CHAPTER 27 SHAKE IT OFF

There will always be new opportunities to apply the principles of letting go of the past and pressing on for God's prize that we have discussed in this book. Someone who matters to you will inevitably do something to hurt you. When that happens, you will have to choose again to receive God's love, forgive the one who hurt you, pray for him, bless him, believe that God will turn the situation around for your good, and then wait for the prize of His reward.

To encourage your faith to press on to the higher prize of freedom from emotional pain, God has included many stories of victory in the Bible to remind you of people who learned to shake off offenses and remain faithful to the Lord. In fact, the Bible is full of stories of those who received double blessings for being faithful.

Joseph went from the pit to the palace. Daniel went from the lions' den to a place of promotion.

Ruth started out eating scraps in a field, because she was faithful to a mother-in-law who was going to be alone without her. Their husbands were dead, and Ruth could have gone back to the security of her own people. Her mother-in-law told her, "Just go back." But she said, "No, I'm staying with you, and your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my

God" (see Ruth 1:16). Then God gave her favor, and Ruth ended up marrying Boaz, who just happened to be the richest man in the country. Esther started out as a frightened young maiden, who was not really happy about the position she was offered. But she was obedient to what God was leading her to do, and she went from being an orphan to a queen who saved a whole nation of people.

And then, of course, there is the story of Job.

The amazing thing about Job is that God allowed him to go through the painful experiences he suffered because God knew he would make it through them successfully. He knew Job was a man He could trust. If you have never read the entire book of Job, I encourage you to do so.

The devil thought that Job was faithful to God only because God protected him. So God said to Satan, "Okay then, we will remove some of that protection, and you will find that he will still stay faithful to me" (see Job 1:12). So God allowed Satan to attack and destroy every good thing that Job possessed. He took everything away from him except his life, but Job still would not deny his allegiance to the Lord.

As a result of Job's faithfulness, "the Lord turned the captivity of Job and restored his fortunes, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before" (Job 42:10). It is important to note that the Lord turned Job's captivity and restored

his fortunes when he prayed for his friends. These were the same "friends" who had severely disappointed him, who had not been there for him, and who had judged and criticized him. But the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before, because he was faithful to continue doing the right thing even though it was painful.

The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before all the trouble started. God gave him a double blessing for all the trouble he had been through. Verses 12 and 13 of Job 42 say: "And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He had also seven sons and three daughters."Now, you may not want sheep or camels, oxen or donkeys, or even more kids, but God knows what kind of double blessing to give to you for your faithfulness. But in order to keep pressing on and reap your double blessing, you will have to learn to shake off the troubles that come your way.

One of my favorite stories is about a farmer's donkey that fell into a dry well. The animal cried pitifully for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do for his poor donkey. Finally, he concluded that the well was too deep, and it really needed to be covered up anyway; besides, the donkey was old, and it would be a lot of trouble to get him out of the pit. The farmer decided that it was not worth trying to retrieve the animal, so he asked his neighbors to help him fill in the well and bury the donkey.

They all grabbed shovels and began to toss dirt into the well. The donkey immediately realized what was happening, and he began to weep horribly. Crying would be our normal response if somebody was mistreating us this badly, so this donkey was responding the same way we would at first, but then he got real quiet. A few shovel loads of dirt later, the farmer looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit the donkey's back, the donkey would shake it off, and step on top of it.

As the neighbors and the farmer continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would continue to shake it off, and take a step up. Pretty soon the donkey shook off the last shovel full of dirt, took a step up, and walked right out of the well.

We can learn so much from this story. When trouble comes, if we will quit moaning long enough to get still and listen, God will tell us what to do about our trouble. By the grace and the mercy of God, I was able to shake off a lot of things in my life, a lot of hurt feelings, a lot of mistreatment, a lot of abuse, a lot of unfair, unjust, unkind things. But I thank God that I finally learned, in the midst of shaking them off, to also believe for my reward.

The expectation of God's reward gives you hope that God is not going to leave you defenseless, that He is going to do something for you. The next time people

you know get angry about something, just say to them, "Shake it off." When you meet someone who is depressed, say, "Shake it off." If people you know are moping around because somebody has hurt their feelings, say, "Shake it off." I give you permission to preach this message to everyone who needs to hear it.

Trouble Will Come

You may think that you will be completely protected from encounters with trouble because you are serving God, but that is not true. As a matter of fact, if God sends you out to minister to others, you are almost sure to have trouble. But, like the three Hebrew children who were cast into the fiery furnace, you can expect to come through the fires of testing without even smelling like smoke just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did (see Daniel 3:23-27).

Jesus gave His disciples authority over the unclean spirits that would try to bring trouble to them. He also told His disciples what to do if the people they were trying to reach rejected them:

And He called to Him the Twelve [apostles] and began to send them out [as His ambassadors] two by two and gave them authority and power over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick-no bread, no wallet for a collection bag, no money in their belts

(girdles, purses)- But to go with sandals on their feet and not to put on two tunics (undergarments).

