Intimidation: to force into or deter from some action by inducing fear: "to intimidate a voter into staying away from the polls."
Here’s a prayer: “Father God, I repent for all of the times that I have intimidated others and sought to put myself first--that is not Your way. I renounce that intimidation and I come out of agreement with it. I thank You for Your forgiveness and Your cleansing me. Amen”
Here’s a declaration: “I renounce all intimidation that I have been under and I declare that I am not in agreement with intimidation. I am in agreement with my God who seeks to serve others and I stand in boldness on the "service of salvation" that Christ gave me on Calvary. You love me, You love others, and I will love others.”
Today, we will consider the topic of intimidation. Intimidation is my attempt to create fear in another person to influence them or "bully" them. We have no right to intimidate others.
Dictionary.com goes even further to define intimidation as "filling someone with fear through the force of personality or the display of superior wealth or talent." If I am seeking to gain control in a situation by displaying an aggressive temperament or bragging about what I have then I am intimidating others around me. I am taking the first place. This is not, nor was it ever Christ's way. Christ sought to serve others and to be less. The book of Matthew is filled with teaching about servant-hood. Matthew 20:16 says that "the last will be first and the first will be last." If we intimidate others and "force" our way into the power position, we will certainly be last in God's kingdom. Matthew 23:11 even goes so far as to say "the greatest among you will be your servant." The disciples were human men jockeying for position in the kingdom and Christ spelled it out for them that they were to be servant leaders. Christ punctuates the comments with the simple fact that "those who humble themselves will be exalted" (Matthew 23:12). This flies in the face of intimidation. If I seek true power (from above), I will not intimidate, but instead be humble.
The other side of intimidation is that I am not called to be intimidated. I am called to be bold and filled with the Spirit of God and almost valiant in the confidence of the victory claimed in Christ. "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." This is as true today it was when it was written in Deuteronomy 31:6.
Just to be clear, if I am happy about blessings that I have received or talents that I have been given and share that with others, that is not intimidation. The intimidation comes in when there is a subversive spirit that is attached to what I say. Declarations become bragging and I seek to take power in situations that I am placed in as opposed to allowing God to give me real authority. Intimidation seeks to dominate others through fear. God didn't create me to take part in any of that.
Here’s a prayer: “Father God, I repent for all of the times that I have intimidated others and sought to put myself first--that is not Your way. I renounce that intimidation and I come out of agreement with it. I thank You for Your forgiveness and Your cleansing me. Amen”
Here’s a declaration: “I renounce all intimidation that I have been under and I declare that I am not in agreement with intimidation. I am in agreement with my God who seeks to serve others and I stand in boldness on the "service of salvation" that Christ gave me on Calvary. You love me, You love others, and I will love others.”
-Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment