FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES (Pt. 5)

 Enemy Facts #4

YOUR ENEMY IS ‘ANOINTED’ TO TAKE YOU TO THE TOP

I’m talking about real enemies. Not the petty ones we talked about in Part 2.

We all need friends, love and companionship. However, you need to understand that there is a limit to what they can do for you, even with their best of intentions. There is a certain height in your destiny that you will be unable to attain, (or will attain much slower) if you have ONLY friends in your life.

For proof, look to scripture:

What would happen to Joseph’s dreams if he was the darling of all his brothers? They would all be in Palestine hugging each other when the Great Famine came.

Goliath may have looked like a menace to Israel, but David needed him to be able to enter the national spotlight.

Mordecai’s enemy, Haman, handed him untold wealth, power and authority much beyond what His own cousin Queen Esther of Persia could ever have secured for him.

Daniel’s position as a high-ranking Babylonian official could only take his friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that high (Dan 2:49); but they needed a fiery furnace experience to receive direct kingly promotion (Dan 3:30).

And what would have happened to Jesus’s destiny of dying on the Cross if it had been left in the hands of Peter, James and John? Maybe we’d still be here today. No wonder Jesus called Judas his “Friend” (Mt 26:50).

Don’t be sacred of having enemies, just pray you have the right ones. Let them keep doing what they’re doing. They are only taking you to the top. In the end, you’ll say to them like Joseph did, “But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” (Gen 50:20).

Let’s wrap up this series with one of our LORD’s admonitions:

 “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your friends, hate your enemies.' But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” Mt 5:43-44 (GNB)

Need we say more?

AMEN

More Blessings await you; you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

GREG ELKAN

FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES (Pt. 4)

 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is fine saith the Lord.

Enemy Facts #3

YOUR ENEMY SEES YOU FROM A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE

This is a fact that we can easily miss. When your friends and family members look at you, they see your strengths; when your enemy looks at you, they only see your weaknesses. Yes, by definition, they are spoilsports, and they may insult you about imagined flaws, but be certain that they’re rightly positioned to notice your weakness more than anyone else.

Nobody understands the weakness of a football team better than the coach of the opposing team does. Some large corporations hire consultants to come point out the weaknesses and flaws of their firm. Your enemy does the same thing for you free-of-charge, and they put their whole effort to it. The problem is that they don’t submit their findings to us in thick, fat dossiers, (and most definitely do not follow it up with a list of “recommendations”).

I once wrote a short piece for publication and sent it to not less than two dozen friends to proofread for me. NONE OF THEM (including me, I admit) saw a particular grammatical error that made me say the exact opposite of what I meant.  If it were a scoffer that picked that piece up, his eyes would have LOCKED ON to that error immediately.

I am not saying you should succumb to constant introspection and lose sleep over EVERYTHING your detractors says about your work, but don’t be too quick to dismiss their biased ‘observations’.

Remember, only your enemy can tell you that your mouth stinks; they may mean you ill, but at least they say what your friends know all along but were too polite to tell you.

Have enemies? Don’t sulk, thank God for them.

(BTW, if you noticed the "vengeance is FINE" in the opening text, that doesn't mean you're my enemy, it just means you're OBSERVANT)

AMEN

More Blessings await you; you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

GREG ELKAN

FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES (Pt. 3)

 Enemy Facts #2

YOUR ENEMIES BRING OUT WHAT’S DEEP INSIDE YOU

Yesterday, we learnt to think twice about who we decide to consider our enemies. However, some of us would admit that that doesn’t really make us feel any better. There are still some persons that just seem to know how to crawl into our skins. We’re constantly irked by them and really wish we could do without them.

You hang around your friends, church members, etc. and you feel so super-spiritual; but these persons (pests?) just bring out the worst of us. They know the right buttons to push, the right way to step on our toes, the right way to ‘rub it in’, etc.

Well, maybe you should pause and think about it for a while. They bring out the “worst in us”; they didn’t CREATE the worst in us, they only bring it out. I think they deserve some applause for that because it is clear that they make us acknowledge the negative parts of us that we never knew (or admitted) existed.

Here’s an analogy:

What happens if you haul a stone straight into a building? You’ll get different responses. You may hear dog barking, people shouting, or (if you live in my neighbourhood), several more stones hauled back in your direction.  That means your stone made whatever was inside the house to reveal itself.

If you do not own a dog, no matter how much stones are flung into your house, no barking will be heard.

