Hey did you just raise your hand to join this choir and commit to the requirements? We have reached Chapter 10 of our study book. We have covered Eight Beatitudes being “The Sermon on The Mount”, by Jesus Christ. Yet, Jesus continued his sermon’s talking points with the following?
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12 (NIV))
Come on join in and Sing and Shine! “From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the Lord is to be praised (with awe-inspired reverence) Psalm 113:3 Amp.
thedailylily.com 
One very important thing this talking point assures us of there are rewards in heaven.
1) this means there is heaven
2) rewards are important in our lives and often gives us an incentive to run our race well
3) great rewards sound like Blue Ribbon to me
In the beginning of our new chapter Wuellner tells a story about herself as a young 13 year old girl. She shares the advise her Mother gave her when she wanted to cry and resist a medical treatment she needed. Advice, “You have a choice to make now, and it will influence you the rest of your life.”
Guess we need to think a little on this rejoice and be glad when people are persecuting , insulting etc us instead of what I might suggest, hit them in the head and tell them a few unkind things. Yet, Jesus has the answer and He freely gives us the very best counsel. He even offers His feelings by letting us know there were others before us that knew this pain.
Yes, rejoice and be glad. 🎤 🎶 Sing, yes sing!
“You have a choice to make now, and it will influence you the rest of your life.” That’s an awesome statement from the mother that you shared Sara. As I read on in the chapter the author said that by speaking those words her mother “literally had called forth the power that was in me.”
As I reflected on this, I was reminded of a book you wrote for a retreat some years ago titled, “The Dance of Healing, The Ultra-Healing Spirit Comes from Within”. I enjoyed re-visiting this book and appreciated the correlations and understanding it gave me regarding many things in Wuellner’s book. For example, in “Step 4, The Harvest, Listening to the Word”, you wrote this: “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit —you choose.” I think your example from Wuellner’s experience illustrates this well.
And in “Step 5, The Song of the Harvest- Praying the Word” (also from your same book) you have a very powerful prayer. Some of the words of that prayer such as: “The Power of Your Spirit ignites a great fire within” helped clarify for me things like… Wuellner’s reaction to her mother’s spoken words to her when she told that fear left and, “I began to feel almost excited.”
Debi, this thought of healing power within flashed through my thinking as well. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit and we allow Him to ignite our 🔥 we are in awe of our power to be and do.
Wuellner writes, “Paul drew forth the same high spirit for his young assistant Timothy who was chosen for dangerous, difficult work and travels for the early church: ‘For the spirit that God gave us is no craven spirit, but one to inspire strength, love, and self-discipline(2Timothy 1:7).” Read with me the footnotes for verses 6-7, from the NLT Bible. ” Timothy was experiencing great opposition to his message and to himself as a leader. His youth, his association with Paul, and his leadership had come under fire from believers and nonbelievers alike. Paul urged him to be bold. When we allow people to intimidate us, we neutralize our effectiveness for God. The power of the Holy Spirit can help us overcome our fear of what some might say or do to us so that we can continue to do God’s work.” That is encouragement! Thank You, God for sending the Comforter/ Holy Spirit. Help us to listen, hear, and rely on the Holy Spirit.🙏
“When we allow people to intimidate us, we neutralize our effectiveness for God. The power of the Holy Spirit can help us overcome our fear of what some might say or do to us so that we can continue to do God’s work.”
This should be enough to put a little healthy fear in us. “we neutralize our effectiveness for God…” imagine us earthlings neutralizing our effectiveness for God and he responded in kind.
Someway this principle makes me more aware of dressing in my military uniform daily. power. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11
” Someway this principle makes me more aware of dressing in my military uniform daily” 👷⚔🛡✝🙏Sara, as I read your words here, I believe I see that there must be some ACTION on our part?Just like Wuellner wrote in her book, you shared in an above comment:”You have a CHOICE to make now, and it will influence you the rest of your life. You can crumble in tears, hang back, stiffen, and resist everything the doctor tries to do for you, or you can CHOOSE to take it in high gear, like our car heading up a steep hill. ‘I mean you can CHOOSE now whether you will move forward with courage and most of all, a high heart!” 🛡⚔👷✝🙏 Makes me think of David battling that giant😱
On choices and our study, I have been working on paradoxes…and making choices. In looking at the meaning of paradox…”statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.”
Righteous living…
“We are persecuted but not abandoned.” 2 Corinthians 4:9, vs 12-15
“I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread” Psalm 37:25b
“They are always generous and lend freely, their children will be blessed.” Psalms 37:26
Just a very small sampling of faithful living. So often in this study I have been focusing on the “ouch” and not the “high gear” illustration given to the 13 year old that needed to make a choice in our study book and mentioned in our comments. After Tammy’s David-Giant illustration I thought ouch vs healing. A sling shot with Little rock’s …being righteous living …killing the giant so the righteous can possess the land, we and our children being blessed, our list just has no end of goodness that comes from the meekness of Jesus. Matthew 11:29…gives us a visual…Jesus became meek and helpless like a lamb before His shearers…the why of why Christians can inhirit the whole earth. His love created meekness in us. Let’s trade the Ouch for WOW.
This is truly the Easter Story! ✝️ I so appreciate Wuellner’s little simple book 📓 (surely not a coffee table book with beautiful photos) that has become a gift 🎁 that keeps on giving when one gets in high gear. 🤔🤗
Pg 143, secongvparagraph sorta opens my mind to new thinking. Wuellner talks about an enemy may not necessarily be someone who dislikes us or someone evil. An enemy may be someone who blocks our way, who considers us or what we stand for as detrimental to their beliefs.
Now, this brings me back to the title of this chapter, “Becoming a Singing Shining Enemy!” What does that mean?
“Now, this brings me back to the title of this chapter, “Becoming a Singing Shining Enemy!” What does that mean?”
If I am understanding what I read correctly, Wuellner is saying that Jesus “knew that not only would we have enemies, but we often would be regarded as enemies.” She explains prior to that statement that “people who are frightened by the thought of freedom, who feel threatened by our own release, may see us as enemies” and she gives other examples of why we may be viewed as such (pg 144). But then she asks us a question…”what kind of enemy will we be? the usual kind? an enemy who says hurtful things because we have been hurt? one who becomes bitter? one who sinks into despair? one who becomes cynical about justice? one who withdraws from the action vowing never to stick our neck out again? one who endures bravely but with grim heaviness of spirit? one who has lost joy and laughter within the persecution?” Then she tells us there is another way for us to be an enemy and gives an example of a famous knight from 1,000 yrs ago, also a singer and poet, who rode ahead of the army into battle singing. “As he sang, he tossed up his sword where it circled glittering in the sunshine, caught it by its hilt, and tossed it again, still singing.” Wuellner then exhorts by saying, “Whatever we choose to do on this journey of forgiveness, let us “take it in high”. So, I think the ‘becoming a singing, shining enemy’ is tied in to this illustration.
Oh! So, Debi, which is harder having an enemy or being an enemy?
“… which is harder having an enemy or being an enemy?”
I think for me both are hard but being an enemy… if it is a shining, singing enemy, may be harder. First, you would you have enemies to deal with (and would have to be able to respond to them with clear and healthy boundaries, etc). Then also you would have to be so connected and submitted to the power of God and Jesus Christ living in you that as Wuellner says… we would see “the release of an incredible joyful energy that does not merely stand but leaps directly into the realms of cruelty, despair and death.” That sounds like the culmination of living all the beatitudes. Or, living as her last chapter titles, “Forgiveness Fully Formed.”
Thanks Debi for your clarification. I will think in this.