I am just now catching up on this post from yesterday, and wanted to add my $0.02 for what it's worth....
Sam, I agree, if we could have a like button, I would hit that button for Sis. Alvear's post, and Bro. Eply's post ... amazingly one of the few times I really agree with him..
I grew up in an apostolic establishment that connected legalism with salvation, and it has taken about fifteen years for me to walk slowly away from that crowd to where I am today.
You can let the hurts pile up, and they will become rotten and bitter to your soul....
Or you can, as Bro. Epley said, use them as stepping stones to something better....
And I know that this is what God has done for me. He has gently led, and guided me away from the sorrows, and hurts of the past into a place with Him now where there is a peace in knowing that my salvation does not depend on what I wear, but my salvation is a heart matter. The Holy Spirit is my teacher, and my guide, and my comforter, as Jesus said would be, not necessarily a pastor.
I have learned that the five-fold ministry is there to encourage, and support, and strengthen us, but never are they to take the place of Jesus in our lives, and the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is our teacher and our guide, and if we are truly walking in the Spirit, and the Word is in our hearts, we will walk pleasing to our Master and Saviour, Jesus.
There once was a lot of hurt in my heart towards a pastor, and members of my family. But one day while in prayer, this scripture came to me:
Matthew 5:44
44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and
pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
The Lord showed me that I needed to completely forgive those in that situation, and that a truly forgiving spirit would pray earnestly for the very ones who had hurt me.
I began to pray and intercede for those involved with the situation I had grown up in, and over a period of time, those hurts healed, and I was able to go on with my life. I still to this day pray for those people. My name is still mentioned over that pastor's pulpit to this day, and my mother, brother, and other family members sit there and listen to it, but I have been released from that hurt, PRAISE GOD. I pray for all of them that someday God would be able to bring them to the same place He has brought me, with a healing work of repentance and love, and help them to see that preaching and proclaiming bitterness and old hurts brings no gain, but only pain.
I have done my part in forgiving that pastor, and I pray for him. I know it is the only way to completely be released from the hurts of the past.
Only Jesus can do this kind of work. Only Jesus can take the pain and hurt that we have suffered, and change it into something greater, and I am thankful every day that walking with HIM is the sweetest place to be on this earth.
And, I would not trade the journey I have walked, because without the clouds, there would be no rainbow. Without the death of Christ, there would be no resurrection. Without death, there would be no life.
It is in the deepest, and darkest places of our lives that sometimes the sweetest blessings flow.
I am thankful most of all for Jesus who has brought life to me out of the hurts, disappointments, and failures of other humans. He has shown me that you can walk above the shadows here on this earth, just as He did while here on earth.
We CAN be overcomers, through Christ alone. Not on our own strength, or abilities, but through His blood, and His love, we can OVERCOME.
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