Now, Be Nice Kids!

For the past month we have been meditating and unfolding the depths of this verse:

But God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and self discipline.

In addition to our daily thoughts in group we have been discussing: two spirits – one is one dimensional and the other 3 dimensional; There are only two spirits to swing through life on the Holy Spirit and the spirit of fear; How the undergrowth of unforgiveness will ensnare our limbs; and how we can always take a running leap and try to swing beyond our trouble again if we wipe out.

We also spoke about forgiveness: The vines which attempt to snarl us from below, and the vines which we cut away from in order that the vine may carry us away.  We spoke of how we can be hoisted up but the tendrils connected to the earth will keep us from moving beyond a certain point.  We spoke about in Christ there is nothing but liberty.  If we do happen to fall we simply have to not fight the hoist up again.  The spirit will not fight us, it will relax right there with us and wait in love for us to allow the progress to be made.

Today we spoke about these two vines again.  The one vine of power, love and self discipline is rooted in the depths of God.  The power of the Spirit which makes us able to stay within the image of Christ under His head, together they join to guide and intercede so that we may receive all the love entwined flowing out and down from Our Father so that we are receiving the unmerited favor he freely lavishes upon us. 

We spoke about joy and saying no.  How there is a difference between saying no in fear and saying no because of your great love for the well being of someone.  While there is pain in speaking up knowing that you will be rejected for not doing what someone desires.  Out of love, just as God has agape love for each of us, we must follow through with His will in situations.  We understand that there is a difference between joy and happiness.  Happiness is not a state, so you can’t live there.  Neither is it a dependable mode of transportation because it is forever breaking down and temperamental.  Joy however, is a well crafted vehicle which will carry your throughout your travels no matter what state you pass through.

I shared with you all how there are people in my life who don’t like me and I thanked you for adamantly saying you didn’t believe me!   Again, thank you – ha ha.  But as you all know, I’m not everyone’s cup of tea!  I Thank God for having Christ tell us in advance that we wouldn’t be palatable to non tea drinkers!  I also shared with you my journey of understanding how critical it was for me to discern what I believed to be true: that being nice to people was the same as being kind.  But God showed me the truth, which caught me off guard.  It is a very undesirable way of treating people.  What I didn’t understand was that being “nice” is selfish, it is not real.  It was manipulation of others in order to preserve the comfort of my feelings.  Likewise, it  was also a more palatable way of making demands, at least in my own mind.  After all, the bible says to treat others as you desire to be treated.  And who doesn’t want people doing what they want, instead of what is best for their development and health. 

This really shouldn’t be much of a surprise, think back through the past decade of salesmanship books: How to Win Friends and Influence Others, Looking Out for Number One, the list is unending.  The reality is, “nice” is simply another means of economy.  People that are wealthy are not expected to be nice.  They do not have to be; they can purchase people and be mean as the dickens.  People that want their favor will suck it up and be “nice” to get what they want.  Isn’t that ugly of us humans?  Is it any wonder why some people do not understand? This is survival to many people. 

Of course, in my nativity and youth, I didn’t understand what I was doing.  I was simply doing what I had been instructed was decent, living in a “nice” world of political correctness.  However, when I could make my own decisions and there was no one else to hold accountable, I couldn’t do it any longer; I had to be authentic.  You see, I was living a lie and it was grieving the Holy Spirit.  Because there is no lie in God and the Holy Spirit was in me, so He started disclosing the truth where I was deceived.  Then I was aware there was a lie in me, which was when I could no longer be that person. Soon all those places where my soul was bound, He released and bound them in love.  The fear disappeared and I no longer was afraid to speak the truth in love.  I couldn’t stop it either, no matter how many people don’t want me to love them. And believe me I’ve even had people tell me they don’t want me to love them – ANYBODY but me they said – makes me kind of laugh now.

So let’s not train up our children by way of: pretty is as pretty does; if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all, etc...  There is no need to read between the lines these statements are very direct.  They instruct formable minds and hearts to lie to them self, speak what is acceptable as to not cause a wave or either keep silent.  But keep in mind; we first have to understand what the truth is before we can train up a child in the way they should go.

Lastly, we correlated these topics: child birth and parents, new birth and God our father; Christ demeanor with the learned and Christ demeanor with the saved; being coached in fear and being coached in love.

Over the next week we will be breaking all these down and digesting the broad topics we started while entwining the power, love and self discipline of the Holy Spirit.  Our goal being: to discern the spirit of fear in order to avoid clinging to that vine and taking a swing in the dark.  

Sorry to be long winded but I didn’t want to forget anything – great group today.

I thank God for each of you, you delight me!

Kisses,

Candace

©Candace Huffmaster, 2012 All Copy Rights Reserved

Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc™