Can We Still Be Friends?

I'm officially moving into Wordpress... at least for now.

Visit me at blakestuddardblog.com from now on. If things change, I'll let you know from there.

I may utilize this space for something in the near future, so don't completely forget about me here.

I'm Moving

I moved into a new house a couple weeks ago, and I'm going to move into a new website in the next few days. I'll keep you updated, with a link to the new site soon.

Honor

For those of you living in Norman and going to Norman Community Church, you might find this uninformative (as our pastor Ken Primrose conveyed this more eloquently and clearly than I will here).

But for those of you who do not fall into that category, and for myself (since writing on here does much more for me than the ones who read this), I want to share this idea of honor.

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DIS-honoring someone doesn't mean you have wronged them. It simply means you have not honored them. You've treated them as ordinary and not special.

Honor is the first of the ten commandments to have a reward attached to it : 'Honor your father and mother that your days will be long in the land the Lord has given you.'

The two greatest commandments ('Love the Lord your God and love one another as yourself') are narrowed even more in John 13:34-35 by saying, 'a new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.'

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so,

the week before I heard the teaching that gave me the above information, the Lord began revealing to me the people I haven't been honoring. There were those who had walked away from the Lord that I was frustrated with. There were those who I felt had wronged me or wronged others. There were those who were prideful and stubborn and undeserving of the authority they had been given.

And up until now I was under a political-spirit-inspired lie that some of these people were deserving of my 'righteous anger' or even that I was hearing from the Lord a frustration and disdain for their behavior. But I was so far from the true key, the true door to the next place the Lord wanted for me.

Last Monday, I sat in my room and surrendered my mind and my heart to the mind and heart of the Father for those people I had been struggling with. I wasn't ready for the result that hit me with such weight and intensity, feeling certain wires in my heart and mind being ripped out and replugged into new places. I literally felt as He grabbed parts of me I had been getting used to and yanked them out. I found myself crying out, "Father, give me your heart for _______ ! I want the compassion and love you have for these people I've hated for so long! I want to love the unlovely! Even the ones who have done evil to me, I want your grace to send me out so I can go and bless them!"

It's always the opposite of the flesh.

The church you've walked away from : bless them. honor them. regard them as special, as the Father does.

That scripture about heaping coals on people as you love them : forget about the way you were taught that, where it involves a revengeful heart. Honor comes from a pure, compassionate heart.

That person who is attacking you : love them in a real way. a tangible way. don't just bless them with your mouth, but ask the Holy Spirit to begin and actual transformation in your heart toward that person. that one who deserves your love the least.

I believe the way we love the least lovable person on our list determines the amount of intimacy, love, and blessing we receive from God.