Been Offended? - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Been Offended?

"A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle.” Proverbs 18:19, NKJV

It happened again. Just after we finished the worship team practice for the Sunday morning gathering. An offense sent my way. Just great.

And it happened then, on the Friday before, a few hours before we were to meet for the first time in The Barn for the monthly Strength For Israel gathering, with me leading the worship team, I got offended.

Excitement had been built up. The night was going to be really special. And then the drummer called, saying he forgot to tell me he had to work that night. Great.

Not only that, but one friend who had played with us before really got offended when I didn’t ask him to play as the first one I contacted, not even knowing if he still did play after our last time we did together many years ago. So, that mistake was followed by his literal 40-minute rant over the phone to me. Lord!

I like watching football. I enjoy when there is a great offensive team on the field, especially the college team I follow during the fall on Saturday afternoons, who hail from the Midwest (I’ll leave it at that, except to say I still have one Catholic heritage I maintain.) When they run the ball around the end; when they throw the deep bomb to the wide-open receiver; when a touchdown is scored at the very end to win the big upset, that is offense! Another great play again! “Hail, hail to old…”

I like that kind of offense.

But like you, I don’t like being offended. The kind when someone ridicules you, makes fun of your looks, or tells you something that you already know and have been praying about for a long time. That one concern you have been hoping that someday the Lord will bring the answer to that deep longing in your heart, that aches every time someone mentions it again. (After all, He put it there. Can you hurry it up, please, Lord!)

We are so easily offended. We take things wrong. We let the arrows pierce our heart. We carry it far too down the road, long after it happened. And it does happen. But then, days, months, years, and decades go by. Will we ever let it go?

Maybe what happened was on purpose. Maybe they didn’t know. Maybe we just had had enough, and everything anyone says becomes the tipping point.

But it need not be so. I am still learning, and trying, but over the years, and there have been a lot of them now, I know the answer is to be quick to forgive and let it go.

After all, that is what our Lord, the One Who is daily getting cursed at, laughed at, screamed at…for everything and from everyone…did even back on the cruel cross He accepted and chose to forgive His creation, from that place, as He hung there dying. For us. So we too could forgive.

Arrows are going to come. Words are going to be said. Mistakes are going to be made.

Our choice is either to let them settle in our spirit, or quickly choose to forgive, and forget about it. Yes, you New Englanders, “Forget about it.”

Often my first reaction is to take the hit and back off from them. But then I too have to quickly decide if I am going to let it become part of my life, let the bitterness grow in my heart and maintain a wounded spirit, or forgive, even as I want to be forgiven for the wrong I have done. (The Lord bless my wife and my kids who have known me – and all the good, the bad, and the ugly over the years.)

Far too many have left families, churches, synagogues, jobs, and life, deciding to not forgive and forget. Sad to say, they waste away in their hurt and bitterness. But the Lord Jesus is continually coming after them, to free them from the hit. If they will let Him.

Everyone has been hurt. We each have had offenses come our way. We can choose to stay offended, or we can forgive and move on.

"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." Mark 11:25-26, NKJV

May your heart choose the path of life. Even as He has forgiven you and me, we too need to daily be forgivers and life changers.

The world knows no different but to hate and pass it on. We know to love, and must pass that on.

Now think on this, and see what good things the Lord has in store for you and those around you.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

Please sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter: Now Think On This

On Friday night, Aug. 2, 2019, at 7 pm, Strength For Israel will be having our monthly meeting, the 2^nd one to be held in the main auditorium of The Barn, at Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, SC. Come and celebrate the goodness of our God! Look here: Strength For Israel
If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

With a one-time contribution or a commitment to send monthly support for a length of time, I do ask now for your help.

You can give safely online through PayPal or Givelify. Click on either of these links PayPal or Givelify or the images on the right column of our Love For His People website.

You can also give by check, sending to:

Love For His People ministry

P.O. Box 414

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.  Others will be thankful you did.

Now Think On This #437 - in the year of our Lord 07.08.19 – “Been Offended?” – Monday, 5:30 am

Thank you, Yeshua, for Your life given for ours.

“Offense. Not the Football Kind.” - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

“Offense. And not the football kind.”

"A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle.” Proverbs 18:19, NKJV

It happened again. Just after we finished the worship team practice for the Sunday morning gathering. An offense sent my way. Just great.