We detest our enemies so much because they draw out what is deep inside us. They show us that, despite our perceived saintliness, that we are capable of anger, disgust, frustration, jealousy, malice, even hatred. A Christian could go about looking sweet, singing angelic hymns throughout the day and looking holy enough for Mother Theresa to blush... until they meet their enemy. Then their halo slips off and, like a werewolf exposed to moonlight, another part of them comes up.

Sometimes it may be something as subtle as envy, (if you have someone who always try to remind you that they are better, richer, more beautiful, more successful, etc. you’ll understand).

So, the next time you feel like “twisting that woman’s dirty mouth”, (and she deserves it too, I agree); pause and reflect to yourself what that impulse says about the current state of your heart. Do it now, or else one day the ‘dog’ will bark at an embarrassing and inopportune moment, and you’ll be needing to make explanations to those who hold you in high esteem.

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Ps 139:23, 24.

For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 1Co 11:31.

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Heb 12:15.

AMEN

More Blessings await you; you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

GREG ELKAN

FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES (Pt. 2)

 Enemy Facts #1

THE SIZE OF YOUR ENEMY IS INDICATIVE OF YOUR POSITION.

Imagine you losing a brawl with the an undisputed heavyweight champion like Tyson Fury or Mike Tyson. Ground-breaking, innit? Not really. In fact, it’d be a PR disaster for the boxing champ.

Why? Because you’re not in their category, and that assault on you by the heavyweight has automatically brought him down to your level.

In 2Samuel 16:5-13 we read of a certain peasant who took it upon himself to “continually” curse King David and throw stones at him. David’s mighty men proposed decapitating the peasant but David knew better than that. After all, he himself was once just a lowly shepherd boy who became a warrior because an experienced Philistine champ (Goliath) made the mistake of fighting him.

You eventually attain the status of your enemy, upwards or downwards.

The man Haman (of “Haman Must Die” fame) was the Vizier of the vast Persian Empire about 2500 years ago. He was the Prime Minister, the 2IC with immense power and wealth. Yet he decided to make a lowly “gateman” his enemy; and for the pettiest of reasons at that. He invested his resources and energy on destroying Mordecai; and in the end Mordecai took up Haman’s position and Haman’s property (Est. 8:1,2)!

Are you a heavyweight that has a bantamweight for an opponent? (“bantam” is a type of fowl, You know). Are you being petty? Losing sleep over trivialities that wouldn’t matter 10 years from now (not to talk of eternity)?

If you speak against Her Majesty, The Queen of England today, she’s not going go to rush Twitter and cuss you out in return. There is a reason for that.

1Pe 2:9 says we are a “royal priesthood”; Eph 2:6 says that we are seated “in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”; and Rev 5:10 says Christ has “made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Carry some sense of divine dignity around you; not every thing or every one is worth your energy and time.

AMEN

More Blessings await you; you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

GREG ELKAN

Friends in Low Places

Greetings Brethren and welcome to the Word for Today. This week, we’ll be talking about the last persons we usually want to talk about: OUR ENEMIES.

Yes, everyone has them, even Christians. Some Believers claim they have none; yet spend hours praying for said non-existent enemies to “DIE! DIE!! DIE!!!”

All the same, enemies are real and are here to stay with us; it’s no use denying their existence. Even if you’re the world’s greatest pacifist, someone would still find a reason to make you their enemy; even if it’s for breathing their air!

And what’s more, it may even be something to BOAST about!

 “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”

(Jn. 15:20)

Our Lord Jesus had enemies; and He promised His servants will have the same experience. (Therefore, being enemy-less doesn’t speak too well of your discipleship status).

If you have enemies:

Detractors,

People who just cannot see eye-to-eye with you,

People who seem to have enough energy and spare time to attack you, your person and your work,

etc.

Then congratulations! You are in good company.

Here’s a far from exhaustive list of your biblical heroes:

Abel, Abraham, Daniel, David, Elijah, Esther, Ezra, Isaac, Jacob, Job, John the Baptist, John the Beloved, Joseph, Joshua, Mordecai, Nehemiah, Paul, Peter, Samuel, Samuel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego...Jesus

What do they all have in common? You’ve guessed it already, enemies.

As a matter of fact, some of them would have been lost in historical obscurity had they not been attacked by an enemy.

“We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit…

We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith, and he is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on a cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing because of the joy he could see waiting for him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God's throne”.

-Heb 12:1-2 (ERV)

We’ll go into more details about the positives of having such ‘friends’ in our life from tomorrow. But for now, let’s ponder on Hebrews 12:1-2 and know that whatever antagonism we may be facing, will end up for our good.

AMEN

More Blessings await you; you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

GREG ELKAN