And He told them, Wherever you go into a house, stay there until you leave that place.

And if any community will not receive and accept and welcome you, and they refuse to listen to you, when you depart, shake off the dust that is on your feet, for a testimony against them. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the judgment day than for that town.(Mark 6:7-10)

Jesus was showing all of us that He will provide everything needed to serve Him. The disciples did not need extra clothes or money. They were given authority over the trouble that would come against them, and if anyone rejected them, they were to simply "shake it off." So they went out and preached everywhere the message of repentance and salvation.

If you are going to be used by God, or if you are going to walk with God, you will experience a certain amount of rejection. And more than likely that rejection will come from the people who matter the most to you. It may come from family members or close friends.

If God touches you, and you want to go deeper with Him than some of your church friends, even they are likely to reject you. People just do not want others to

go where they are not willing to go themselves. If they want to pursue carnal interests, and you want to walk in the Spirit, they may openly hate you for your choice.

Jesus said of the people of His day who resisted and opposed Him, "They hated Me without a cause" (John 15:25). It really struck me one day how sad that was. Jesus tried to be good to people, but instead of loving and appreciating Him for it, they hated Him. Joseph had a dream, and his brothers hated him for it (see Genesis 37:5). Stephen was full of grace and power and worked great wonders and miracles among the people, but religious leaders hated him for his intelligence and wisdom and the inspiration of the Spirit by Whom he spoke, so they had him arrested and eventually stoned (see Acts 6:8-12; 7:58).

It is amazing how easy it is to draw hatred, jealousy, and envy from others. If you try to be good, somebody will hate you for it. But if you respond to them with the same anger they display toward you, you are keeping yourself from being blessed. Do not let people pull you down to their level-shake it off and step up.

It is hard to shake off rejection. It hurts. But it hurts even more to live by feelings. Learn to shake off the dust of rejection and disappointment.

One time I was trying to help someone, and I really felt that I was doing the right thing. I am always very

busy, and I never have to look for something to do, so I felt that I was really making a sacrifice of time and effort by trying to help this person. But no matter what I did, this individual felt that it was never enough, and so I was getting upset about it.

I felt that God wanted me to help this person because it was my Christian duty. But it seemed that despite all my best efforts, nothing I did was successful or even understood or appreciated. I finally got a breakthrough when I realized that my responsibility was to try to help that person, but that I was not responsible for that individual's joy.

A lot of times, we want everybody to be happy with everything we are doing. But we have to get over thinking that everybody is going to be happy with everything we do. We have to do what we believe is right, what we believe God is leading us to do, but we have to realize that everybody is responsible for his or her own joy. Jesus told His disciples to go preach. They did what they were supposed to do. But He told them that if people did not receive them or their message, they were not to let the indifference of others become a stumbling block to their own call.

Do not give up your ministry, or sit and cry pitifully for hours, just because everybody does not receive you, or appreciate you. Shake it off and press on to the next town, to the next person who needs to hear your testimony of what God has done in your life.

If rejection stops you cold in your tracks, then the spirit of rejection wins. You cannot stop doing what is right just because somebody does not like what you are doing.

As a matter of fact, I would venture to say that almost every time God is ready to promote you and bring you to the next level, you will experience an attack of rejection at the place where you are now. Satan will use rejection to try to keep you where you are or even to bring you down from there.

That is why so many people are rejected by their own family members when they get filled with the Holy Spirit. They go home all excited to tell everyone that they are living their lives for the Lord, only to discover that they are suddenly the "strange one" in the family. Satan uses the people who matter most to them to reject them and try to cause them to turn back to their old ways.

Step Up A Level

Like the donkey in the well, you need to shake off each shovel full of abuse and rejection and use it to keep stepping up a level until you are free to enjoy the life God has planned for you. You have already come into a new level with God. Your faith is already stronger today than it was yesterday. You are more prepared for the next time abuse is flung at you. From this day forward, you will walk into a more powerful level with God because you have

determined to be faithful to Him, no matter what. You are more dangerous to the enemy when you receive the power of the indwelling Holy Ghost.

Because you believe on Jesus and receive His Holy Spirit, you can pray and receive God's best in your life. You are free to press on toward the reward of God, and your testimony will do great damage to the devil's work. As a result, he is going to influence as many people as possible to become angry about it and to criticize and oppose you.

But remember the donkey: humble yourself and shake it off. Use what the enemy plans against you to move one step closer to the place God wants you to be.

For example, Dave and I were asked to leave our home church when God started moving in our life, but then God led us to another church where the pastor accepted us, and covered us with prayer and blessing.

The Bible says that we are not at war against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and wickedness in high places (see Ephesians 6:12). Satan will continue to try to use people to keep us from going forward. If possible, he will use people whom we know and love so that the wounds from their rejection and disapproval will be deep and painful.

