February 10, 2024

Running With Horses, Artist: (Lois) Alison Teed

Colored pencil on 140#, Arches, hot press watercolor paper. Painted from the original photo taken by the artist while attending the Lethbridge, AB chuckwagon races

Many times, throughout the years God stepped in to my space and spoke to me from His Word.

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan (war)?” Jeremiah 12:5 NKJV

He had my attention….

Upon reflecting on what would prompt God to speak such a word to me, I understood that it happened on two occasions when He gave me a specific assignment.

First—fear of failure: When I realized His assignment was not going to be a proverbial “cake-walk”, I soon complained to Him that it was all to difficult for me and I was going to make a mess that He would have to clean up. Rather than comfort me and reassure me that I was doing just fine and if I did my best He would do the rest, He would speak Jer 12:5 to me, and other words similar.

If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Proverbs 25:10 NKJV

This last word was as stinging as Jer 12:5 and then He would punctuate His rebuke by adding:

 ….‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house….’

Second—fear of man: The fear of man: Over and over and over He would instruct me not to be afraid of what man could do to me. “Do not fear their faces.” “Do not be afraid of the intimidation of a man.” “If God is on your side, what can man do to you?” “Do not be afraid that the assignment is too great to too difficult and the giants are too overwhelming.” “Do not be afraid that you will fail.” “Do not be afraid.” Amen

I learned over the next 45 plus years to just obey. Just believe Him that He had my back and keep moving forward in my assignment. I would do my part and allow the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to do theirs. They have never failed this ordinary vessel, filled only with faith in what He has assigned me…until I am finished and wondrously stand in His glorious presence! Amen!

When you call upon the Name of God’s one and only Son, Jesus Christ, you have nothing more to fear. Let Him be your confidence. He will always make a way for you, even where there is no way. He will not falter; He will not fail. He will sustain you. Learn to run with the horses first…it is just the beginning of an awesome, indescribable journey. Amen.

Mal 2:13-16

13 And this is the second thing you do: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying; So He does not regard the offering anymore, nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.

14 Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant (vows).

 (Does Jesus treat you the way you treat your wife? You are His Bride, preparing for His return, (or your departure), to be with Him. Selah.)

15 But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring (the next generations). Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

16 “For the Lord God of Israel says That He 1. hates 2.divorce, for it covers one’s garment with 3. violence,” Says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit that you do not deal 4.  treacherously.”

Malachi 2:13-16 

OT:8130 <START HEBREW>an@c* 1. hates

KJV – enemy, foe, (be) hate (-ful, -r), odious,

utterly.

***odious.

-If something is odious, it’s hateful. If you become a historian of slavery, you’ll learn all the details of  that odious trade.  Odious is from the Latin noun odium, which means hatred.

Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

OT:7971 <START HEBREW>jl^v* 2.Putting away/divorce

–to send away

KJV – cast (away, out),  forsake, give (up), leave

let depart ***push away, put (away, out), send (away

OT: 2554 <START HEBREW>sm^j* 3.violence

-to be violent; to maltreat:

KJV – make bare, shake off, violate,

 do violence, take away violently, wrong,  imagine wrongfully.

***mal·treat·ment

/malˈtrētmənt/ noun

Cruel or violent treatment, mistreatment.

Similar:

       –ill treatment

       -mistreatment

       -abuse

       -ill use

       -ill usage

       -misuse

OT:898 4a.treacherously

;-to cover (with a garment); figuratively, to act covertly, to pillage:

KJV – deal deceitfully (treacherously, unfaithfully), offend, unfaithful (man), very.

KJV -very [treacherously]

Here’s a thought:

       Would you want God to trust you in the same manner you are trusting your wife? You are the Bride of Christ. Why wouldn’t you have God treat YOU the same way YOU treat your bride? What you do to others will return to you again. Or…what goes around comes around (2Sam 22:26-28)….can God trust you with this woman whom He knew before the foundation of the world, who is made in His image, whom He has a plan for; the same as He has a plan for you? Remember Adam blamed Eve for his failure to obey. He blamed Eve for his disobedience. Are you blaming your helpmate for your temptations and disobedience?

Are you a faithful man? A man is called to love his wife as himself and lay down his life for her just a Christ has done for the Church. Eph 5:25

We ARE ALL THE BRIDE OF CHRIST. Selah!

