“Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent,” Matthew 26:62-63
Lies. Accusations. Gossip. Slander. Betrayal. Rejection. Deceitful intentions.
Jesus experienced it all. Horrific lies. Accusations that were hurled against Him relentlessly. On-going gossip. Slandered by some of the most surprising. Betrayed by the most unexpected. Rejected by those He deeply loved. And deceitful intentions fueled His enemies who lashed out against Him on all sides … even up to the point of His crucifixion as we read in Matthew 26.
Lies were said about Jesus that were awfully cruel and hateful by people whose eyes were blind to THE TRUTH. They couldn’t see the truth because they didn’t want the truth. Therefore, they spoke in ways about Him that revealed the hatred and the selfishness in their own hearts. Time and time again, He showed the love of the Father to them, yet time and time again that love was rejected. The people that accused Him falsely, didn’t stop there — they slandered His name, betrayed Him and rejected everything He stood for, and continued to bring horrible false testimony against Him as He stood before the high priest.
But here is what fascinates me – Verse 63 in Matthew 26 says,
“But Jesus remained silent.”
Silent.
He didn’t defend Himself.
He didn’t say a word in defense to their accusations.
He held His peace.
He heard their threats, He heard their whispers and all the hurtful things they were saying under their breath. He heard their scoffing and shouts of sarcasm toward His Deity. He heard their hearts as they flowed right out of their speech. Yet, when He was spit upon, beaten, mocked, rejected, betrayed, accused and lied about…
He remained silent.
This is the lesson I’m to “learn about Him” and demonstrate at this time of my life. During this exciting and wonderful move for Rip and I, we made a video for the Members sharing with them how God orchestrated all this. But in the video, Rip said, “Pray for us. We know satan’s attack is coming. He always attacks when people move forward in obeying God.”
Well, the attacks came through some of the most hurtful means – Lies. Gossip. Disrespect and worst of all, Betrayal.
Through my precious husband and other reliable sources, I’ve been told about heartbreaking gossip and slander; lies that literally have cut to our hearts. We try to mask it, but when it’s just me and him, masks are off and we both talk about the painful reality of it all. And all I can do is pray. I cry to my Lord because … as tired as I already am physically, emotionally I do not have the strength to defend myself or Rip. Nor, does God want me to.
“A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much,” Proverbs 20:19.
It is so sad to me how cruel, utterly cruel, some people can be. I truly feel so sorry for them. What a life. It breaks my heart to see my husband mistreated in any way. To see him disrespected is simply too much to take. When I watch him give and give and give of himself, and in return he is disrespected, I can’t hardly hold it together. People love to talk, and some choose to talk about things they actually know very little about. It’s so heartbreaking to hear such penetrating words that come out of people’s mouths; come out like daggers …. even if it is under their breath. But when I watch my husband being mistreated, when I hear for myself the lies and the complete distorting of truth for someone else’s personal gain and I hear conversation that is threaded with such deceitful intentions and sarcasm ….
I remain silent.
I hold my peace.
I do. I remain totally silent. And pray for them as I’ve been commanded:
“bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you,” Luke 6:28.
I pray fervently, but I do not say a word in my defense or of Rip’s. Instead I have made this Matthew 26:60-63 decision –
“I do not engage in any conversation that is deceitful or disrespectful. I only engage in conversation that is of truth.”
There is another reason why I will not defend myself or my husband, nor will I confront the accuser, the liar, the deceiver. (Satan is who God asserts all of those names upon. He is the accuser, the father of lies and the great deceiver. A person is never more like Satan than when they are lying, deceiving and accusing.) I will not defend myself because God said this to me in His Word:
“It is mine to avenge;” Hebrews 10:30
He is letting me know, “I am your Defender. You do not need to defend yourself.”
So I remain silent.
I ask for your prayers as Rip and I move forward in His will. I ask for your prayers for those who are choosing to say and participate in such wrong and hurtful conversations. Pray for the gossipers. Pray for their heart. Pray for them. Pray they will crave TRUTH. Pray their own heart will be arrested by the love and kindness and honesty of He who is HOLY. Pray for their heart to be made whole by the love and GOODNESS of living under His Lordship. Pray for them! People lie and accuse when they want control. Pray they will yield their life to His control, down to their very speech.
It’s so sad to me how much damage gossiping and lying and accusing creates – and unfortunately, damage that can impact relationships permanently. So, I ask for your prayers as Rip and I realize the reality of certain things, and yet we remain prayerful, trusting, forgiving, and
Silent.
As Rip and I had our Experiencing God devotional this morning, God lifted our chins with such reassuring words of encouragement, letting us know there is so much to learn about Him and life with Him. Be blessed by our March 13 devotional, friend … and just know that the most exciting and adventuresome life is the life of following Christ! Trials will come. Persecution will come. But with the Lord, it is all considered pure JOY! “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,” James 1:2.
*Below is our devotional for today.
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My sweet friend…….pray on, pray much, and keep moving forward. “Be strong in the Lord and the power of HIS might”. While enduring sufferings of any and all kinds, we partake in the sufferings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! We can do absolutely NOTHING about the words and actions of others. Praise be to our Father, He will deal with the scornful tongues of those who speak against us in due time…..IN HIS TIME! The most important things for us to remember are (firstly) our actions, reactions, and responses should ALWAYS point to the cross, and (most importantly of all) the world is watching! Reconciliation is our Father’s plan. He desires for no man to be lost! The world (unbelievers) is “won over” by the way we live our lives and by the way we respond during times of persecution. So, it is necessary for us to be still and know that our Father is sovereign and to as You so beautifully put it…….REMAIN SILENT!! God is our great warrior/defender and needs no help defending us. He’s got that and us covered!!! And that, my friend, gives me the strength to keep my little ole mouth shut!
