The Word says: “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.”
I want to tell you of this observation too:
A man resonates with what is in his heart toward those around him.
A person may not realize that his spirit resonates, and the people may not be aware of the resonance consciously, but spiritually they perceive what is being resonated and will respond to it.
What I mean by resonate, is that spiritually we react to another’s spirit.
I believe that we have all experienced an attraction to, or caution toward, an unknown person we have come in contact with. This awareness comes from our spirit without any prior communication or physical connection with that particular person.
Jesus gives us an example of this awareness when He rebuked Peter, “Get thee behind me Satan!” He was aware of the spirit of the adversary that was motivating Peter to speak.
When we minister to others, we must understand that we will communicate spirit to spirit. We may be loving and positive in motivation towards another, but the very fact that we see him as needing our help is what he perceives in his heart. He may rationally respond to your ministry, but in his heart, he knows that you’re viewing him as lacking. Your perception of him motivates your actions, but you are communicating judgment, not encouragement.
An example would be: parents seeing their child as deficient in sports, or a bit slower in learning, as compared with other children. They are motivated to aid and enhance the development of the child’s abilities, but too often the message the child perceives is that he is deficient. It is not wrong to help our child develop, but our motivation should not be his deficiencies. Our perception must be the uniqueness that God has placed in every human being. We need to accept them for who they are and support what they desire to be. It is not for us to measure a person by standards that we have set for ourselves or that the world has declared as normal.
The world sets standards of normalcy because it cannot receive the Word of God, therefore it lacks the wisdom to minister to the spirit of a man. We set ourselves up as judges and our judgment is what is spiritually transmitted to others. Our hearts may be pure in motivation, but we are doing harm in ignorance.
Throughout history, you will find that those who are held as visionaries today… men of great genius… were often persecuted in their day because they did not fit the normal standards of their time.
It is the uniqueness of every human being that bears witness to God as the creator. Those that set standards for others are blinded by their own sense of self-worth. Like the Pharisees of old, we can become blinded to the extent that we cannot recognize the Lord or His leading through His Spirit. “Judge not lest you be judged.” is self-fulfilling to those who are trying to conform the world around them to their perceptions of what should be.
In direct contrast, the Word declares that love conquers all. This love “believes all things”. The “all things” are those things that are good and possible through God in another’s life.
I realize that everyone falls short of his full potential, but they do not need our help to fall short. One of the names of the Devil is “Accuser”. This spirit of accusation can work through us because we are spiritually unwise; ignorant.
Wisdom is knowing the end result of our actions prior to us putting them into effect. Our lack of wisdom combining with albeit good intentions can easily be manipulated by The Accuser to instill negative feelings and beliefs in others.
Stop and think about how much of our relations with others are based on their conforming to our standards, our desires, and our needs. Those that perform well by our standards are accepted as equals and friends. Those that do not conform receive less than our best. The judgment of others places us in a position from which we ourselves have difficulty in hearing from God. We become blinded by the very standards that we placed on others.
In our personal relationships, we sow success or we sow distress. If we will accept people for whom and what they are, without condemnation and without judgment, God is able to shed abroad His love for them through our heart.
We can be aware of their faults and shortcomings, but we do not condemn them, even as God shows us mercy and gives us grace despite our shortcomings.
We may be limited in our fellowship with them, just as we were limited in our fellowship with God when we were pursuing sin, yet the door is always opened for God to minister love through us.
There is a vast difference between God ministering through us and us trying to minister for the Lord to please Him. If God is not ministering through you, you have no ministry. You are ministering through your own precepts of what the person needs and are ministering judgment with good intentions.
Jesus will tell those who ministered in their own power that He never knew them and will cast them out. History records crusades and inquisitions and persecutions, not to mention indoctrination with false gospels, by ministers that ministered according to their own understanding. They were manipulated by Satan to damage the Body of Christ rather than to build it up.
Too many of us are being manipulated by Satan in our relationships with others. As an older woman now, I am aware of my own mistakes in this area. Now, I want to be a woman of love and grace… yet be able to speak truth in love, and minister with God. I believe that even hard things we must speak, in way of truth, when said in love, need not accuse or offend, when we ourselves aren’t judging, but rather, sharing…and working with the Spirit.
