I’m truthfully not a vengeful person, however, I am human. Very human. Because of that I can say with honest humility there are days that I long to see a pot fall from a windowsill, in an animated version of course, that wouldn’t allow anyone to get hurt but would allow me the satisfaction of smiling when it happened. While emotional pain doesn’t usually come with a scar, it still leaves a mark on the soul, and the propensity to get even. Praise God for grace, and for the Holy Spirit that knocks on my mind’s door and hands me a past due bill of stupid behaviors that could have me on somebody’s “animated flower pot list.”
Apostle Paul probably had a list and was on the lists of multiple people, but his focused attention on the spiritual accountability of his life would have caused him to cast his list in the fire of forgetfulness and move on to the next mission of God. And so it should be with us. So when is revenge okay?
2 Corinthians 10:1-6
Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
There is it! The one time that revenge is okay: “to revenge all disobedience.”
Believe me when I say it’s a battle in the making! My flowerpot thinking is according to the flesh which wants an eye for an eye. Over all that’s unrealistic and a bad idea! It’s not even the right enemy. Paul said we don’t war after the flesh, and our weapons are not that of a carnal nature either. Our greatest battle, or at least mine is not fought on the soil outside my door, but rather in the battlefield of my mind. And it’s usually brought on by a hurtful act of another person, who may or may not have been aware of it. But I’m left with the hurt and it’s a playground for Satan to begin sowing seeds of vengeful thinking toward another soul who stands in need of grace every bit as much as I do.
But the stronghold of hurt on my mind is just what Paul said it was: a “strong hold.” And it’s too strong for me to fight in the flesh. Pulling down the strong hold gives me the mental image of something that I have allowed to get above me, between me and God. The place that Satan likes best. He loves making me feel lower than, less than other people because it’s my kryptonite. It weakens me spiritually because I feel so unworthy and the negative thoughts begin to flood my mind and I desire carnal resolutions.
Three things Paul said to do to win this battle.
- Pull down strong holds
- Cast down imaginations
- Take captive thoughts
The strong holds are the areas of our lives that we’ve allowed Satan to place something or someone between us and God causing the site line to Heaven to disappear. Imagine yourself taking a hold of it, pulling it down away from Heaven’s view until God is back in our site line again. It’s not as hard as Satan would have us believe because it’s a whole lot easier to pull something down, than to pull something up.
Another thing that will pull us down are the imaginations of our mind. We place thought bubbles above the heads of others, assuming to know what it is they think of us, or assuming we know what God thinks of us. This keeps us in a lower position in life because again we’ve placed imagination between us and the word of God. Which is the only truth. Casting down the imaginations is removing the thought bubbles above your head and the heads of others that you’ve placed there without God’s permission and replacing it with the Word of God.
The last thing to do is to lock them up and throw away the key. This too is not a carnal battle but in the spiritual realm. And the key is not that of a metal material but rather the allowing God to place under lock and key what Jesus placed there at the cross. When Christ took back the keys of death, hell and the grave he locked behind them the power Satan has over us. It’s we who allow the release of those demonic thoughts when we open up our minds to Satan’s words.
The spirit world is a very real place with access through the portal of the mind. The only way to keep it at bay is to keep our mind in subjection to the Holy Spirit. The ultimate revenge against Satan, or anyone or anything in our lives that causes us misery is to be obedient to Christ, Who has only our best interest at heart. In Him is where true happiness and contentment lie. He has pulled us up above this earth where we are seated in the heavenly realm. Again… we can’t see it. But we’re there because the word says we are.
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Glory! The Victory is ours!