YOU ARE THE BRIDE OF CHIRST. Now you have the opportunity, as the Bride of Christ, to view Jesus’ ways from your perspective as a man AND your wife’s perspective; both  as the Bride of Christ. Here is an analogy: My husband spent 25 years in the private business  sector before he became a public practitioner. When he decided to move into the public sector, he had developed an amazing ability to see his client’s needs from an internal perspective and an external perspective.  

Our hearts, souls (minds) and strength (wills) are tested through our most intimate relationship and we are readied for our eternal life with Christ.

       If you will decide divorce is not an option for you, I promise you, you will find a productive and healing alternative that when you come to the end of your time on this earth you will hear Him say, “Well done.” As much as it is on your part—make a home of peace. Having done all—stand. If you faithfully do all that you know to do (obeying God’s Word and ways) then stand and let God do the rest. If your helpmate chooses to leave her family, there is nothing more to be said, providing you have not provoked her to leave—treating her in such a way that she would not want to stay—manipulating her desire to go….

Stress. stress and more stress,,,,

       It takes persistent stress to divide a couple from their destiny together. It likes to blindside you. There is an enemy that you can not see that loves to make surprise attacks when you least expect it. Everyone is at peace, loving and intimate and then bang! He comes in like a sledgehammer, hoping to take you out before you can catch on that he’s at work. Sometimes you need to just step over the mess, regroup, stop blaming each other and keep moving toward your God given mark. Amen. Remember Satan told Jesus that he would return at a more opportune time. He’ll be back!

       Constant problem solving is destructive. (I recommend my book Voices Crying in the Wilderness, Chapter 22 The Art of Problem Solving for how we now deal with problem solving.)

1. Occupational stress

***I recently researched Canada’s divorce rates by occupation. The one thing that I noticed, was not the occupation itself, but the degree of stress generated by the profession or job. It didn’t seem to matter what the occupation was, the stress level was the dividing factor. Stress is stress and takes the same toll whatever the occupation. Take for example: the oil field lay-offs, the coronavirus that’s turned the world upside down… Job stress: traffic control, prison guards, police force, military, nursing and so on. Even my husband’s job is very stressful, pushing him to work 10-12 hour days, 7 days a week for half the year.

2. World stress

-plagues (coronavirus), disasters, political shifts, wars  

       -Banks

                     -loans,

                     -mortgages

                     -enough savings?

                     -overdrafts

                     -borrowing for business

                     -borrowing for survival

                     -credit cards

       -Government control

                     -collecting UIC

                     -oil field closures

                     -forestry closures

                     -higher taxes

                     -schooling

-promised support never realized

-medical provision

-service providers

3. Family stress

-immediate family

-extended family issues

-aging concerns

– forced retirement: (make room for the

next generation. You have had your turn.)

4. Health stress

-any health issue that demands ongoing attention

       -wife’s health issues (in sickness and in health)

       -children’s health issues

       -your own health issues

       -extended family health issues

       -PTSD, OCD…

5. Junk in your trunk stress.

       -Recommend reading: Your Junk in My Trunk. The author’s testimony of deliverance from generational bondages. (Soon to be posted on this site)

6. Children

       -issues imposed on families in this era, concerning the raising of  children. (You are responsible for the shaping of the generations to come. A man’s authority and effectiveness is diminished by divorce. The world will step in and usurp your God given authority and power to shape and direct your children.)

Ps 127:3-5

3 Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.

4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one’s youth.

5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them

They will not be put  to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

       This is not an all-inclusive list. Just so that you get the idea. You might think of others that are not mentioned here, including your own situation. Again, I highly recommend my book Your Junk in My Trunk, depicting 28 years of my crying out to God for help to be set free from a bondage that was so contrary to who God created me to be, passing from generation to generation.  He finally sent a woman of God from the other side of the world and in a moment I was free. Hallelujah!

OK. I think I have provided you with all that God would have you pay attention to and be aware of regarding the temptation to divorce your helpmate. There are several sticky issues yet to come, but if you accepted God’s instruction on the divorce issue, it will only go up from here. Relax and look forward to some answers to your ponderings. Much of our answers come before we ever take our vows…the engagement. Thus book 2.

AN ENCOURAGING WORD NOW FROM YOUR FATHER FOR YOU TO MOVE FORWARD FROM HERE.

Eccl 9:7-9

7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works.