Indeed, there is only one way to avoid this pitfall. Walk in Love! If we will first acknowledge that we have set standards for others to conform to, and remove those standards, then the fruit of the Spirit called love will take the place of judgment. The love nature…God’s divine nature…that is imparted to us at the “new birth” will fill the void in our relationships with others.
Believers, this change to our paradigm will open up new relationships with others that we never would have considered.
Unbelievers who are honestly seeking the truth, or new believers who stumble, will not avoid us for fear of judgment, but will come to us for help, knowing that we love them and care about them!
And…
According to the measure that God is able to flow through us, God is able to increase within us. We can experience the love that God gives to others as it flows through us.
Setting aside standards and walking in love removes the veils from our eyes giving us clarity of vision. We can see the world through God’s eyes and minister as He leads us.
Knowing this love increases our ability to let down our own barriers that have kept us from developing a more intimate relationship with the Lord and others.
Then there becomes an ever-increasing cycle of going from glory to glory until we know His Glory!
I would like to share a real-life illustration of what resonating can do, both negatively and positively:
I went to a Crossroads Discipleship Training School with Mercy Ships that was five months long, when in my 40s, and after about 2 months or so, an older single lady in the group confided in me that no one in our school of over 50 people wanted to be her friend…they disliked her…and she felt like an outsider.
Well, having her ear, I asked the Lord for wisdom in the response I gave to her.
I personally had observed that she had, for the first two months, been “very negative” and “judgmental” of others in the class…was often rude…and she was “resonating” this judgmental spirit to others…so of course they responded the way they had. We’re talking a large class! They didn’t like her. Period. They felt judged. I’m sure they “classified her” as a prudish.
So, knowing my observation, yet not speaking it, I then received from the Spirit this reply of the tongue for her: “I know you love the Lord and you honor his word…so take a look at Matthew 7:1-5…and let’s talk about it. This passage gives to us a “spiritual law”, as in the “law of gravity”. God is saying, if you do this, you’ll receive that. It says Judge Not, Lest You Be Judged. Could it be that you are judging others, and they are perceiving this in your words and attitude? So, they are, in turn, judging you back? Perhaps this is why they don’t want to be your friend.”
She was in a humbled place, to even approach me… And she received “immediate revelation” into her spirit and reacted “in a positive way” as the Spirit ministered truth to her. She knew I wasn’t judging her. She knew, however, that yes, indeed, she had been resonating judgment toward others. She didn’t even realize it until it was “revealed to her” in this “honest, loving feedback” to her inquiry.
Well, she, that very day determined “not to judge” and to see others from the Lord’s perspective, and from grace, and she began to change her own heart, mind, and most-of-all “attitude” …and she changed more…and changed even more…
And soon she had some friends…and then more friends! She often would take me aside in the remaining months of our school and mission-field experience to tell me “thank you-thank you-thank you!”
Her “resonating” issue, was resolved! She was no longer judging, so she was no longer judged back!
Now since that passage is fresh on my own mind…and realizing it is applicable to this article, I want to share a song I wrote from this passage, Matthew 7:1-5, called “Judge Not”.
Matthew 7:1-5 reads,
“Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
Here is that song link:
Judge Not – Elizabeth Ann Smith – Receive From Me
Remember the song I am sharing is what Christ is speaking to us all! I’m singing His words.
Perhaps the reading of this article will enable us all to “really hear” what Jesus teaches us.
We can’t believe ourselves superior to others or they will not receive from us as we “resonate judgment”.
It is the Lord we must minister through, Amen?! Then, even hard truths can be received, if their heart wants to receive them…if we are not resonating judgment, yet wanting still to help them, just as my shared experience revealed to you.
And then we ourselves don’t need to come under others’ judgments against our judgment. Did you get that? (smile)
Let’s stop the vicious cycle of resonating judgment…
It affects all who are around us.
Ask yourself the question posed in my title:
What are YOU Resonating?
Jesus tells us all in John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Let us resonate love not judgment!
Jesus loved us, with Mercy!
Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment!!
James 2:13 ASV
“For judgment is without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy.
Mercy triumphs victoriously over judgment.
Father, give us your kind of love! It’s your goodness and kindness that leads anyone to you! May we always keep this in our hearts and our minds as we represent you!
To Ponder:
Romans 2:4
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?