And it happened then, on the Friday before, a few hours before we were to meet for the first time in The Barn for the monthly Strength For Israel gathering, with me leading the worship team, I got offended.

Excitement had been built up. The night was going to be really special. And then the drummer called, saying he forgot to tell me he had to work that night. Great.

Not only that, but one friend who had played with us before really got offended when I didn’t ask him to play as the first one I contacted, not even knowing if he still did play after our last time we did together many years ago. So, that mistake was followed by his literal 40-minute rant over the phone to me. Lord!

I like watching football. I enjoy when there is a great offensive team on the field, especially the college team I follow during the fall on Saturday afternoons, who hail from the Midwest (I’ll leave it at that, except to say I still have one Catholic heritage I maintain.) When they run the ball around the end; when they throw the deep bomb to the wide-open receiver; when a touchdown is scored at the very end to win the big upset, that is offense! Another great play again! “Hail, hail to old…”

I like that kind of offense.

But like you, I don’t like being offended. The kind when someone ridicules you, makes fun of your looks, or tells you something that you already know and have been praying about for a long time. That one concern you have been hoping that someday the Lord will bring the answer to that deep longing in your heart, that aches every time someone mentions it again. (After all, He put it there. Can you hurry it up, please, Lord!)

We are so easily offended. We take things wrong. We let the arrows pierce our heart. We carry it far too down the road, long after it happened. And it does happen. But then, days, months, years, and decades go by. Will we ever let it go?

Maybe what happened was on purpose. Maybe they didn’t know. Maybe we just had had enough, and everything anyone says becomes the tipping point.

But it need not be so. I am still learning, and trying, but over the years, and there have been a lot of them now, I know the answer is to be quick to forgive and let it go.

After all, that is what our Lord, the One Who is daily getting cursed at, laughed at, screamed at…for everything and from everyone…did even back on the cruel cross He accepted and chose to forgive His creation, from that place, as He hung there dying. For us. So we too could forgive.

Arrows are going to come. Words are going to be said. Mistakes are going to be made.

Our choice is either to let them settle in our spirit, or quickly choose to forgive, and forget about it. Yes, you New Englanders, “Forget about it.”

Often my first reaction is to take the hit and back off from them. But then I too have to quickly decide if I am going to let it become part of my life, let the bitterness grow in my heart and maintain a wounded spirit, or forgive, even as I want to be forgiven for the wrong I have done. (The Lord bless my wife and my kids who have known me – and all the good, the bad, and the ugly over the years.)

Far too many have left families, churches, synagogues, jobs, and life, deciding to not forgive and forget. Sad to say, they waste away in their hurt and bitterness. But the Lord Jesus is continually coming after them, to free them from the hit. If they will let Him.

Everyone has been hurt. We each have had offenses come our way. We can choose to stay offended, or we can forgive and move on.

"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." Mark 11:25-26, NKJV

May your heart choose the path of life. Even as He has forgiven you and me, we too need to daily be forgivers and life changers.

The world knows no different but to hate and pass it on. We know to love, and must pass that on.

Now think on this, and see what good things the Lord has in store for you and those around you.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

Please sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter: Now Think On This

On Friday night, Aug. 2, 2019, at 7 pm, Strength For Israel will be having our monthly meeting, the 2^nd one to be held in the main auditorium of The Barn, at Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, SC. Come and celebrate the goodness of our God! Look here: Strength For Israel

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

With a one-time contribution or a commitment to send monthly support for a length of time, I do ask now for your help.

You can give safely online through PayPal or Givelify. Click on either of these links PayPal or Givelify or the images on the right column of our Love For His People website.

You can also give by check, sending to:

Love For His People ministry

P.O. Box 414

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.  Others will be thankful you did.

Now Think On This #437 - in the year of our Lord 07.07.19 – “Offense. Not the Football Kind” – Sunday, 3:30 pm

"Reunion" - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

“Reunion"

"Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept." (Genesis 33:4, NASU)

Jacob had long been separated from his brother Esau, going back to the time when Jacob did a bit of deceptive work and ended up with Esau's birthright. (Genesis 27-28) Having done that to Esau as Jacob dis, I would suspect that quite possibly you and I would have felt the same towards Jacob as Esau later did. Maybe not so much murder, but close to it. Or at least a little bit of animosity to say the least?