8 Let your garments always be white, and let your head lack no oil.

9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.

GOD LOVES YOU AS HE DOES HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON. HE CARES ABOUT EVERYTHING CONCERNING YOU. HE HAS THE ANSWERS. IF YOU FOLLOW HIS WAYS, ONE DAY YOU WILL GLANCE BACK OVER YOUR SHOULDER AND SAY, “MAN, AM I THANKFUL I DID IT HIS WAY.” YOU WILL BE MIGHTY PROUD OF YOURSELF…AND SO WILL YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER.

(All definitions: Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)***Unless otherwise  noted.

(To view extended definitions please go to the

INDEX at the back of this book.)

What on Earth was God Thinking?

Introduction

       When I ask for God’s help He always presents me with the most difficult challenge first. When I reach knowledge, revelation and understanding, everything after that is a piece of cake.

       I have a friend who asked God to help her really understand love. Guess where she is having the greatest testing? Yes, of course, her marriage relationship.

I promise you; when my friend attains the revelation of love in her marriage she will surely walk in the perfection of love she so desires in all other relationships, including her relationship with her Lord and Savior.

       God will always give us the hardest task first. Once we master the most difficult assignment, everything after that will be a piece of cake.  Just ask Him to give you patience and see what happens in your life. You will think all hell has broken loose as you are bombarded with every niggling thing that tests your patience.

Ask Him to help you in your marriage and you will be faced with the greatest challenge of your life. I repeat: If you master it, every relationship after that will be so much easier to understand and interact with. Relationships outside of marriage–if one does not like them–can be discarded or graciously avoided. Marriage is God’s ultimate training ground for life here on earth.

Personally, after one divorce, I desperately wanted to understand and know how to make a good, and lasting marriage. I was not about to throw in the towel the second time. I looked at Christians and figured they must know something I didn’t know, and absolutely, God knew something I didn’t know! Almost failing a second time is what drove me to God, from confirmed, stoic atheist to, “If you are there, God, show me”...and He did.      

       Love was my friend’s motive for God to take her and remake her, renewing her mind and taking away her stony heart. He chose her marriage as her school ground. For me it was being a good wife and mother and making a good home environment. OOOOOOH what we ask God for! It takes two…

*****

       So let’s talk about the most challenging and difficult subject first….

 D I V O R C E….

Dear Monday, I want to break up,

I’m seeing Tuesday and dreaming about Friday.

Sincerely,

It’s not me it’s you.

Joy and Clyd Facebook March 9, 2020

Canada’s Divorce Statistics (2018):

***38% of Canadian couples continue to quit before they develop the character God has set in place for a man and a woman.

***According to the latest Statistics Canada data, approximately 38 per cent of all marriages end in divorce…. While the total divorce rate has been steady, there has been a steady increase in the divorce rate for three-year marriages.

Nov 9, 2018 Divorce Rates in Canada – M.J. O’Nions

My observation here is that these statistics do not include common-law couples who separate after years of common-law cohabitation. Christians included.

       To be considered common–law partners, they must have cohabited for at least one year. This is the standard definition used across the federal government. It means continuous cohabitation for one year, not intermittent cohabitation adding up to one year. Jan 2, 2019

Assessing a common-law relationship – Canada.ca

       Don’t be fooled by the common-law option. There can be complicated legal issues if you decide to part company, both regarding mutual children and common property, Not much different than divorce….

*****

GOD HAS directed me, as a mother, to bring to your attention His STRONGEST FEELINGS ABOUT DIVORCE…. He is reaching out here to the 38% of you, to gather you to Himself and exhort you to come to repentance and seek His ways so that it will be well with you…and your children after you.

*****

Matt 19:3-9

3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 

5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 

6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness (stoniness) of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 

9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

Ezek 36:26

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. )

       There are so many scriptures that I could quote. I am sure you have read them all at one time or another. I am only including here what I believe the Father is speaking to me to write. I believe this is a time when He is calling his men of valor to repent and to renew their minds with His Word and His ways…. If you will repent, He will take away your stony heart and give you a heart of flesh and you will see and hear with renewed strength and valor, bringing healing and restoration to the most important relationship you will ever embrace. Stony hearts are renewable and healable. It is not a permanent condition.

