The Power of Relationships

Many people say that people are in our lives for a reason, season, or a lifetime. If we carry this attitude in our relationships with people, we can miss a lot of blessings. It can also breed selfishness. Why do I say this? If we have a spirit of love towards everyone, we don’t have to spend all of our time focused on how long a person is in our life. Most people classify people like that is because they have a motive of their own. This is not to condemn anyone; we should always have a spirit of love and generosity towards people. No matter how long a person stays in your life, treasure the time with them and don’t cut them off unless you really need to regulate or terminate the relationship (especially if they’re taking you down a path that’s contrary to Scripture). Sadly, we terminate relationship because of trivial things (I could write the numerous trivial things, but it’s not relevant to this post) and our own selfishness. Think about it, Jesus didn’t cut Judas out of His life. Judas cut himself off by betraying Him and taking his own life. Jesus really wanted Judas to repent and He still showed compassion towards him.

If the truth be told, the Kingdom of God is centered on relationships. Yes, He is the Lord of the Harvest but we need to understand that our breakthrough, our increase, our open and closed doors are hinged on someone. Many times we miss that blessing because we don’t want to get along with people or we’re judging them because they appear different than you. Some of us are holding on to Bitterness, Unforgiveness, and Grudges (what I call the BUG syndrome), which is a great hindrance to our blessings. What we need to understand is that the one who annoys you totally can be the very one who has your breakthrough. This is why we need to follow God’s lead and not our own! Let’s look at Luke 6:38, it says “Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall MEN give into your bosom.” Notice that it didn’t say shall God. I need to say this: sometimes we miss a blessing because of pride. Someone reading this post needs to swallow their pride and ask for help or prayer, or not look down on people because they don’t have a title. Some of those people you look down on could actually have your blessing. Remember pride goes before destruction. That selfish spirit of “I can do it by myself” or “I’m to have all the answers” needs to go! In summary of this paragraph, there will be people who mistreat you. Don’t think for one minute that it’s not God. They could be, but we need to learn to get along with others and relate to people (now I’m not saying to kiss up to people – many of you know me and how I feel about that). Always remember, the righteous will never be forsaken!

Another problem is that we’re trying to determine our blessings on our own terms. Most blessings come when we are united with other brothers and sisters as we’re helping each other with our God-given assignments. And to think, God gave us all of the resources we need. He didn’t drop anything from the sky. A little side-note: there will some people who will be complacent and not put their hands to the plow when it comes to their assignment, while still praying for a blessing from God. He can do all things, but He won’t do your assignment for you. As I just mentioned, He has given us the resources so we can complete our respective assignment. My assignment affects you, and your assignment affects me and they both make us better and more effective to the world.

In closing: relationships are critical. Always treat people with respect and with God’s love. Philippians 2:3-4 says this: Don’t do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves. And look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own.

This is why we need to be led by His Spirit (walking and living by faith) and not be moved by what we see in front of us!