When Family Becomes an Enemy

You have fought these people either physically, mentally or both.  You have asked God for forgiveness and mercy.  These people, who you call your "family," are not going to always like, love, respect, or appreciate you.  At times, they can feel more like foes than friends.  You desire peace among them, but lately all there is are arguments, tears, worries, and secret wishes to be anywhere but with them!

Take comfort in knowing that God cares.  He knows your every struggle and he wants to give you peace.  You will rise above your situation!  Tough times like these won't last forever.  Now more than ever, you must pray more.  Trust that where you are right now with your family and friends is not where you have to be this time next year!

I think of Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. "Child of God, these trials that you are now in are being worked out for your good!  Although we don't know the specifics of God's purpose, what we do know is that every time our foes bring about a challenge, there is something to learn and grow from.

Take a moment to pray the following:

"Lord you know the struggles I have with my family.  I confess the sins that I have committed as a result of deep rooted resentment, anger, jealousy, bitterness...I sincerely want to change from my wicked ways. Give me the strength for now to get through every challenge they put before me.  Provide me with an exit plan when the time is right.  I ask these things in Jesus name, Amen."

I prayed something like this many years ago.  Weeks after I prayed, I saw my breakthrough.  God granted me favor with them to help me move.  I was so grateful to have my own place!  I knew that God wasn't going to bless me until I changed my mindset and spent more time with Him and less focus on what they were doing and saying.  When I took my mind off of family and placed it on God, change came sooner rather than later.  They noticed I spent more time in the word and in church and although they were critical sometimes, I didn't let their remarks keep me off the mark that God had made for me!  I believe that God is going to free you, who is going through so much, just keep your mind on Him!

God bless.

Nicholl McGuire is the author of Know Your Enemy the Christian's Critic and the voice behind the YouTube channel nmenterprise7, a faith based podcast to bring spiritual enlightenment to a hungry world!

People Do Things - Wicked Things

She didn't want to scare me, but she told me, "People do things.  Wicked things.  They will mess with your food, mess with your man, mess over on you..."  Grandma knew what she was talking about.  She had walked on both sides of the fence: good and evil.

When I speak to you on my channel, NM Enterprise7, YouTube, I don't wish to share, but enlighten.  Too many people go about this world not thinking too much about anything.  Their brains are usually on autopilot especially when they are somewhere they don't really want to be.  Oh,how easy it is to take advantage of the one who chooses to remain asleep rather than awake.  

I speak to my sons almost daily about the Boogie Man's manipulations.  The Enemy who controls anyone willing to take a walk on the dark side.  So many around my sons are lost.  They don't have a clue that they are Satan's next target.  My sons are like beacons of light attempting to help the clueless at times, yet some of their relatives and friends make the choice to remain that way.  They dismiss cautions, truth, and the gospel of Christ with a joke, an insult, or simply ignore.

You, who are reading this, you are told in so many ways to watch what you do, where you go, who you speak to...you may be vulnerable at this time in your life--recently hurt by someone who you thought you could trust.  As Grandma said, people do wicked things.  When people show you who they are, believe them!  I recall a time in my life that I didn't want to believe/judge/analyze/question people who I thought I could trust.  I just wanted to enjoy their presence.  But there was always someone around who saw something in them that I couldn't see and what they saw wasn't good.  I ached when I would hear the report, "Girlfriend, that is not your friend!  Mind what you say around her...that one right there is no good."

So tis the season, another holiday.  Someone is going to visit a relative or family friend and they are going to want to believe that what they are eating is all good, that no one is interested in a 

partner, and no one is trying to manipulate you.  But someone is, the child of God always has a Judas.  

Do you know who your Judas is?  

Be safe, watchful, and prayerful this holiday season :)

Nicholl McGuire is the author of Tell Me Mother You're Sorry and Say Goodbye to Dad and the owner of this blog.

So-Called Well-meaning Critics Don't Encourage Your Walk with the Lord, They Often Hinder It

Who might be the wicked critic of your faith whether in the open 

or secretly hiding waiting to attack you one day?  

