You Can Stop Complaining: A Five-Day Fast!預覽

The Unity Buster

Would you purposely destroy unity in your closest relationships? Would you make it your goal in life to plant seeds of doubt in others about the elected officials that serve us? That is everything from stupid to thoughtless. Yet, that is what complaining accomplishes; it infects everyone who hears it.

I call complaining, emotional air pollution. Spreading complaints is like someone sneezing—people are going to breathe in the microbes. If you complain about the mayor, others will chime in. If you are a man and you complain about women, many other men will robustly jump in or visa versa with women. Complaining doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

Being baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit is being called to be God’s ambassador. Our goal is to invite people into the unity of the Holy Spirit. Complaining is the antipode of being God’s ambassador. When we complain, we wreak havoc on the creation and perpetuation of unity. Unknowingly, we join with the enemy’s forces and attack God’s essential purpose.

The enemy is always out to destroy God’s fundamental intention—unity. Christ repeatedly emphasizes His central theme of unity in the High Priestly Prayer of John 17: 1-26. Again and again, He prays to the Father, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me (John 17:21, ESV).

When we complain, we become unity busters. Rather than building God’s Kingdom, we rip it apart. We cast doubt instead of building trust in God when we complain. It is like pouring water in a crack in the concrete—and we all know how durable concrete is. When freezing weather comes, the water freezes and expands, causing the crack to widen, and eventually, the rock-hard concrete crumbles. Our complaints act the same way in people’s minds.

When we complain about authority figures (the president, police, or pastors), we cast doubt. When we complain about a friend, husband or wife, or a Christian brother or sister, we attack God’s essential purpose—unity.

I think you can see; this is a serious business. Thank God, you can and will stop complaining. Keep up this fast of complaining. Your spirit is becoming sensitive to words of complaint. You are fighting back. Open your spirit to hear what God is speaking to you about complaining.