After all, none of us can declare that which would say, "I never had bitterness nor hatred towards anyone." At least I know I can't.

Many examples are written in God's Word, all are for our benefit, as Paul states in 1 Cor 10:11-12
"Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." (NASU)

When Esau ran and embraced Jacob, it gives us several reasons that he was able to do this. You will have to read some of the preceding Scriptures for the full picture, but let me summarize as to what I think happened in Esau's heart.

1. "Esau ran to meet him". During the years of separation between the two brothers, the Lord had worked a change in Esau's heart. Maybe he realized the temporal here on earth, his birthright lost, wasn't worth the pain and agony, or hatred, toward his brother. He knew he hadn't been the perfect brother either. 

It is known that carrying these attitudes towards another, as in unforgiveness, eats away at your mind, soul, and spirit. Hopefully, as you grow older in the Lord you become aware of this, and turn, with repentance, from this sin.

When Esau ran to meet Jacob, he had already left all that behind. Nothing was holding him back now from expressing joy and love towards his younger brother.

2. "embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him" Esau led the way in showing total forgiveness and repentance on his part. Having already known the Lord's forgiveness on his part, he was able and willing to express that totally, and not hold back. It takes a mature believer to lead the way.

3. "they wept." I trust you too have known the release of years having pent-up emotions, and when a reunion occurs between friends and relatives that had been separation due to hurt, injustice, lies or selfishness, having a good cry, a fantastic flow of tears and all, feels really good. They let it all go. and let it all out.

I love when a reunion takes place between father and son, mother and daughter, cousin and cousin, employee and employer, pastor and congregant. Forgiveness is a great gift from our Father, Who Himself is always the first to express forgiveness. Having sent His Only Son Jesus, Yeshua, to die for our sins in order that we to may be forgiven was the very first ultimate step in restoration and reunion.

This week the Louis and Lila Martin clan celebrate another time of gathering in our biennial (once every two years event - I had to look it up myself). There certainly have been times of separation and individual reunions, but through the ongoing grace and mercy of our Lord, this family of 8 siblings has held together over these 60+ years. Thank God!

May the Lord give you the grace and love to express forgiveness in your relationships, because Lord knows we need it. And if you have a family or friend reunion coming up this summer, have a great time!

Now think on this, and see what good things the Lord has in store for you and those around you.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

Please sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter: Now Think On This 

On July 5, 2019, Strength will be having our first Friday of the month meeting in The Barn at Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, SC. Come and celebrate the goodness of our God!

Look here: Strength For Israel

P.S. In May 2019 I returned from my 20^th trip to Israel. And guess what? I brought back for you my last 58 short videos I entitled “Walk With Me in Israel”. You can join me as I walk through the beautiful land and cities of Israel. Watch them here on our YouTube channel: Walk With Me - Israel May 2019

Also, my previous ones from other locations are here also on YouTube: Walk With Me

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

With a one-time contribution or a commitment to send monthly support for a length of time, I do ask now for your help. 

You can give safely online through PayPal or Givelify.

Click on either link PayPal or Givelify or the images on the right column of our Love For His People website.

You can also give by check, sending to:

Love For His People ministry

P.O. Box 414

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.  Others will be thankful you did.

Now Think On This #433 - in the year of our Lord 06.18.19 – “Reunion” – Tuesday, 6:00 am

Johnny Enlow: "#ChurchMeToo Movement: A Prophetic Alert to the Body of Christ" - THE ELIJAH LIST

Johnny Enlow: "#ChurchMeToo Movement: A Prophetic Alert to the Body of Christ"

THE ELIJAH LIST Mar 27, 2018

From the desk of Steve Shultz:

I truly wish I did not have to send this prophetic word out to the Body of Christ.

I've prayed and looked for a way to not send it, hoping that it was not a true word.

But, unfortunately, I believe it is a true word to God's people.

In asking the Lord and others if it is too late for many to repent, the answer from the Lord was this, "No matter what has happened, it is NEVER TOO LATE TO REPENT. The sooner repentance happens, the less severe will be the consequences."

Especially for those who are contemplating the sin of sexual abuse – STOP NOW. Don't contemplate it! Don't start. No matter what you've done, STOP NOW. Repent and get out now!

The following is what God is saying through the prophetic voice of Johnny Enlow.

