Break the chain of abuse

Source: Pastor Rick Warren

“Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing” (1 Peter 3:9 NLT, second edition).

Nothing crushes the spirit more than abuse — to feel devalued, unimportant, and misused. 

Jesus knows that. 

And he says, “I will care for you.”

The starting point in your healing is to get to know your Healer. 

You need to say, “Jesus Christ, I don’t know how you did this, but you took the guilt for every sin in the world — the ones done to me and the ones done by me. I want to learn to love you. And I want you to come in and heal my heart and my mind and my body.”

And he will. He will!

When Jesus was abused, did he retaliate? Absolutely not! 

The Bible says, “Christ never verbally abused those who verbally abused him. When he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly” (1 Peter 2:23 GW).

One day, God is going to balance the books. One day God is going to settle the score. One day God is going to right all the wrongs. You think the abusers won’t have to answer for the abuse? You think all the evil that’s happened in the world will go unpunished?

No. One day God is going to settle the score. It is his alone to settle.

God is a truly just God. He can do a whole lot better job at settling the score than you can. He wants you to leave it in his hands, because he’s God, and you’re not.

One of the reasons why we have to deal with abuse is because of this: It is contagious. It gets passed on from generation to generation.

If someone saw abuse growing up or experienced it in their family, they learned some patterns. And those patterns can be passed on, not to everyone, but to some.

This year millions of kids in America will watch their parents in a domestic violence situation. Study after study has shown that those kids are twice as likely to abuse their own family once they’re grown. Somebody’s got to break the chain!

Let it be you. Starting today. Starting now. Starting with the power of the Holy Spirit.

God, I pray a blessing of courage on everyone reading this, that many will say,

“I’m not keeping it a secret any more. I’m going to name the abuse. I’m not going to minimize it or rationalize it. If I need to get to a safe place for a while, then so be it. God, give me the courage to talk with a safe person who can help me make a plan to experience health and healing. Save my life; save my relationships. Let the healing process begin. And God, I’m going to let you settle the score. In your name I pray. Amen.”