“Do not repay evil for evil, or cursing for cursing. Rather blessings because unto this you were called that you might inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9)

The world seems to be exploding in anger, expressing itself in violence, hatred, spite, and bitterness. The nightly news is filled with riots, shootings, murder, and assaults. It seems as if a tsunami of evil has cast its waves of destruction across the landscape, destroying everything that would dare stand in its path. The Psalmist, in his day, asked the question, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps.11: 3) We may ask the same question, “What can we do in the midst of such anger? Is there anyway that we can make a difference?”

In difficult seasons, we can become short sighted, even losing perspective. Yet the Psalmist is clear. God has not vacated His throne. He can’t be voted out. He can’t be overthrown. The devil cannot usurp God’s authority (Is.14: 13ff).  God is still in charge. “The Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold. His eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous . . . For the Lord is righteous. He loves righteousness. His countenance beholds the upright” (Ps.11: 4-8). 

Peter reminds his readers (and us), to not lose hope. Why? Because we bear His divine image. We are partakers of His divine nature. We have all things pertaining to life and godliness through His divine power (2 Pet.1: 3-4). As we pursue His presence, we become a channel of His righteousness, flowing through us to bring glory to His name. We become people who bless, not curse. We leave the tit for tat to God. This is our heavenly calling.

So is it possible to change the atmosphere? Is it possible to stand as a fortress, a bulwark against this raging tsunami of anger? Think of it this way. As a partaker of the divine nature, we have been given, as sons and daughters of the Most High, “the power of life and death through the words we speak” (Prov. 18: 21). Cursing and reviling speak words of death. Blessing speak words of life. Cursing tears down and destroys. Blessing builds up and releases.

Theodoret, an early church historian, tells how a monk, named Telemachus came to Rome and was appalled at the violence of the gladiatorial games. Men died while the crowds cheered. “After gazing upon the combat from the amphitheater, he descended into the arena, and tried to separate the gladiators. The blood thirsty spectators, possessed by the demon who delights in the shedding of blood, were irritated at the interruption of their cruel sports, and stoned him who had occasioned the cessation.” His death, on Jan.1 A.D. 404, marked the end of the Roman gladiator games. One man stood for life, in the midst of such cruelty and death.

“If one could put to flight a thousand and two put to flight ten thousand” (Deut.32:30), what could a multitude of Spirit filled, anointed believers do as they release blessing and praise over our nations. If one can make a difference, what about two or three or more? What if a tsunami of the living water of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 7: 38) began to flow forth from our lives into our homes, our cities, and across our lands?

Let it begin with you; let it begin with me. As together we release our flow of the Spirit into this River of life, what may begin as a trickle can soon become a might gushing river that sweeps righteousness over our nations. “For unto this we are called, that we might bless in order that we might receive a blessing.”

Blessings!