Have you ever been falsely accused? Have others said things about you that were complete lies or a cruel distortion of the facts?
Yeh, me too! It is a very painful thing to deal with. And for some reason, it so often happens when we are motivated to do something good for others. Our motivation is to help them and for whatever reason, it gets taken out of context and ends up flying back in our face.
I am watching this happen to some people that I dearly love right now. People that are doing everything they can to help others, but are being attacked for it on every side. Of course we know that our true enemy is satan, the father of lies. He twists and manipulates things to get people in as much strife as possible because he knows quite well that if we are arguing with one another- we will be distracted from God’s will and purposes.
Jesus gives us such a beautiful example to follow. As He is brought before Herod in court, he is mocked and falsely accused.
Luke 23:9-12 Meanwhile, the leading priests and the teachers of religious law stood there shouting their accusations. 11 Now Herod and his soldiers began mocking and ridiculing Jesus. Then they put a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. NLT
How did Jesus respond? I know how I would have wanted to respond…I would have defended myself. I would have told them the truth!
But in the book of Matthew, Jesus shows us God’s response to accusations and lies being spoken against us.
Matt 27:12-14 But when the leading priests and other leaders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent. 13 “Don’t you hear their many charges against you?” Pilate demanded. 14 But Jesus said nothing, much to the governor’s great surprise. NLT
Our natural response is to say something…to explain the truth and defend ourselves. That is why the governor was so surprised at Jesus’ silence. It’s just not natural to remain silent in such a situation!
This is a powerful key to leadership. Don’t let the lies and accusations of others affect you. Jesus didn’t. Instead, He knew His purpose in this life. He knew that the heart of man could be evil and yet He chose to love those who He had every “natural” right to loath.
He even goes a step farther than not responding…He chooses love and forgiveness.
Luke 23:33-34 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals-one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” NIV
What an incredible example of leadership for us to follow.
Sometimes the very people that are pouring pain into our lives are the ones God wants us to love~ even as they are hurting us.
Hurting people, hurt people. Healthy people love.
1 Peter 2:15 It is God’s will that your good lives should silence those who make foolish accusations against you. NLT
Thankfully, God doesn’t expect us to do this without His help. When I am faced with a situation like this I have to go to the Lord in prayer and plead for His help because my natural response is not always love. I have to follow hard after Him if I want my actions to reflect His love!
I believe that the Lord wants His women to be leaders in this area. Woman Up! Follow hard after your God… Lead soft with love!
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Some of you have asked for this leadership button.
Here is a link to it and it will bring them back here to all the “leadership posts“.
<a href=” http://praiseandcoffee.blogspot.com/search/label/Leadership “><img src=” http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee177/praiseandcoffee/Womanupbuttonlg-1.jpg “></a>
To put it into your sidebar: 1. click on layout 2. click on “add a gadget” 3. go to “html” gadget and click the + sign 4. paste the code and save!