Assignment: watch movies The Case for Christ, the story of a journalist’s pursuit to prove Jesus was a hoax and the strain it put on his marriage; I Can Only Imagine, from hatred and unforgiveness to total forgiveness and love; A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a broken, stony heart, coming  to repentance and forgiveness. All based on true accounts.

God is in the business of changing hearts and minds. Nothing is too difficult for our Heavenly Father. His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. If you ask Him, He will do it.

              *****

Series: Pocket Books for Men, Book 1 part 3…Divorce Fallout…

Journey from Captivity: a series by Alison Teed

Copy rights 2020 by Alison Teed

Journey from Captivity, a series

What on Earth was God  Thinking?

Series 1, Book 1 Introduction

Printed in Canada

ISBN #978-1-7752614-0-7

All rights reserved solely by author. The author guarantees all contents are original and do not infringe upon the legal works of any other person or work. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the author.

       Unless otherwise indicated, Bible quotations are taken from King James Bible.

All concordance references are taken from Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.

www.thewillowsfreedomhouse.com

www.wepublish-it.com

Contents

Preface………………………………………xi

Introduction:

      Canada’s Divorce Statistics…….21

      God hates divorce……………….….25

      The Bride of Christ……………..…..28

Stress…the companion killer……….29

Eccl 9:7-9…………………………………….34

Acknowledgements

       I must give so much credit to my faithful prayer partners over the years who lovingly stood in the gap each and every time they sincerely dropped to their knees on our behalf. We are in this life together. Thanks…and same to you!

PREFACE

Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun: And look! The tears of the oppressed, But they have no comforter—

 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. _{Eccl 4:1,9.10 NKJV}

—For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very, thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the

(xi)

sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you. _{2 Cor 7:8-12 NKJV}

If I do not accomplish 2Cor 7:3-12, I have failed in my assignment….

       This is a book directed to men. It is written from the heart of a mother, by appointment of the Father. So I will proceed on the premise that God the Father has something to say to His mighty men of valour and He has appointed this mother to deliver His message. A love letter from the Father; hand delivered by a mother.  And as He has instructed me in the past to write with the heart of a mother; I will proceed on that basis. (Prov 31) Such a privilege….

Marriage as I best understand it…why it even exists…why on earth it even exists…what on earth God was thinking when He spoke it into existence, is that marriage is our most important and most impactful training ground and preparation for our life here on earth and ultimately in Heaven. (There is no marriage in Heaven. Just thought I should bring that to your attention as you continue on here. Matt 22:23-32) This marriage arrangement then, here on earth, is our learning center for all

(xii)

other relationships—here on earth—and eventually in Heaven. “What God has joined together let no man put asunder” suggests that God has a plan for us in the setting of marriage that cannot be accomplished in any other setting. If we bail out before He is finished His work in us, we come short of the ultimate purpose for our journey with Him. A few rounds on the Potter’s Wheel—if you are willing—will take off the rough edges that would proudly say at the end “I did it my way.”

       By continuing as He instructs, we are soon enlightened and are able to see the clutter we harbour in our attitudes and hearts, collected through misunderstood personal ambitions and much of which we learned from various sources (family, media, friends, educators) prior to taking the leap.  When allowing His ways for marriage to take precedence over our own ways and the world’s ways, we have opportunity to discover more about Who God is—how He thinks and why He thinks it—as well as deepen our intimacy with Him, than any other means of study. My personal discovery is unfathomable forgiveness and love.

God says He hates divorce and yet it is one aspect of our relationship with God that is so sadly misunderstood and defied. We maybe think “I know God has a plan for me and He has given me a helpmate that will assist in my success. God must

(xiii)

want me to be sublimely happy in order for me to achieve my best and become all I am destined to be.”

       He instructs us, what He has joined together let no man put asunder. Again, on that basis, there must be more to marriage than just finding that “one” that will ultimately assist us in fulfilling our deepest dreams and desires.  You might say, “But God gave me a vision and she is just not measuring up to my vision. I can see I can probably do better. She’s not making me happy or helping me fulfill my vision.”

Your ultimate God given vision may just be hindered because you are not honoring your wife. (1 Peter 3:7). God might have done more in your life and through your life if you had obeyed His commandment. You are not her creator, son, your Heavenly Father is. She is made in His image and He has a plan for her as well as for you…a plan for you together.

