BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

means putting away social media and turning o disreputable media sources. It means pulling down strongholds and bringing every thought into captivity. It also means forgiving those who gossip, slander and lie about us. Forgive and Let Go I'm going to be honest; it's hard. Pastors have told me stories about how church members turned on them after they tried to love and help them. Those same church members then began spreading gossip, slander and lies. For many, it can be devastating. It's painful when someone we care about turns against us, but we can't hold onto that pain. Instead, we have to forgive and release them. Until we do, we'll never be free. They'll be with us all the time. We'll eat lunch with them, go to bed with them, and wake up with them. They'll invade our thoughts and paralyze our witness. Worse, they'll keep us from fulfi lling what God's called us to do. Does forgiveness mean we forget what others have done? No. It's almost impossible to forget the deep cuts and scars that we've received. Does forgiveness mean we need to be close to those people again? No, that would be foolish. Instead, forgiveness means that we drop the charges against them. We release the wrongdoers to God and trust Him to deal with them. We don't talk about the experience. We don't bring it up to others or gather an army of supporters against them. We don't speak about them from the pulpit, write social media posts about them, or comment on their sites. If we gave in to that kind of activity, we'd become slanderers ourselves. That's not us. We cast the o ense down and wash our minds with the Word of God. We go on to share the gospel and do what God's called us to do with confi dence. Rejoice! You're Blessed This is a personal subject for me. I've experienced it myself. A pastor in a neighboring city seemed to make a career out of gossiping, slandering and lying about me. However, here's the rub: The more he yacked and squealed and threw a tantrum, the more my church and ministry grew. People would say, "We couldn't believe you're that bad. We had to come to see for ourselves." When they discovered I wasn't evil, and had something life-giving to say, they stayed. So, I sent the pastor an o ering. You can imagine how shocked he was! He called me and asked me about it. Why in the world was I giving to his ministry? he wanted to know. I was honest with him: "Man, you are growing my ministry. The least I can do is sow into your life!" Of course, I was following the command that Jesus gave in Matthew 5:11-12: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you" (emphasis added). People gossiped, slandered and lied about those in the Bible, too. So, when people talk trash about us, we should feel promoted. We're in league with Elijah, Elisha, Peter, James, John and Mary! Hallelujah! We must remember that it's not our business what people think about us. It's only our business what we think about them. We can't steward their thoughts. If we try to combat every lie or piece of gossip that someone says about us, we're going to waste a lot of time and energy. Instead, we have to cast those lies down and get them out of our minds. Eject the Poison James 3:8 says, "The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." I've seen gossip, slander and lies numb ministries and believers. Powerful men and women of God were slowed down or set aside, or fell into a cloud of depression because of what others said about them. They were bit and the venom derailed them from what God called them to do. Don't let that happen to you. You may have experienced the venom of someone's tongue. Their gossip, slander and lies may have hurt you. That venom—that poison—may still be in you. Get it out. Cast down the vain imaginations and forgive. Get those people and their gossip, slander and lies out of your mind and out of your conversation. Don't talk about them or their lies. Wash your mind and your mouth with the Word of God and keep moving forward with what God has called you to do. He has so much more for you! Yes, the battle is intense, but by God's grace and the power of His Word, you can deal with it! 2 4 : B V O V i Mark T. Barclay is the founding pastor of Living Word International Church, in Midland, Mich., and president and founder of Supernatural Ministries Training Institute. For information or ministry materials go to marktbarclay.com. Watch Mark T. Barclay on C H A N N E L Mark T. Barclay on C H A N N E L Sun: 2 a.m. | 3 p.m. | Thu: 3:30 a.m. Fri: 8 a.m. | Sat: 5:30 p.m. ET Watch

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