Justin’s Opinion:
Relationships
expose you. Period. A real relationship exposes your
strengths and weaknesses. This is major reason I know I am with the
right God ordained beautifully made woman gifted to me by God. I was
trying to think of a bible story that I could interpret in a deep fashion to
start this off. But I could not think of one. All I could
think of is how grateful I am for enemies. Nothing fancy, nothing
crazy… I LOVE my enemies. My mind has shifted, especially in the
last few months. I have learned the necessity and presence of people
who are enemies that you have to love. It is not a quality I have
enjoyed, but it is a quality that I have learned and embraced. Frankly,
not embracing those assigned to distract you gives them power over you. So,
my enemies have taught me a few lessons.
1.
How to Fight
Fighting in the
spirit is one of the hardest battles fought without armour. So often
we miss that lesson when Paul speaks of putting on the Armour of God. Paul
details how our head is covered, how the belt holds things together, how our
feet cannot slip etc. (Look at it!) It was not in the times that I
had a bunch of ‘friends” or even “Classmates” that I learned how to fight, it
is when I got in a relationship and the ugliness (and eventual beauty) of
enemies was revealed. They taught me that I was not guarding my heart,
that I was not wearing my salvation and was not wearing my belt. Enemies
taught me not just to see my strength, but how to fight battles in ways that
confuses the enemy and how to keep your peace because in the end enemies kill
themselves.
2.
How to Work
Jesus told his
disciples that you will know who he is by the work he did. He
admonished those in positions of power not to let your power determine who you
are, but the work you do. Enemies have challenged me to work. Work
my relationship. Work my positions. Work for my
“self.” Work for Courtney. Work for Family. Work
for what makes me happy. They taught me how to work. Enemies
do a great deed because they show you how much you love something and how much
you are willing to sacrifice to keep it.
3.
How to Love.
It amazes me. When
I was “in these streets” walking around with 2-3 women…texting them…leading
them on…knowingly (in some cases intentionally) breaking hearts that I never
was made fun of for that. But as soon as I get into a relationship,
speak about the power of prayer and talk about the revelation of God to me to
pursue Courtney…and then a Black man who is intentional about courting a Black
woman…I’ve had more people ask: When we are breaking up, why am in a
relationship, how long we have been together because they feel the need to
justify what God has shared with me. SERIOUSLY? Thank you to each
and every one of you! Not in spite, but because it affirms the fact that I am
truly in love with the one that God has assigned to me. Its not your
fault…its mine. I’m doing the right God ordained thing with the Gift
from God. Enemies have strengthened my courting, intentionality and
love for Courtney Jones. Yea…that’s the future mother of my
children. I Ain’t Scared of NONE of Yall!.
Courtney’s
Opinion:
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when
you think of enemies? I know as for me I see myself subconsciously looking over
my shoulder in a disgusted look somewhat like this:
As funny as that may be, I realize I should
grab a mirror and give the same look to myself. Enemies can be defined as
anyone or anything that comes to steal, kill, and destroy your promise. That
can be the promise of fulfilling your purpose, your dreams, hopes and desires.
Throughout my life I realized that I sometime, I was my own enemy.
Of course there are many times where it seems
we have armies of “haters” (lets kill this word in 2014, okay…please?)
encamping our lives. On every end they are attacking your life, relationships,
and questioning your promise; but praise God, because they see a promise. When
Justin and I first created this blog we had many people upset and questioning
our longevity and potentiality as a couple. They justified it by stating that
they didn’t want either one of us to get hurt as a result of the shortness of
our courtship being only a couple months long. However we knew the promise on
our lives and Justin is indeed my promised promise. However, through the
beginning stages I found myself altering and restraining my behavior, constantly
filtering the things we released as a mean to appease those that were against
it. In those moments, I was my own worse enemy. I silenced the voice that God
entrusted me with, I filtered our discipleship, with the understanding that our
relationship is our worship and our means of sharing Christ to others.
Although I couldn’t stop those around me from
sharing their opinion in my life, I had the choice of what to do with it. John
10:10 explains to us that the Devil is our biggest enemy, who only comes to
steal kill and destroy. He tactics don’t change just how you respond to them
does. In Genesis 3:1-7, we read the infamous story of the fall of man. To set
the scene, God created this beautiful world and also created the Garden of Eden
as a an abundant land of life for Adam and Eve in this land he gave them reigns
to partake in any tree in the Land just not the Tree of Knowledge. In this the
particular text we zoom into Satan manipulating (I mean talking) to Eve. As
stated previously, Satan, our biggest enemy, never changes its tactic but only
its approach. Here are some enemy signs to look out for:
o
Cunning – vs. 1
o
Tempting – vs. 1
(you are only tempted by what you want)
o
Openly
Goes against the word of God – Eve knew the word of God,
the devil openly went against it
o
Diminishes
God in our Life – all throughout chapter 2 “l=Lord God” in
Chapter 3 it was “did God”
o
Play on
your weaknesses – Adam had strength in chapter 2, gone in
chapter three
o
Partial
Truth teller – You will not die rather you will have eyes
open vs. 5
§
Objective truth. Truth that you don’t understand. The devil knows what you cannot
understand!
o
Reveals
when we don’t listen – Adam ate too and he knew! Vs 6
Satan is very real and creates a lot of havoc
in our lives but only because we allow him to. There might be people in our
lives that fit some of these characteristics above. Get on your face before God
for those people but also cover yourself so that you can be reassured of the
promise God has placed in your life. What God brings together nothing or no one
will be able to separate. Love yourself!
Our
Opinion
Enemies are
necessary. Enemies teach you some of your most powerful
lessons. Whether those enemies are internal or external, bottom line
in they exist. Since we have been together, both of us in our places
of work, church and personal relationships have seen the revelation of enemies
that we accidentally called friends and coworkers. It is all Good
because we love and NEED you to be the enemy God assigned you to be!
This week, we
challenge you to embrace your enemies, love your enemies and enjoy that God
assigned people to hate you…you’re doing something right. We Love
you, we are praying for you…Most of all God is with you!
