Miraculous!!!

Well….an update on the ‘bullying’. It was brought to my attention that Child A, let’s say, was being bullied, again. In an email to Mom, I found out that it was Child F who was doing it. I stated my surprise, “I expected to be Children B, C, D or E…not F!” Mom said, “Yeah, they used to do it, but Child F was the latest.” We started praying and getting into agreement about things discussed in the bullying post. In the meantime…

…we had midweek kids’ time where the kids fill out prayer cards. I was leaving to go out of town and forgot to straighten up the altar area in our church. The prayer cards were in the offering plates when my pastor arrived on Sunday. He proceeded to read the requests aloud without names, of course, and the congregation prayed for the kids’ requests. I returned from my trip late Sunday…saw the prayer cards on Pastor Jimmy’s desk and realized that he’d saved them for me. But, I didn’t take the time to read them until later…

At midweek kids’ time that day we only had seven kids… “What’s the deal y’ll?”, I asked. Child A shook his head sadly, “Child F moved to Town K.” And others chimed in and announced that basketball practices began this week. “Ahhh well, it’ll be okay”, was my response. That was the day that we didn’t even get to the lesson.

These seven began asking questions about heaven, hell and Jesus like you wouldn’t believe. Dakota asked, “How many sins does it take to get you into Hell?” The question reminded me of the lollipop commercial where they asked how many licks to the center of a tootsie roll pop. I stated, “One!” He said, “Oh no, I’m in big trouble.” We talked about admitting, believing and being saved. Tori, asked, “What if you sin after Jesus saves you and comes into your heart?” We talked about keeping clean after we are saved through confession and repentance. Several kids gave their hearts to Jesus that day.

Later that night, I’m finally reading the prayer cards from the previous week and I saw two or three miracles. On his card, Child A wrote, “I want to pray for Child F, that he wouldn’t have to move to a new town, new friends and new teachers.” Child F wrote, “I want to pray for my best friend, Child A.”

Boom! You could’ve hit me with a bus and I would have never noticed. The victim, Child A, prayed for his enemy, Child F, and did good to him. Not only did God heal their relationship, He moved the bully out of Child A’s life. Our God is so BIG!!!

Bullying

Have I ever mentioned that bullying is my pet peeve? The term pet peeve doesn’t even do it justice. Back when I was a kid, my pet peeve was empty ice trays. Now, I’m destined to a life of being married to an iceman and never having ice in my freezer. First of all, I’m forbidden to have evil ice trays or in today’s terms an evil ice maker in the frig door. (sorta kidding) Second of all, the plumbers plumbing never gets done, the mechanic’s car is on the brink, etc. You catch my drift?

Bullying is more than my pet peeve, it’s mean, ugly and I have 0% tolerance. My knee jerk reaction is outrage. I catch myself thinking, ‘If that was my kid being treated that way then I’d…blank…blankity…blank!’ We do want to shield our children from bullying and immorality. But, can we? Won’t we crash into it in some alternate way, shape or form?

We could remove them from the threat at school, then what about the neighborhood, the park or pool, TV, then again, (I have some doosy whopper relatives) what about family get togethers? And what about church? Does lack of character and immorality happen at church? It does if your reaching out to the lost and broken…it gets messy.

What should we do? Lord, teach us to teach them to be an arrow—straight and true. Young warriors who don’t fight back in the physical—but, in the spiritual. I pray that we won’t wait till these kids get old enough before they learn to minister and come to realize their gifts—let it begin now. Lord, give us an uncanny ability to recognize their spiritual gifts. God, put these arrows in the hands of warrior parents and let them fly.

For starters...if someone you know is getting picked on:

1. Recognize: 'Who' is the problem? Eph. 6:12 says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Our enemy is satan and his demons and they desire to kill, steal and destroy. They are no respector of persons.
2. React: Take authority and speak to your enemy, not the bully. Jesus is our example, "Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!" Matthew 16:23 In my opinion, Jesus was not calling Peter names...'You are satan, nanny nanny boo boo!' No, I think he fought in the spiritual. He spoke to mean and ugly spirits on a regular basis.
3. Respond: Follow through with the Word. Obey! A few?...pray for you enemies, do good to them, give them something to eat, to drink, kill them with kindness, turn the other cheek.
4. Rest: Wait for Him to repay evil for evil, to come to your rescue and to watch His word until completion. He's faithful!