I heard a quote a couple days ago that really stuck with me. "Respecting personal boundaries is also respecting someones choice not to change." You cannot want someones success more than they want it. Well you can, but what ends up happening is you're frustrated and angered and they're left despising or resenting you. A couple facts are... the areas that you see and want people to change in today, may not even be what God is working on currently. If you look back on your own life, did the greatest shifts happen when you were being pressured or corrected? Or did they come in your time of self reflection? Did you find that someone correcting you and explaining all your missteps shifted your life OR did you find that as people modeled correct behavior you had gradual change that you still see fruit from today? We cannot change people, think about how much you want to change yourself and you're still having problems. What we can do is love people and walk with people and be a sounding board as God reveals and directs. What are your thoughts?

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In today's chapter reading, we see a couple of examples of "gas lighting". I was not able to address this topic in part one of my take away revelations from today's bible reading plan. However, it was too juicy to leave on the table. So, here goes.... there is a testimony at the end. Gas lighting can come from enemies who are trying to use psychological warfare in an attempt to make you embrace their attack. Gas lighting can also come from those who bring attacks but who are "supposed" to be your friends and allies. In today's reading, we have an example of each type of gas lighting along with an example in each case of accurately discerning what was occurring. 1) The first example comes from an enemy in Judges 11:12-27. 2) The second example in Judges 12:1-3, is what I would call friendly fire" because it comes from one with whom you are supposed to be in allegiance (a friend or co-worker). 3) There is also a third example of gas lighting in yesterday's reading in Judges 8:1-3 from "friendly fire". TESTIMONY... Several years ago, I had a court case and one of my key witnesses was a victim of gas lighting. She was a seasoned believer so I shared Judges 12:1-3 with her and explained that it was a scriptural picture of what she was experiencing. Her job required her to investigate elder abuse and she had been assigned to a pending complaint. The individuals being investigated had the audacity to gas light her (try to make her feel guilty for doing her job) based upon the fact that she had some type of prior personal history with them even though it was a very slight prior personal history. She was also experiencing a conflict of interest based upon the prior personal history with the individuals she was assigned to investigate - It would have been wise for her to ask her supervisor to reassign her based upon the potential for a conflict of interest - an investigator needs to be completely impartial and unbiased. This would have spared her this gas lighting situation.

Hey Fam, If your entire community was being attacked - wouldn't it be nice if an advocate stepped in and said, "why are you attacking me? - why have you come to my community? - If you mess with this community, you mess with me" ! We see an example, in Judges 11:12, of what it looks like for someone to say, when you mess with them, you mess with me. The text is quoted below from the KJV easy read version. "And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What have you to do with me, that you are come against me to fight in my land?" The battle commander is saying, this is my family - these are my people - I am in relationship with them - if you mess with them, you mess with me. I believe this is the heart of Jesus - The gospel of Jesus Christ is based upon Jesus stepping into our battle !!! In other parts of scripture, we see examples of Jesus taking it personally when someone was persecuting his Body (the church). For example, in Acts 9:4-5, Jesus Himself states to Saul, on the Damascus road, "Why are you persecuting me?" We are the Body of Christ as set forth in 1 Corinthians 12: 12-27. ON A DIFFERENT NOTE ..... I gleaned other revelations from today's reading as well - Specifically, I saw multiple examples of "gas lighting" in today's reading. Gas lighting can come from enemies who are trying to use psychological warfare in an attempt to make you embrace their attack. Gas lighting can also come from those who bring attacks but who are "supposed" to be your friends and allies. In today's reading, we have an example of each type of gas lighting along with an example in each case of accurately discerning what was occurring. More to share on this point - Stay tuned for PART 2 later today. SIDE NOTE - The version of the bible you use matters. In my opinion, as it relates to the points made regarding Judges 11:12, it makes a difference.. Please note that some versions of the bible use the word "us" and "our" in Judges 11:12 as opposed to "me" and "my".

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