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How to Have Done with Wrath and Still Love Justice
My relationship with wrath is complicated, so when God asked me to tell a young woman I had never met that He was angry at those who had harmed her, I was a little nervous. I walked up to her and asked if I could tell her a message I had from the Lord. She looked at me with a little apprehension, quite rightly. After all, it isn’t every day a stranger walks up to you with a message from God. She nodded and agreed. Her friends looked at me as if I was absolutely crazy for which I couldn’t quite blame them. As I told her that God had…
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How Abuse Damages Your Faith
The damages of abuse are well-documented and include PTSD, mood disorders, physical illnesses, and a host of relational difficulties. Less discussed are the damages an abusive relationship can inflict on a victim’s relationship with God. Often a good deal of spiritual abuse accompanies any other type of mistreatment and can really hamper a person’s belief in and relationship with God. Because our relationship with God serves as a basis for both deliverance from the abuser as well as healing from abuse, the enemy often targets a victim’s faith. For most of us, our experiential belief trumps the intellectual assent of our religious beliefs. What this means is that our experiences…