Johnny has proven himself to be quite accurate with his prophetic gift. Please take this seriously! (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)

And thanks for forwarding this to your friends! They can subscribe here.

Steve Shultz, Founder and Publisher
The Elijah List & Breaking Christian News 
http://www.elijahlist.com

P.S. – Oh, and a Quick Note to our readers: To EXPLORE our more than 2,500 Christian Prophetic books, CDs, and gifts go to: elijahshopper.com.

"#ChurchMeToo Movement: A Prophetic Alert to the Body of Christ"

Johnny Enlow, Santa Clarita, CA

The #metoo tsunami is now upon the Body of Christ and we are going to be exposed beyond anything we have previously experienced with past TV evangelist scandals.

In preparation, we need to be properly motivated towards a right response of agreement with what is ultimately a cleansing stream coming into the Body of Christ.

The day of covering up for sexual abuse by clergy and other spiritual leaders is now over. The day for using the doctrines of forgiveness as a free pass for sexual abuse in the Church are over. The days for multiple abuse reports against a spiritual leader being all chalked up to "warfare" or "lies" are over. This does not invite in a climate of rumor and accusation, but we do want to start properly facing real sexual abuse in the Church and ministry.

The Church is once again "under the curve" in the societal trend of justice. The #metoo phenomenon is removing significant powerful leaders in all of the 7 mountains of society, and the Body of Christ has to find a way to step out of being "the tail" in these processes and become "the head". While we have all shaken our heads at the Harvey Weinsteins who have demanded sexual favors in order to have one's career advanced, this very dynamic is way too common in prominent church and ministry circles, where promotions and demotions have been being made based on this very matter.

Be alerted pastors, ministers and spiritual leaders in God's House – that a new day of accountability is here and what you were previously able to cover up before, you will no longer be able to. While this new climate creates a risk for single false accusations against leaders to cause damage, that risk can no longer delay the cleansing stream from coming into the Church.

Billy Graham, was somehow able to implement enough safety precautions to ensure he never faced legitimate accusations over the course of many decades of visible ministry. It may not always be easy, but it is possible. Furthermore, with every level of increased "fame" another level of precaution has to be taken. That precaution is not to be the precaution of hiring vicious lawyers that many have chosen as their upgraded operation, but rather the embracing of true Christian character.

Here are truths to embrace:

IF YOU ARE A PASTOR/SPIRITUAL LEADER/OTHERWISE "ANOINTED"...

It is NEVER okay for you to engage in ANY extramarital sexual behavior PERIOD. Just because you can still feel "the anointing" after illicit sexual encounters, does not mean God has an exception for you. Samson was deceived by this very reality. He still had physical strength, though he was sleeping with Delilah, and so it says he did not even know when the Spirit of God had left him until it was way too late.

The original gift from God will always be on your life, but at some point the erosion of your character will cause your gift to fall off, as it were, and no longer be accepted. Many of you are in the "sleeping with Delilah but still feeling anointed" stage, but don't be deceived by it. There is always a consequence for "sleeping with Delilah" even if people are still being healed, delivered, getting saved or otherwise ministered to.

IF YOU ARE A VICTIM OF PASTOR/MINISTER SEXUAL ABUSE...

Read the above statement for the pastors/ministers. It is NEVER okay. They are not excused because of some level of high anointing or importance. It is not okay in White churches. It is not okay in Black churches. It is not okay in Hispanic churches. It is not okay in African churches. It is not okay in South American churches, etc. If you are presently in a church setting where you are experiencing this abuse, LEAVE! You do not need to pray about it.

THEN contact a ministry that can then help you. Presently, I would recommend a ministry named GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) that was founded by a grandson of Billy Graham named Boz Tchividjian. They will be friends and give you a path of recovery and perhaps even help chart justice.

IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF A CHURCH WHERE YOUR LEADERS HAVE BEEN EXPOSED...

Read the above statement for pastors/ministers. It is NEVER okay. GOD HAS NO EXTRAMARITAL EXCEPTIONS FOR "ANOINTED LEADERS"! It does not mean that there is no forgiveness for pastors for extramarital sexual sins, but the restoration process is only available for one truly walking in the light.

