Taking 5, after spending valuable time prepping sizable complaint for TalkTalk’s CEO, I dropped into my Facebook. Although I’m a ‘friend’ of Veronika the silly system doesn’t show me her postings, so I had to search and look what popped up too – another fine example of God’s Global Prophecy Signals, which I shared to my timeline as follows:
AMEN & AMEN – DO IT LORD!
Richard's Watch 
Politeness can indeed be a real handicap. Adrian Plass talks about “the disease of politeness”, which isn’t too far from the truth, especially down here in the south-east of England!
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From Nova Scotia: politeness depends on the motivation for it. As described above, it can be a real problem. On the other hand, it’s also key to victory over the powers of hell IF it is used for God’s glory and according to His Word.
For example, at the height of spiritual warfare we can win or lose based on the words coming out of our mouths. I’ve seen how it works in my own walk with God. Romans 12 speaks volumes about it, especially in comparison to Romans 13. Those two chapters essentially define the God-given separation of church and state in Judeo-Christian nations based largely on how we deal with perceived enemies.
Romans 12:14-21 says “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse … Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” The original Greek word for ‘Bless’ means ‘to speak well of.’ It does not mean give your enemy a gift and then run him down verbally behind his back. It might look like being polite on the surface but it’s actually strategic warfare strategy at the highest level. That’s why Jude verse 9 says when the archangel was disputing with the devil about Moses he dared not bring a slanderous accusation against him but said “The Lord rebuke you.” To bless perceived enemies, or at least refrain from cursing them, is to receive a victory we won’t get any other way because we are in effect saying ‘I’m doing things God’s way and trusting Him to get a victory that I can’t get without Him.’
I learned this lesson the hard way by cursing someone who was cursing me. I lost my spiritual protection as I opened myself up to be cursed in response. I got stung by a bee on one of my toes and went into a full-fledged anaphylactic shock. Almost died in a matter of five minutes as my heart and lungs started shutting down. The Lord showed me that at the highest levels of spiritual warfare only blessings will do to overcome curses and persecution coming from the real enemy who is not even flesh and blood. If this looks like naive Canadian politeness on the surface, so be it.
There is much to be said about the spiritual nature of Canadian politeness. Granted, there is a huge risk associated with being spineless and unable to stand up for what’s right when necessary. That’s definitely a kind of stronghold in Canada as it is in the rest of the world. It’s called cowardice under the surface; being unwilling to suffer backlash for speaking truth, refusing to be afraid and doing what’s right. That’s NOT all there is to the Canadian propensity to bless those who seek to steal, kill and destroy; or to refuse to engage with political foes at a level where we’re all reduced to the common denominator of hating each other.
On the other hand, much of what we see as Canadian politeness is established on the concept of child-like faith in the Living God. Jesus said ‘Unless you receive the Kingdom like a little child you will never enter into it.’ Do we believe it, or not? How does a little child response to political persecution? Fight in his or her own power? Allow frustrations to boil over into violence and bloodshed? No, it’s about finding our way into such a powerful relationship with the Living God that we learn to hear His voice for ourselves, and then watch HIM do what He tells us He’s going to do, by faith.
It’s a very similar strategy to that of Esther in dealing with Haman who was out to kill God’s people. She didn’t focus on Haman at all but aimed higher in her quest for victory over evil. She got beautiful for a meeting with the King who held all power over the situation and more importantly, who loved her so much he offered her up to half of his kingdom when he witnessed her bold faith to free-fall in his grace. This went way beyond being ‘polite’ to being willing to die so others could live. There was no angry, self-righteous victimhood mentality but only a determination to let love do its work and avoid falling prey to hatred and bitterness.
All of this is also part of Canadian ‘politeness.’ It lines up with the difference between the way USA gained its independence from Britain versus how Canada did it. The former came with much bloodshed; the latter with polite conversation, no doubt over a cup of tea, trusting that the Sovereign Lord knows what He’s doing.
Warring in the Spirit in Canada means refusing to let anger and self-righteousness get the upper hand. It means agreeing with the Word of God that all the nations are like a drop in a bucket to Him (Isaiah 40), and if He wants to bring down one nation and raise up another, who are we to argue? A fully committed walk with Christ means our first loyalty is to the Kingdom of God and we don’t need to be up in arms over political upheaval We don’t need to ‘fear what they fear’ (Isaiah 8:12). And we don’t need to be baited into traps set for us by the ‘elite’ so we’re constantly dragged into affairs of this world. Instead, we reign with Christ by enduring hardships and standing undefeated for His sovereign will for Canada to prevail, by watching what He’s doing in our midst.
As I’ve often heard from the Lord ‘to bless your enemies is to overcome them, God’s way.’ It’s to be willing to follow the example of Christ and serve as a peace-maker at great cost to oneself, rather than only looking our for ourselves no matter who else gets hurt. THEN, if we heed the call to take up the cross and walk as Jesus did we come into His authority over all of heaven and earth, and triumph over every other authority (Colossians 2:15). Then, as Romans 2:14 says about the Gentiles “they become a law unto themselves.” At that point of already having overcome in Christ Jesus, we will be as polite as we damn well want to be. Or not.
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Really excellent, thank you so much Maxine for taking time to expand in spiritual depth on this. Am copying to Fbk and Tgram.
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