I promise you that if you see marriage from God’s perspective, your image of your help-mate  will alter considerably. I am surely hoping, and praying. that by the time you finish with this set of little pocketbooks your life will change forever and it will be well for you and for your family all your days together.

(xiv)

       You may not be sublimely happy every minute or every year, and the youthful vision of what you believed marriage was about doesn’t come to pass, at the end, you will know that God’s ways are better than your ways. Amen. What you perceived as success and happiness when you were 19 or 25 or 35 will shift considerably as you allow God’s ways to develop and mature you.

       My purpose here is to bring hope and redirect many hearts and minds to focus on their commitments to God and within the family unit, especially their marriage—which naturally affects all aspects of the family unit. And to prod you with a little stick to do a little maturing…a little growing up.

 2019 a narrow escape….

I think it would be sufficient here to say that 2019 was one of the most critical years that threatened the security of my own marriage. Although we have had a few—this was a doozer, to say the least!

We took the first blow with a sudden financial crisis as my husband’s practice made some critical changes of partners and staff; if that wasn’t enough I fell and broke another ankle. Yes that was 2 ankles in 5 years. As well as a devastating church

(xv)

loss for me. This might not have caused the strain that it did, had it not been for the distance we were living apart. We were living in two provinces simultaneously, making communication stressful and demanding. My husband was forced to drop what he was doing in the business and travel out to AB to take care of his wife. Not a happy time all the way around.

       While both of us were in serious need of  a comforting, loving, close companion, it was not happening. All I wanted was to get back on my feet and get back to work on the restoration and renovations on the farm and all he wanted was to get back to his office and get things in order. Boo hoo for us.

God is so faithful as suddenly our son and daughter-in-law moved out to the farm and took over, relieving my husband of the burden of an injured spouse and farming demands, allowing him to return to his business on the west coast.

It was a rocky and uncertain few months as he left in May and we never saw each other again until after Christmas, communicating only via WhatsApp (Thank God for WhatsApp.)   Things came back down and into order—we hoped—when we took the time to spend a special 8 days together at a local hotel after Christmas, quietly recovering and restoring the enjoyment of each other’s company. Amen

(xvi)

to that. (Two people needing comfort at the same time. Wow! It was 8 months of moment by moment instruction from God our Father. Doing it His way!)

       I add this here to show you that even after many years of marriage we are not guaranteed perfection in our lives and at any time our imaginary existence can be shaken and thrown up into the air. It is our responsibility to ensure that it comes back down in good order. With God something truly miraculous emerges—we change. And we grow up  and mature together just a little bit more.

(xvii)

To be continued January 4, 2024

INTRODUCTION:

– (Using) Canada’s divorce statistics;

-God Hates Divorce;

–The Bride of Christ

A bomb has been dropped; let’s take a look at the casualties.

             As painful as it is to see ourselves sometimes, it is essential in order to make the necessary adjustments to  move to higher ground.

         When you prepare for a wedding, you are not dressed for work or play, you respectfully prepare yourself for the occasion, especially the Bride  and Groom. You are cleaned up and looking your very best for the occasion Matt:22: 11-14 KJV.  Jesus is preparing His Bride for His return Eph 5:27! Wow! This is just now a revelation in what He is doing here! At the same time, He is preparing us for what is coming on the earth, He is taking us much, much higher, making us much, much stronger and much more resilient. He is giving us greater wisdom so that we not only survive what is coming, but we, and our children, flourish in what is coming. So don’t lose heart. His love is reaching out and revealing something  that will help keep you and me in the swelling of the Jordan Jer 12:5!  

  God takes no pleasure in a soldier that shrinks back Heb 10:38-39. 2 Tim  2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Let’s suck it up then(idiomatic-To put up with something; to deal with something, such as pain or misfortune, without complaining.) and look at the effects of our complaints and accusations against ourselves and others. We can become our own worst enemy, causing injury and casualties we are not aware of.  Our Heavenly Father wants to open our eyes to see the full picture: give us a full revelation of what we are doing and how it affects us and others around us.

