When a brother wrongs you

I had been wronged by a brother in Christ.  He had broken his word.  It hurt.  But he was a brother in Christ.  So what was I supposed to do?

Had I been the one who wronged him the scripture is clear… I would need to go to him.  So I guess he was supposed to come to me.

But how do you get that to happen?  I needed help.  So I went to the Lord.

I took a “mid-day” prayer walk.  I brought the dog so I wouldn’t “waste” the trip.  As I was walking and praying the Spirit worked in me.  He has a way of doing that.

And what He convicted me of was this… that it is not my job to convince my brother of his sin… it was the His.

Of the Holy Spirit the Word declares “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin,” John 16:8

So as He worked in me He put in on my heart.  I forgave my brother and prayed that the Holy Spirit would surround Him, that He would come to him and give him wisdom,  that He would loose righteousness, peace, and joy.

When I was done praying my cell phone wrang.

Yep… it was my brother in Christ.  He apologized and took steps to make things right.

Praise God!

This little instance confirmed a few things for me… not the least of which was that the Spirit of God still speaks… but also that my brother had the same Spirit I did, for I was convicted myself that I should have forgiven him more quickly.

I also realized that, had my brother not listened to the Holy Spirit… it wouldn’t have changed anything on my end.

We are called to love.  We are called to forgive.  But we can’t force.

The Holy Spirit must be released to fulfill the purpose of His ministry.

We must pray for Him to come.

SDG