Our enemy is NOT other people

Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)  “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Loving others starts with us 

Luke 10:27 (NKJV) “And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’”

Enemy’s tactics:

1. Fairness

Matthew 20:1-15 (NKJV) “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’

They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’ “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’

But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’

Philippians 4:19  “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

2.Biases

Psalm 22:1 (NKJV) “My God My God why have You forsaken Me?”

Isaiah 53:3 (NKJV) “He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”

3.The Measuring Stick

Luke 21:1-4 (NKJV) “And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”

4. Overconfidence in the natural

Daniel 4:28-33 (NKJV) “All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?”

While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.”

That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.”

The mind is the battle ground

We cannot be perfect that is why we need a Savior. 

How are we vulnerable? 

1. We have buttons 

2. We get offended. 

In the natural: Manage ourselves

1. Know your buttons

2. Recognize when you are responding through emotions. 

3. Consciously calm

4. Take time to respond

5. Seek council

6. Leave it with God

Jesus example:

Communicate - 

1. All things calm

2. Active listening

3. Communicate your needs

4. Flexible / negotiating

1.  Think on purpose, choose our thoughts especially when it comes to others

2. Priorities Mind -> emotions -> actions

Thomas Mann aptly put it: “People’s behavior makes sense if you think about it in terms of their goals, needs and motives” and their relationship or lack thereof with God.