“How can You possibly compare a small complaint or accusation to throwing rocks. It certainly is not as big a deal as all this fuss, God. I don’t mean to do any harm. I just want to set some things straight.” Throwing rocks at others, ourselves and for that matter, throwing rocks at God is very painful for those hit by the wallop—or even lethal! Take a look.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves….1 John 1:8

1. Marriage: Throwing rocks by threatening, intimidating, bullying, manipulating, and controlling  one another causes confusion, immeasurable pain and  frustration, planting seeds for adultery and divorce; it creates sorrow, sadness, discouragement, and physical and mental separation; it destroys vision and family development it propagates hopelessness; crushes self confidence; instills fear, depression, a sense of failure and defeat, destruction, and even death; most importantly, it damages your seed for future generations….establishing or maintaining a generational curse (or iniquity).

2. Workplace:  Throwing rocks in the workplace, by either side, quickly becomes infectious, spreading malcontent; creates an unpleasant atmosphere; stirs fear, reduces work ethic or motivation to support or increase the advancement of a company.  This works for both sides…a two edged sword; be careful not to bite the hand that feeds you!  So much more here I could say!

3. Church: This is my favorite subject in all the world. I will make this brief. Again, a two edged sword—that is, whether it comes from leadership or it comes from the members. Grieving the Holy Spirit—a big one. Where the Holy Spirit is grieved, advancement will fade. Discouragement, disappointment, bitterness, resentment, loss of faith, loss of vision, loss of purpose.

4. Neighbors: Gossip and accusations separates, creates tension, awkwardness, isolates. This list goes on…

5. Extended Family/friends: Throwing rocks at family and friends, separates, confuses, generates sadness, sorrow, pain, regret. This is a huge subject….

6. Government: Throwing rocks at the current government. Unless you are called by God to be an activist to fight wrong and promote righteousness…throwing rocks is simply life draining, energy robber, loss of focus. HUGE distraction, robbing your destiny, creating a detour in your direction. Psa 34:14 READ THE WHOLE PSALM

7. Yourself: Throwing rocks at yourself results in disappointment and loss of hope for a fulfilling future, depression, oppression, discouragement, loss of desire to move forward, no vision, an invitation to the enemy to come and finish you off. Opening a door for defeat.

8. God: Throwing rocks at God. Wow! Thin ice, disrespect, dishonor, trying and testing His patience. Slandering His provision. Forgetting the fear of God. Not trusting Him and Who He is. Attempted manipulation, ungrateful, unthankful, unforgiving. Leaving God hurt, angered, provoked to act.

No, no, no…throwing rocks at God…not a good idea! It is hurtful to God to hear His people complaining and accusing Him that what they have is not good enough, or that they are not getting from God what they expect from a loving God James 4:2. Ungratefulness is throwing rocks at God. It is a lack of holy fear of God and who He is. It is a lack of trust. It is an indication that one’s personal relationship is not developed or matured.

Whether we complain about God, others or ourselves, we are doing some rock throwing, causing pain and confusion in other’s lives and robbing ourselves of blessings we are yet unaware even exist. God is waiting to bless us abundantly above and beyond what we hope or dream. He is not the tooth fairy, He is our Heavenly Father, worthy of respect and honor; not only liking what He has to say, but doing what He has to say Matt 12:50; Matt 7:21. 

The subject of Satan John 10:10; John 8:44. Do not accuse anyone falsely Exod 23:1. Satan is the accuser of the brethren Rev 12:10.  He accused God in the Garden of Eden Gen 3:1. Satan complained, accusing God that He had given favor to Job and that was the only reason Job was a righteous man: Take it all away and God would see a different Job Job 1:7-11.  Satan thus accused God of getting people to be righteous by giving them good stuff. If He didn’t give people all the good stuff, they wouldn’t love Him or behave in a way that pleased Him. (Though He slay me yet will I trust Him Job 13:15. Though there is no stock in the barn or the crops have fail…. Hab 3:16. Know Who’s side you are on!

The above is a good point. Do you only love God because everything is going your way and He has hedged you about and poured out abundant blessings? Who will you be in the swelling of the Jordan? And the swelling of Jordan is coming….

Complaining, gossip, and slander all start in the mind, creating emotions, resulting in outward demonstration of the discontent formulated in a secret place. Even the two boys in the introduction, Throwing Rocks Part I, followed out what was brewing in their minds. A complaint about these new kids; an accusation, maybe? (hatching cockatrices eggs Isa 59!)

Lots of good reading available out there, you might try Joyce Meyer’s book Battlefield of the Mind. Maybe a good companion teaching to this message.

END OF PART III FALL OUT—taking a look at the damages…

PART IV SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST—DROPPING OUR ROCKS