Justice and The Labour of Love

Justice and The Labour of Love.

Caveat:
Pleases note that this article is only an opinion and it refers to no one. Biblical examples are used to explain the points. Some of the thoughts are from what I have learnt from teachers.

This article is also an amendment of an earlier article. Apologies for any grievances caused by the article:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10210039358846784&id=1420833901

So someone says this Labour of Love you talk about is not realistic. This is my response

If for instance a person is in a physically abusive marriage, (this shall not be so in the life of any reader in Jesus name. Amen) it is wise for that person to leave the company of the abusive spouse, so that the person doesn’t get killed.

However, what the aggrieved spouse does after separation may be key to saving the marriage and even birthing new promises of God in that family.

The response should be in love – forgiving and forgetting the actions of the guilty spouse.

This is an act of faith – the person has to labour to enter in to rest on the matter.

So the aggrieved, labouring, begins to declare that: “I have forgiven my spouse and I have forgotten the wrongs just as the Lord has forgiven and forgotten my sins”.

*This is assuming that the person has consulted the Elders of the Church or/and Legal Counsel and has been adviced not to press charges*

As the person continues to declare, that one also begins to make supplication unto the repentance of the guilty spouse before the lord.

What does it mean to repent before the Lord and how do we know when someone has repented truly?

This is a quote from Kenneth E. Hagins sermon titled: Plead Your Case.

Here is a challenge from a covenant - keeping God to Israel under the Old Covenant to plead their case with Him. How much more is it His challenge to the Church today!

Isaiah 42: 25  I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
26  Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.

First, God said, "I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions and I will not remember your sins." Thank God for that! If you are a child of God and have confessed your sins according to 1John 1:9, then you have been cleansed of all unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus. God has no knowledge you ever did anything wrong."
End of quote...

If having repented before God then what is expected is that what they did, they do them no more. However, sometimes some may relapse, but as they continue to put God's words on their lips and it begins to change them from the inside out they begin to change on the outside.

According to Kenneth E Hagin this act of putting God's words on your lips is called PUTTING GOD IN REMEMBRANCE:
Isaiah 43: 26  Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.

This means that as a covenant believer, you can stand before the throne of God when you pray and remind God of His promises. You can lay your case legally before Him and plead your case as a lawyer would plead his case before a judge... Find scriptures that covers your case. Then lay the matter before your Heavenly Father.

Isaiah 55:11 is an important scripture you should continually use in prayer as you stand on God's Word:

"So shall MY WORD be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it SHALL NOT RETURN UNTO ME VOID, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

God said in Jer 1:12 I will watch over My Word to perform it.

An example of someone who practiced this is also shared by Kenneth Hagin:
"The mother of a fifteen year old boy stopped me after the meeting once and said to me, Brother Hagin, I want you to promise me something. What is it? I asked. She proceeded to explain that she was a widow who had only been saved a few years and now her son, who wasn't raised in church, was having some problems"

This is the advice Kenneth Hagin gave her:

"Promise me that from this day forward you won't say one more word to him about Jesus" Don't nag at him and don't invite him to go to church. Just act in love toward him. And when he is out at night, instead of lying awake and worrying, just say: Lord, I surround him with faith and love. No, I don't believe he's going to end up in reform school or in the penitentiary. I believe he is going to serve God"

(this doesn't mean we should stop the work of wittnessing and evangelising, this is a singular example)

After practicing the advice of Kenneth Hagin, this  was her testimony:

"My son was living one hundred percent for the devil, but now he is living one hundred and twenty percent for God! I'm so glad I did what you told me to do. Not only do I have a brand-new boy, but my son has a brand-new momma!"

So, back to our example: the Lord answers the prayers, and the spouse repents before the Lord, humbling him/her self. A change in character begins to emerge. The formerly aggrieved spouse has gotten the spouse back and better. The confession also changes the aggrieved spouse and becomes much better like the testimony we just read of the mother and son.

Salvation has come to that home. And because the aggrieved persons dug deep to walk in love; their depth or love increases. What was to be a crisis has turned into a blessing.

So if you have been convicted by this message, as I also, I am convicted even as I type it, let us humble ourselves before the Lord in repentance and receive a change in our character. Let us also forgive and forget; as we pray that those who have hurt us also repent before the Lord, no longer ignoring the pricks of their conscience, causing a true change in their character and causing us all to walk uprightly before the Lord, surrounding them with faith and love: In Jesus name, Amen.

Is this not that which is written in the book of the Prophet Ezekiel:
“Eze 36:24-27  For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all lands, and will gather you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean waters on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them.”

So how about the justice aspect of Love, after all isn't God a just God?

True! God is a just God, yet he himself said vengeance is mine. If vengeance is God's then we cannot allow it to belong to us. Which means in seeking justice while working in love, we must not allow vengeance. If we have, let us repent.

Seeking justice should in my opinion be an act of reclaiming what may have been taken unlawfully and also ensuring that no other person suffers from the same type of loss or injury.

A christian's best option in my opinion is to forgive and forget and hand the guilty parties over to God to chastise according to His pleasure if they refuse to repent. Chastisement of God leads to repentance and that person will not hurt anyone else anymore.

Also, that aggrieved christian can seek restoration from God for all that was unlawfully taken.

OR

In a case of a Christian vs Christian, Paul admonishes that it is settled within the church and among elders. Please seek the opinion of your legal counsel.

In a case of Christian vs Non Christian, if justice is sought by the Christian, please consult your legal counsel.

In a case of corpotate organisations, if justice is sought by one party, then please consult your legal counsel.

In a case of corruption against the people, let them consult their legal counsel for advice.

Either way, the idea is that we seek justice not for vengeance, but to reclaim what was unlawfully taken and to ensure it happens to no one else.

Seeking justice is the perogative of the one working in love. Most may choose the path of forgiving and forgetting while handing the unrepentant guilty over to God to chastise and receiving a restoration from God who is the Just Judge.

Thanks for reading.

#RaisingOurLand
#GrowingInLove


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