You may want to ask yourself the following questions:

• Is this person someone who just spouts off the mouth everything ungodly so as to make me angry enough to sin?  
• Is this critic someone who I can trust, yet when it comes to spiritual matters, he or she is the last person I think about talking to?  
• Is the critic a person who may have a hidden plan to do harm against me, because I believe what I believe and tend to offend him or her with my faith?  

If someone or many come to mind while you ask yourself these questions, than you might possibly have an enemy in your camp.  An evil critic is anyone who opposes, hinders, suppresses, manipulates, criticizes, ostracizes, or speaks evil of your belief system.
  
You might say, “Oh no, not my mom!  Oh no, not my man!  It couldn’t be my lady!  Don’t tell me, my son!”  A critic turned enemy can be anyone!  Now, why would someone who supposedly loves or likes you be so critical of your walk with the Lord whether to your face or behind your back?  Because chances are, you are doing some things that are disturbing their peace of mind, physical location, and convicting their spirit.  Sounds similar to what Jesus did when talking to the Pharisees, huh?  

The more you talk about your experiences believing in the one true God, the more the sinful critic will provide his or her feedback whether on the phone, in-person, by email, text, snail mail, or through someone else.  A sinful critic may even show up on your social networking page or other websites you frequent all-too-ready to leave a negative, demeaning or flippant remark.  Some will say, “I am just giving constructive feedback.”  Sure.

Jealous, wayward Christians, backsliders, apostates, and the godless are not interested in building up believers; rather they are more interested in doing the following:  proving them wrong, making them look like fools, getting a good laugh or tearing down one’s wholesome image.  Watch out Ms. Goody Two-Shoes or Mr. “I’m A Good Man!” the angry critic is waiting for you to slip up.  

In James 4:1-3 (NIV,) fights and quarrels occurred between Christ’s followers due to personal envy and discontent.  “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?  You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” 

Deceptive critics will not share too much about themselves whether online or offline, particularly with believers, for fear that God will reveal flaws in their character.  Therefore, they will use criticism as a distraction to keep the focus off of them an on to others. These critics don’t want godly followers to start praying and guiding them toward Jesus, because many of them feel content without him.  This is why a once very talkative friend is not so social like she use to be since you met Jesus.  This is why some will become easily irritated when you ask, “Would you like for me to pray with you?”  No one wants their flaws exposed even if people already know what they are about.

A loving, sweet, wonderful unbelieving partner may not be so attentive these days to his Christ following wife, because he doesn’t want to hear nor talk about Jesus.  If she should start a spiritual conversation, most assuredly the unsaved partner will start creating a wall around his mind.  There are plenty more examples, like this one, of difficult people who oppose the one choosing to follow Jesus.  How long some of the lost and confused welcome you, all depends on how much more they can tolerate you and your Jesus before they distance themselves from you or push you out of their lives with their mean words.  


Sometimes God will expedite our exit from a bad relationship or friendship before we are ready, leaving relatives, friends and co-workers surprised and offended that we no longer associate with them.  They may say, “What happened?  We use to be so close? You and your brother were like peas in a pod.  What changed that?”  You may respond, “I know, but God is working things out in my life now.”  The critic, who doesn’t like this new you, might comment, “So he’s doing something in you without me in your life, huh!?  I knew you were taking this God thing too far!  God wouldn’t tell you to cut me off!  You are out of your mind!”   

As you learn more about the things of the Lord each day, you may find that there are a number of challenges that you have to overcome personally and professionally.  If you aren’t mindful of who you are in Christ, the devil could set a trap for you which may put you in a place of despair, resentment, frustration and more!  Unfortunately, it’s during these times when we backslide.  

Some of us will obtain something from a former lifestyle in order to make us feel better such as the following:  a strong drink, cigarettes, an ungodly man, an immoral woman, legal or illegal drugs, unhealthy food and desserts, Satanic inspired media, overpriced items, a job that isn’t blessed by God, or do something else to ease our pain at least temporarily.  However, the more and more we get the more and more we want something else!  There is simply no peace when you are unhappy with self and others.  We forget the Scripture sometimes, “Peace, I leave you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you…” (John 14:27).  