Honesty, confession and a legitimate restoration process must take place. The larger the ministry the greater its PR/damage control engine will be, with some understanding that false abuse reports will also happen. Be a lover of the truth and use your discernment. Understand that where the law has been violated, its consequences must be faced.

HOW DO I REPENT IF I AM OR HAVE BEEN INVOLVED?

There may be some of you who are either the ministers themselves or involved with the ministers in some way, and you desire to come clean and repent, but are not sure even what path to take. First of all, I applaud your resolve to come into the light and by doing so, exposing yourself to a great grace of God. If there is not a clear path you know to pursue, I would still recommend you contacting the GRACE ministry I mentioned above, and they will be able to help you chart your course. No matter what it does to your reputation, your soul will be in a better place. Furthermore, there is wisdom on how to protect innocent family members, and those with experience can help navigate through that.

CONCLUSION

The Church is already made up of an estimated 20% victims of some kind of sexual abuse. Let's lead the way in making it the safest place possible by having the most advanced tools of transparency and a proper response to sexual abuse. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)

Johnny Enlow
Johnny and Elizabeth
Email: Contact@JohnnyandElizabeth.com
Website: www.JohnnyandElizabeth.com

Johnny Enlow is a social reformer, international speaker, spiritual mentor, and author of The Seven Mountain Prophecy, The Seven Mountain Mantle, and Rainbow God. He and his wife Elizabeth are focused on awakening individuals to their call to provide practical solutions from the heart of God for every problem in society – until the real God of all of life is displayed in the seven primary areas of culture in all nations: Media, Arts and Entertainment, Government, Family, Religion, Economy, and Education.

To receive more words like this in YOUR inbox, subscribe FREE to the Elijah List at this link http://elijahlist.com/subscribe.

Kathie Lee Gifford Unashamedly Preaches the Gospel as NBC Deals With Disaster - JESSILYN JUSTICE CHARISMA NEWS

Hoda Kotb with Kathie Lee Gifford (NBC)

Kathie Lee Gifford Unashamedly Preaches the Gospel as NBC Deals With Disaster

11/29/2017 JESSILYN JUSTICE  CHARISMA NEWS

Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

---

Kathie Lee Gifford took her audience to church after her colleague Matt Lauer was fired from NBC due to sexual misconduct allegations.

"I don't feel that Matt has betrayed us in any way at all, but when I found out that my husband had betrayed me, you question your own judgment," Gifford said on Wednesday's episode of Kathie Lee and Hoda. "You say, 'Was everything a lie?' And I think we have to fight against that, very much fight against that. That the man we know and adored was the man we loved and adored and continue to. I texted [Lauer] this morning and I said, 'I adore you.'"

Gifford's husband, Frank, had an affair during the 1990s, but the couple reconciled and rebuilt their relationship on the Lord.

"No person is perfect in this world," she said. "Nobody is. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, is what Scripture says. And what we need now is forgiveness, and we need mercy for one another. We don't need taunts, and we don't need ugliness. We have enough of that in the world. I send out my love right now to the person, whoever it is, that came forward. May God heal that person. I send it to Matt, and his children and his wife—may God bless that family and heal. I'm sorry, Hoda, but in my long life, the only thing I've ever been sure of is that only God can heal it. And there's no bad time to reach out for his help."

Related Articles

• How (Not) to Respond to the Fall of Matt Lauer
• Radio Legend Garrison Keillor Fired Over Inappropriate Behavior Accusations

Fellow journalist Garrison Keillor was fired today for inappropriate behavior, just hours after news broke about Lauer. The two are just the latest names to be added to the list of men who allegedly sexually harassed or behaved inappropriately around women.

Gifford continued to point her audience members toward Christ in the wake of headlines announcing prominent men's indiscretions.

"This is a good way to think of it, too," she added. "There was a man—a wonderful, wonderful man who was an adviser to me and Frank through our lifetime—and I had my eyes just on me for a long time, and I was upset and hurt, which you would normally be, like I'm sure Matt's family is. And he said, 'Kathie, if you can't forgive your husband,'—and this is important, you guys—'forgive your children's father.' Same person. Same person, but that's the one you love. That's the one you believe in. We are all so broken. We need somebody to put us back together. And it's possible, it's so possible. I'm living proof of it. Didn't mean to go to church, but that's where we needed to go today."

Jessilyn Justice @jessilynjustice is the director of online news for Charisma.

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