for many years but have never been asked to teach specifically on an individuals calling. That being said, I dove into the subject and studied what the word had to say. Through these articles I will try to unpack what I have learned and identified about my own calling, which will hopefully help you discover your own.