Who Is Pushing Your Button?

Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 13 (love chapter) that love is not easily provoked. In other words love does not overreact. I have found in my own life wherever there is an overreaction, it is usually an indicator of a place I have not been healed. It is that sore spot, scar, painful place, that when someone touches it makes you holler. It may be that you had a rough relationship with your dad and he always said that you were lazy, then your wife says to you that you are being lazy, resulting in an nuclear explosion of your emotions. What happened? You are still living out of an event that happened twenty years ago. Wherever there is an overreaction, it is not that you are a bad person, it is that they have touched a painful place.

The devil will put people in your life to push your sore spot, I call it pushing your button. They will try to provoke you by saying something to see if they can get you to rise up. This is where self control comes in, it is at times when my mind is tearing them apart but my tongue is being held back from saying what I am really thinking. I used to tell people off in my head while I was talking nice on the outside until I read in 1 Cor. 13 where Paul also says love thinks no evil, and now not only can I not say it, I can't even think it.

Just like God sends people in your life to help you to arrive at your destiny, the enemy assigns people to cause you to overreact resulting in sabotaging your destiny. Beware of the people (critics) in your life that will try to get you to respond out of your hurt instead of responding out of love. I was challenged recently when I read that Jesus said, love your enemies (didn't say to trust them), He finishes by saying if you love those who love you what credit is that to you (Luke 6:27-33)? In other words, What credit is it to you if you spend your whole life only loving people that will love you back? Big deal even the sinners do that. If we spend our life only loving those who endorse us, support us and believe in us, He parallels it with the love of a sinner. God wants us to come out of natural love into supernatural love, where you can love the critical people, those that have been nasty to you (don't have to be their best friend), mistreated you, lied on you... Why? Because that's how God loved us while we were still sinning and were unlovable.

Let me finish with this thought, God will use the devil to bless you and make him pay for it (2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Peter 4:12-14). God used a dirty bird to feed Elijah, used Pharaoh to fund the building of the tabernacle, Nehemiah built the walls of Jerusalem with the money of a heathen king, David killed Goliath with hos own sword (your greatest weapon is hidden in your greatest battle). When you learn to stay in God's love and allow Him to heal you of past hurts, God will even cause your enemies to bless you.

Let me finish with a true story, There was a woman that worked at a factory and her co workers because of her faith, ridiculed and criticized her daily. One day on her break she was walking to the snack machine, and as she passed them they were talking about her. When she got to the machine, she knew what selection she would make because she selected the same thing every day. Without looking she pushed her normal selection which was empty and when she looked the red light said, make another selection. When people keep pushing your buttons to get you to overreact, hear these words "Make another selection". I refuse to allow you to move me out of my blessing! Know that your critics are necessary, Why? Because your friends create comfort but your enemies create movement! They are moving you to your promotion.