Sometimes we fear the disapproval of people so

much that we will not step up to the next level with God because we already know that somebody is not going to like it. It is amazing how many times we bow down to people when we should be bowing down to God.

Jesus said, "He who hear sand heeds you [disciples] hears and heeds Me; and he who slights and rejects you slights and rejects Me; and he who slights and rejects Me slight sand rejects Him who sent Me" (Luke 10:16). He was telling us not to take rejection personally. If people are rejecting us when we are following the Lord, then they are rejecting Jesus and the Father. Now, understand that before you even gave your heart to the Lord, the devil recognized God's plan for you and did everything he could to keep you from receiving it. It is possible that the bigger the call on your life, the greater the abuse that comes against you. If you consider warfare in the spiritual world in the light of God's Word, you will understand that Satan sent all the trouble that has come upon you because he knew that God was pursuing you to bless you.

But Jehovah is the Lord of hosts-the Lord of the armies. He is fighting for you, and that makes you more than a conqueror. The battle over you has already been won, and you are promised a double blessing for your former trouble.

Stay Full Of The Joy Of The Lord

The apostle Paul said, "Now am I trying to win the favor of men, or of God? Do I seek to please men? If I were still seeking popularity with men, I should not be a bond servant of Christ (the Messiah)" (Galatians 1:10).

We can see from this next passage of Scripture that Paul learned to shake off rejection and continue in joy:

And so the Word of the Lord [concerning eternal salvation through Christ] scattered and spread throughout the whole region.

But the Jews stirred up the devout women of high rank and the outstanding men of the town, and instigated persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their boundaries. But [the apostles] shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.

And the disciples were continually filled [throughout their souls] with joy and the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:49-52)

Stay continually filled with joy and the Holy Spirit throughout your soul; keep your mind, will, and emotions fixed on the joy that is available through the indwelling presence of the Lord. You will lose your joy if you get concerned about what everybody thinks about you. Shake off your self-consciousness and "be filled and stimulated with the [Holy] Spirit"

(Ephesians 5:18). Remain full of joy no matter what trouble comes against you. Do your best to do what you believe God wants you to do in every situation.

If people do not have enough love to show you a little mercy just because you do not do everything the way they want you to, then that is between them and God. Do not live your life to be popular; live it to do God's will.

To obey God, Joseph had to shake off many hurts and disappointments such as the betrayal of his brothers, the lies of Potipher's wife, and the forgotten promise of the butler he had helped. But the result of pressing on was that Joseph was put in charge everywhere he went. God gave him a double recompense for his troubles, and he was greatly blessed (see Genesis 37-Exodus 1).

Likewise, people did not like Daniel because he was a godly man who kept shaking off rejection. He was so disliked that he was thrown into a den of hungry lions, but God shut the mouths of the lions. When the king saw what God had done for Daniel, he proclaimed: "I make a decree that in all my royal dominion men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for He is the living God, enduring and steadfast forever, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed and His dominion shall be even to the end [of the world]" (Daniel 6:26) .Daniel's steadfast walk with God inspired an entire nation to believe that God "is a Savior and Deliverer, and He works signs

and wonders in the heavens and on the earth-He Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions" (Daniel 6:27).

In Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, beginning in 2 Thessalonians 1:3, he gave thanks because believers were growing in faith, their love for each other was increasing, and they were steadfast in the midst of persecutions and crushing distresses.

In verse 6, Paul reassured believers that God would repay with distress and affliction those who distressed and afflicted them. Then he wrote of God's determination to reward them:

And to [recompense] you who are so distressed and afflicted [by granting you] relief and rest along with us [your fellow sufferers] when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in a flame of fire,

To deal out retribution (chastisement and vengeance) upon those who do not know or perceive or become acquainted with God, and [upon those] who ignore and refuse to obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ"(2 Thessalonians 1:7-8).

So if you are persecuted for doing what is right in the eyes of God, rejoice. The apostle Peter said, "[After all] what kind of glory [is there in it] if, when you do wrong and are punished for it, you take it patiently? But if you bear patiently with suffering [which

results] when you do right and that is undeserved, it is acceptable and pleasing to God" (1 Peter 2:20).

When you suffer for doing right, Jesus calls you blessed, saying: "Blessed and happy and enviably fortunate and spiritually prosperous (in the state in which the born-again child of God enjoys and finds satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of his outward conditions) are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake (for being and doing right), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!" (Matthew 5:10)Peter had to shake off failure, Paul had to shake off rejection, and you are going to have to shake off both failure and rejection if you want to be used by God. But a double reward is in store for you.

Shake off unforgiveness, resentment, trouble, and self-pity. Shake off rejection, offense, betrayal, gossip, judgment, and the kiss of Judas. Shake off arguments with relatives, close friends, and strangers. Shake off your own failures and mistakes. Shake off disappointment over your own imperfection.

Just get over it, and go on.

The season for mourning is over. It is time to rejoice.