stripes

Taking Vengeance

Beloved,

"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and Godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:........And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience Godliness; and to Godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love......... for if ye do these things, YE SHALL NEVER FAIL".

Today we will look into the disadvantage of taking vengeance for ourselves. My prayer is that you will remove the chaff from the wheat. Amen.

Here is a true story: 2Samuel 13: 1-29.

Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar and Amnon the son of David loved her....................Instead of Amnon going through the normal process of getting Tamar to be his wife, he raped her; disgracing her afterward. Tamar was a virgin before this abomination was done to her.

Absalom heard what had happened and encouraged his sister.

Verse 22: " And Absalom spake unto his brother neither good nor bad: For Absalom hated Amnon; because he forced his sister"

If you were Absalom, what would be your reaction?

I think I also would have hated Amnon. The danger in this is that it leads to a worse thing.

"Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

neither give place to the devil" Eph.4:26-27.

Absalom was right to be angry. What he was not to do was allow "the sun to go down on his wrath". and "neither give place to the devil."

Verse 23: "It came to pass after the space of two years.........."

God said we should not allow the sun to go down on our wrath. Absalom stayed with his for 730 days! The devil had a good meal out of him. Satan possessed him. He organised the killing of Amnon his brother;

He conspired and overthrew his father, the king.

He pursued after the king to kill him.

He died through this.

No man ever takes revenge and remains the same. No man! This always leads you away from your destiny. When we allow wrath to stay longer than prescribed by God, we will inevitably give place to the devil. The devil’s job is to “kill, steal and to destroy" John 10:10a.

Praise God for another opportunity to be a blessing to you beloved in Christ Jesus. This message continues with a true life story of the late Anini, a notorious armed robber in Nigeria. Having been sentenced to death, he gave this story:
His cousin had a small problem with a policeman. The policeman was at fault but went on to use his authority wrongly. His pride took control and he beat this young man to death. Anini was there but he was helpless against this policeman.

It was not easy for him. He had nobody to turn to for help. He vowed to avenge the death of his cousin.
** Anini later killed this man.
** He went ahead and killed as many policemen as possible.
** He killed people connected to the police; including informants.
** He robbed the wealthy in society splashing the money about in the open market.
Anini killed so many policemen that they were afraid to go to work in their uniform. Anini would attack a station and kill police on sight. He became a national menace. The gentle Anini turned into an effective tool of the wicked one because he allowed his wrath to go beyong the line.
Vengeance can be very sweet to our flesh. Sometimes we are happy to hear stories of revenge. The films preach it daily. We are made to beleive in vengeance. The danger is that we will never be the same again!

Please hear God.

"Recompence no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved, AVENGE NOT YOURSELVES, but rather give place unto wrath:
for it is written,vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord..............Be not
overcome of evil,BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD" Romans 12:17-21.

Vengeance is a fruit of the flesh. It will only yield corruption in us.

Destiny will be lost in it.

Prayer point: Check yourself. You know the areas in which you have been treated unfairly. The best news would have been to hear only about your suffering in the matter. Ask the Good Lord to wash your heart of this wickedness; replacing it with the love of God that knows no bounds.

Pray, in Jesus Name, 2 Corinthians 13:14.

Amen.

6/11/05 &

11/11/05