Critical Spirit – 2018-04-13
A critical spirit is like a sword which Pierce’s Hearts. The wounds it creates bleed the life blood: trust love hope peace and joy out of relationships. Often it tries to mask the wound with a controlling heart and leaves in its wake broken, dysfunctional relationships.
Hearts wounded by those critical Spirits often long for peace, for healing, for freedom from the drama. Often those wounded hearts put up walls and withdraw behind them. But the thing the wounded hearts desire the healing, the peace, are often only achieved by forgiveness. Yes, forgiveness even when the critical spirit has no repentance in their heart. Forgiveness equals freedom for the forgiver, without condoning the actions of the offender. Replaying those critical voices is defeating, and does not honor God. Taking captive those thoughts, and meditating on the Promises of God, allows us to move on and not be hindered by the actions of another. Every time you think about and replay those negative interactions, you give that incident a place in your spirit that belongs to God.
Forgiveness does not mean taking down the Walls, there have to be boundaries with people who love to wound others. Complete restoration of the relationship requires building a bridge, but there can be little or no water under that bridge until the critical spirit is healed.
Healing a critical spirit often looks like repentance on their part. It looks like laying their self self-serving me -isms on the Altar and turning away from serving self to serving Jesus… it looks like having a God purpose instead of A me me me purpose.
But until that repentance occurs, until the healing and that change occurs, sometimes we have to set that boundary between distant and close relationship with those individuals and not allow them close while they are wielding their sword.
Forgiveness should be instantaneous, trust and a close relationship takes much longer to heal.
I am a believer in miracles and do not give up on anyone, but there are more productive ministries than being a practice target for snipers, and getting shot in the back hinders productivity.