When you are feeling most vulnerable, you may find yourself connecting with relatives, friends and acquaintances that are angry, hate-filled individuals, visiting sinful places, or using things that would make your mother question, “Who did I bring into this world?  I know that’s not my child.”  Satan brings problem people and things into our lives, because they get us further and further away from God!  To allow the devil’s foolishness to enter our spirits makes us nothing more than fools!  (Eccles. 10:3) says this about the fool, “Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.”

Backsliding moments in the faith can happen at any time!  You may be acting like Jesus in the morning and the devil by the evening.  When this happens, most backsliders, turned re-dedicated believers, will go to God and repent, yet those so-called saintly types (also known as Pharisees in the Bible) who have been observing fellow believers’ slow decline, like the critics, won’t have any mercy on poor, wayward Christians.  Instead, they will beat repentant believers up with insulting words about their “supposed” renewed faith whether to their faces or behind their backs.  You quickly learn that the church-going relative or friend you thought you were close to is really nothing more than a foe!  


Think for a minute about an old story of a wolf hiding in sheep’s clothes.  The animal sits back and pretends to be a sheep in order to get his next meal.  There are those around you, who pretend, or suddenly have amnesia about their own mishaps, so that they can feed off of your spiritual energy!  For instance, they may say things like, “Pray for me.  Buy this for me.  Take me here.  Do this for me.”  But when you point out some things that God showed you in the spiritual realm about this person, they go into denial.  They don’t want to receive truth.  All they want is for you to be a servant to them, end of discussion.  

If you were to call them out on their ugly behavior, they would most likely say, “You are reading too much into what I’m doing…I would never hurt you…I know you are trying to get your life together.   I am so over that.  I don’t do that anymore.”  But you may say to yourself, “I don’t have much if anything to give and this person isn’t listening to what I’m saying anyway!  I am struggling to walk with God myself.  Why would some relatives and good friends want to use me?”  The answer to that question is quite simple, because they know they can especially if you have a history of doing for them despite all the negativity they have brought to you.
  
When you have fallen away from the Lord, you are weak and the enemy is strong.  Wayward Believers and hypocrites know this about their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ; therefore, they will use you until they can’t use you anymore!

Nicholl McGuire is the author of Know Your Enemy The Christian's Critic and Face Your Foe on Confronting the Critics.

New Levels, New Devils in the Family

Put Your Adversaries in God’s Hands

“For my enemies speak against me; And those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together…” Psalm 71:10 (NKJV). You might have an enemy or two that don’t like you for any and every reason. It doesn’t matter if these men or women are family members or not, unrelenting enemies are out to destroy you.  But there comes a time when the favor of God rests upon you and you will hear of stories related to your adversaries being brought down low!

When one is a hindrance to the people of God, he or she becomes an enemy of God. We shouldn’t wonder why some things happen to our adversaries or even rejoice in their demise, the battle wasn’t with us, but with our Creator. Since time began, men and women think of themselves to be gods or godlike. They hurt others when people stand in the way of their slow rise to god status and when their selfish needs go unmet. They also consider older people, children, the poor and others to be beneath them, so they talk quite negatively about all. And God sees and hears the attacks made on his people.

I think of a time when a family member argued much with others about a variety of things. There was a period of peace for a time before the quarreling whether to one’s face or behind his or her back started back up again. The battles were unnecessary and were centered on the backslider’s selfish motives. It wasn’t long before the people who supposedly gave this person the most grief was removed out of one’s life. Sometimes people make themselves an enemy without fully realizing the consequences of their actions.

Our adversary above all, Satan, doesn’t want anyone happy.  He orchestrates plans to target the vulnerable and make them his footstool. At times people will offer themselves to Satan without realizing it by doing unrighteous things. Their minds refuse to listen and obey God. A rebellious people refusing to turn away from their wicked ways will not inherit the kingdom of God.

If one wants God near him or her, he or she has to put his or her trust in Him.  “Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For You are my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth.” Psalm 71:4.   

Nicholl McGuire is the owner and manager of this blog.

