When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him

In a discussion last night, we were talking about the legal rights we have as Christians. And it struck me this morning, that this verse from Proverbs 16:7 illustrates this rather well. But let's first look at it negatively. In Hebrews 12:15 we read “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” So when we fail to tap into the grace of God, and hold bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness in our heart, then we give the enemy the legal right to defile not only our own lives, but the lives of those we love! It gives him the right as it were, to circumvent our armour (see Ephesians 6:13- 18).

So in the same way we give the enemy legal rights, when our ways please the Lord, we can claim the legal right of this principle we are discussing this morning. Now of course no one is perfect. But we can claim this right when we are walking with the Lord and seeking to deal with the things in our lives that trip us up. This is what pleases the Lord! I am reminded of a situation years ago, where a man was using another person for his own at agenda. And because this was destructive, I essentially exposed what was going on. After that for a long time, there was a lot of tension and from him much hostility and opposition. Eventually however, the Lord brought a cessation of hostilities, and we were able to live in relative peace.

My legal right however entitles me to much more than this. First of all the peace that the Bible talks about is much more than a cessation of hostilities. It is wholeness and completeness of life, it is health and even intimacy in relationships. However, as with all legal rights in the here and now, the existence of a legal right does not automatically mean that we obtained the fullness of those rights. We may have to contend for them! As in the natural, so in the spiritual. Now the place where we need to contend for these rights, is in the throne room of God. It’s not about my pressuring or manipulating or persuading the other person, though it may involve some of this at times. No rather it is contending in prayer, prevailing upon the Lord to come through for me in what the Word of God promises. From God’s point of view, He is wanting me to contend for my inheritance and destiny, and for fullness of life. It’s about bonding with Him. It’s about learning who I am in Him. It’s about learning to step into the authority of the believer. This contending is kingdom work!

Father, I thank you for the firstfruits of this legal right that You gave to me all those years ago. The firstfruits of course, promise more fruit later. Relationships are difficult Lord, but they are part of what You want to use to refine us, and to make us more like Jesus. It is iron sharpening iron, it is learning to be a valiant warrior with the weapons of our warfare, the weapons of love and grace and peace and hope and joy. I want to thank You again this morning Lord for Your Word, for the many principles and promises and legal rights that You give us in and through it. And I want to ask for myself and for all reading these posts, that You give us the grace and the wherewithal to push through, to claim all of our inheritance in the here and now, and the rewards in the hereafter. And I give You all the honour and glory and praise again this morning Lord in Jesus name amen