Thank you Janice….the world is watching, and it’s our prayer that we live in such a way that they keep wanting to! 🙂 Thank you for your friendship and for being a true encourager!
Lisa, God bless you my sweet friend (I still consider you my friend even though I haven’t seen you in years.)! This hit home for me today. Thank you for reminding me that GOD is in control of every situation and that I can grow in every situation GOD puts me in. I’ll be praying for you and Rip as you begin this new chapter! So excited to see what GOD does next!
We are friends of the heart because of that sweet Kindred SPIRIT! Love you and thank you for your prayers…means the world!
Hi Lisa, even though I am not a member (yet) I have been so blessed by finding this website and your youtube channel. It is just what I have been looking for. You and your husband are shine such a bright light for Christ and God is using you to draw people closer to him and to help them understand His Word even better. You are a ray of sunshine and a breath of fresh air – beautiful on the inside and outside. You are filled with the spirit and this means you will come under attack as the Word says. I am sorry you are going through this and will lift you up in prayer. Thanks for setting such a great example for other Christian women and sharing your wonderful gifts. Keep smiling!
I so very much enjoyed meeting you and Rip at my house last night. It was SUCH a GPS moment. 🙂
Since then, the Lord has led me to pour myself into your ii site and there is SO MUCH of your journey that aligns with mine that it’s nothing less than AMAZING!!!
As you know, I am in the process of selling my home and also moving and that wasn’t even a consideration the night before I woke up on Thanksgiving morning and felt so strongly in my heart the Lord leading me to do this. Something I NEVER ever thought I would do because I bought my home for my parents, and it is the last family home we had after working in full time evangelism and pastoral ministries for nearly 50 years. My parents deserved a home of their own and the Lord enabled me to help buy our home 11 years ago and it has been named Promise House for the Lord has fulfilled HIS PROMISES in many of the lives of those He has brought here throughout these 11 years. He brought so many people to home to Promise House so He could bring them home to Him. And Oh the stories and miracles and blessings…..
I never thought it would end, but the Lord has asked me to give this house up to Him and I know it is only because He has something so far greater than I can even comprehend at this time. And, He has already been taking me on such an amazing and beautiful spiritual healing journey these past several years and is even now restoring me physically, financially, and in every way so that I can move forward in the callings and purposes He has for me to walk out on this earth. Ministering to Hungry Hearts. It is my passion. To, like Moses, lead people out of bondage….
My own journey from Egypt to the Promised Land was interrupted several years ago on several levels and it’s been most difficult and taken SO MUCH HARD WORK to get back on the right path that has FINALLY brought me to beyond the Promise House. But now, I’m 2 weeks today from closing on my house sale, leaving my comfort zone, and like Rip, hours away from all my family too. I don’t have a clue yet how it’s going to feel, look, or be, to not have my own home until whenever and wherever the Lord leads, but in the meantime, I am SO BLESSED to know that I have received ANSWERS TO BIG PRAYERS that I have been praying for at least 2 years and for this I am beyond excited and looking forward to the adventures ahead and I am fully trusting on HIM as my GPS. (Thanks Rip and Lisa for THAT) and I know He will not lose me or get me lost. 🙂 He will bring me into my beloved Promised Land. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, I had to share this because of your blog post devotional today. I am EXACTLY where you are and what you are going through, I have been going through the same as well. And I have had the exact same response from the Lord. He let me know a few days ago that HE COLLECTS AND BOTTLES UP EVERY TEAR (Psalm 56:8) AND RECORDS EVERY SORROW AND THE REASON WHY IS BECAUSE HE IS OUR VINDICATOR! He’s keeping account of every wrong that’s ever been done to us so that He can make up for every single one of them. He wants to restore everything that has every been stolen from us. He wants to heal every single hurt and pain. HE LOVES us SO MUCH and He is working to bring restoration and peace to every situation. Every enemy attack. The truth will expose EVERY lie, and He will make even our enemies to be at peace with us.
Rip and Lisa, as you 2 keep standing, and keep trusting HIM, and keep moving forward, and keep your silence, The One who collects your tears will vindicate, and defend you in HIS WAY and when He does it, the enemy will be so sorry he ever launched an attack. The enemy is under our feet and we have the authority invested in us through Christ Jesus to tell Satan and every demon from hell that has been launched out against us to CEASE AND DESIST and as we submit to God and Resist the devil HE WILL FLEE FROM US. We need to rise up and tell those lying and evil spirits to go back to hell where they came from. They are trespassing and they have no right to do that and in the precious name of Jesus we bind them and rebuke them and “THE LORD REBUKE YOU SATAN” and as for those the enemy has been using against us…. BE STILL… AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD, saith the Lord.
Prayers and Hugs,
Tina Maria
Girl!!! My Mac is FINALLY up and running and …. today, April 8, I’m just now reading this! My gracious…I’m speechless. Thank you for this! So encouraging, and I LOVED meeting you!! And to think, NOW we can keep on this journey together!
Lisa, my heart cries out for you and Rip. You have chosen the “higher ground.” ….the one ordained by God. I know your Jesus is pleased with this response. You are being “trained in righteousness.” It is not easy nor fun but Your God; who is for you and not against you, will accomplish what concerns you. I loved THIS POST! God is transforming you from glory to glory. As you glorify Him on earth, He is glorified in heaven. The cause of Christ; is going forward, as you and Rip move ahead, in this place to which He has called you!I
Remember to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. If God is for you, (and He is) who can be against you? I love you my precious friend!
Oh Libby! Your words have covered, literally covered, my heart with the all sufficient GRACE of our GOD! That is Rip’s prayer every morning at breakfast…”God, be glorified.” It’s our constant prayer, as I know it is yours, too. I love you too my Libby-lou!! Love you deeply!