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing in Your Own Family

They smile in your face and talk about you behind your back. They lie, swear, and even shed a tear when they are caught doing wrong.  These are your family members and they believe themselves to be right.  It is your fault for this or that.  You are not the favorite.  You are an enemy when you stand up for yourself. 

I validate you on all your family challenges, this is why I wrote the following books, so please do check them out.  Feel free to like, comment, leave reviews,share links, do whatever you can to help someone begin the process of getting free out of emotional and/or physical abuse brought on by family members. 

 

Much love for you, I am praying for readers, viewers of YouTube NM Enterprise 7 and others, God is with you when you call on Him to fight your battles, lighten your load, and give you the strength and courage to stand up against the enemy or enemies.  Read Psalm 91.

 

Family related books by Nicholl McGuire:

Tell Me Mother You're Sorry

 

 

 

Say Goodbye to Dad

 

 

 

Know Your Enemy: The Christian's Critic

 

 

 

Genealogy X

What to Expect When Researching Your Family History

 

 

 

When Mothers Cry

 

 

These non-fiction books are available on other sites so check around if you would prefer a printed book rather than an eBook or would like to shop at a different store. 

Enjoy my work and blessings to you!

 

 

Nicholl McGuire

 

Brainwashing in the Family - Don't Know What to Believe, Who to Trust

Controlling Parents - The Shame Curse - On Punishing Children, Grandchildren

Going into the Eye of the Storm - Conflict, Consequence and Challenge

The Legacy of the Lost

We live in an American society of sin, mayhem, and destruction.  Countless people die unexpectedly daily as a result of sins committed with no concept of what a healthy spiritual relationship with one's Creator looked and felt like.  The lost falsely assumed they were okay within while spreading their poison to others.  Lies, deceit, anger, bitterness, hatred, resentment, and jealousy, are just some of the many issues ungodly people have that they refuse to let go of. 


These dead people didn't feel they needed to believe in anyone or anything, but themselves while living amongst the children of light.  Sold out on personal beliefs of being one's own God, they failed miserably at being joyful and peaceful while they walked this earth.  There was never enough money, love, attention, material goods, and more to suffice the depressed, sad, wild, crazy kind of people--both young and old.


Much of their legacy left behind (from those who could afford to leave something for generations following them) had no God approval stamp, so to speak. In other words, they held on to worthless treasures, cursed media, and demonic tokens, the kind of things that meant nothing to a righteous God who reigns over all the people.  What good is a religious relic, a shiny brand name piece of jewelry, a designer car, or a large home decorated with biblically inspired messages when the owners weren't living according to God's will?


Despite all of the beautiful things that men and women buy, invests in or creates, God is not interested in people's objects and systems and neither are those who honestly wanted nothing more than a parent, child, or relative to simply love them! 


The legacy of the lost is not filled with love, hope, or truth despite engraved or painted words on objects.  Instead, Satan uses the spoils from life and death's war to divide, conquer, and create havoc for those left behind.  Siblings argue about who should keep what.  Employees fight over position.  The church steps in to claim what is their's and so on.  So much confusion over what the dead wanted!  


Lost people are never completely honest with themselves or others about their innermost thoughts, how they come to inherit wealth, who they know, or what exactly moved them to make their creative works.  They might have talked about how good, nice and wonderful they are and others while alive, but deep down inside felt nothing more than a void.  Like a deceased person, a walking dead body is unable to give and receive love.


Lost people, no matter the personality disorder, are incapable of loving.  They are incomplete spiritually, mentally and physically.  They decorate themselves beautifully to create an illusion that they are indeed "fearfully and wonderfully made" as the Bible suggests, rather than taking God at his word.  "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14  Notice there is a belief in a Holy God and an appreciation for what the Creator has done.  Yet, while alive the lost couldn't appreciate this concept and in death it is too late.
So rather than God be glorified even after the death of a loved one, a lost generation glorifies stuff.


 The Messiah reminds us, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:20.


Nicholl McGuire

When Your Family Doesn't Like You

It's All In the Family: When Your Family Doesn't Like You: They may love us, but they don’t like us. They have proven that by the way they react to us during times when they should be supportive...