Overcoming a Critical Spirit

Jonaitis

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Did you ever have a critical spirit/attitude without realizing it? Went around offending people without realizing how much you were hurting them and were maybe even surprised or confused when they said they were offended by your actions or words? If so, how did you overcome it? The Holy Spirit has just been opening my eyes to help me understand past events recently and I am just trying to understand everything.
I can sometimes be critical without realising it. My intentions don't always sync with my words, and I often find myself offending people without knowing why until I repeatedly play the event over and over in my head.
 
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bèlla

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My Mother has RA which is why i asked.

I’m sorry to hear that. The situation was unique. When she shared her marital issues they sounded recent (a year or so). But a decade had passed and that’s too long to stew on something without spiritual fallout. In spite of his shortcomings he funded her ministry. He paid for meals, groceries, bills, car repairs and gifts for others and never complained. How many would do the same every month for people they neither knew or met? I’m not minimizing his mistakes but she didn’t sing his praises often. We heard the bad stuff.

~bella
 
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Lost Witness

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I’m sorry to hear that. The situation was unique. When she shared her marital issues they sounded recent (a year or so). But a decade had passed and that’s too long to stew on something without spiritual fallout. In spite of his shortcomings he funded her ministry. He paid for meals, groceries, bills, car repairs and gifts for others and never complained. How many would do the same every month for people they neither knew or met? I’m not minimizing his mistakes but she didn’t sing his praises often. We heard the bad stuff.

~bella
Tyvm. GOD Bless you and yours for the kindness. Have a blessed Evening.
 
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Macchiato

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Thank you for the compliment. :)

We met at a church picnic and she needed a place to sit. She suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and explained the condition. As she spoke I said to myself it isn’t natural. This is a spiritual condition. She admitted she was the lone one in her family that had it. When I looked at her hands I thought of a root and said bitterness silenty.

I didn’t know anything about her then but I wrote her testimony years later and detailed her deliverance from the root of bitterness. When she handed me the paper I smiled and said I know. I reminded her of the day we met and shared what I felt in my spirit and she laughed.

I’ve learned how counter wrongs spiritually. Forgive them and pray it out. The deeper the wound the more you need to pray for them. That’s the love that covers a multitude of sins. And by doing so you’ll be healed.

~bella
The last paragraph is so beautiful and informative it really inspired me. Two people came to mind I need to pray for but I won't forget this paragraph.
 
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FutureAndAHope

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I will share some of my journey, to give perspective on a critical spirit. I underwent many years of rejection, feeling both rejected by people and God. This built up hurt in me, and out of that hurt, I would often speak negatively. Not of others, but just negatively of situations. This is not to say I never thought a negative thought of other people, I actually harbored a lot of jealousy in my heart toward others, it may have caused me to lash out, if not in words at least in spirit. It was only as God healed me personally of these wounds that I was able to get a positive outlook. Sometimes our situations need to change to have a change of heart.

However, there are also times we need to take captive the negative thinking that can invade our space. But that is more a spiritual battle; fighting off unwanted thoughts. For me, this involved speaking back the word of God to the thought. If I felt like hating someone for the hurt they had caused I had to speak back continually, "No God says to forgive, and love them". In the end, after a long time of doing this, the thought would stop.
 
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Gentle Lamb

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I can sometimes be critical without realising it. My intentions don't always sync with my words, and I often find myself offending people without knowing why until I repeatedly play the event over and over in my head.

That used to happen to me a lot. I was offending people left and right without realizing it. Thank God the Lord began to open my eyes to that! Now I have to learn to be gracious. He is teaching me. Praise God!
 
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Gentle Lamb

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I will share some of my journey, to give perspective on a critical spirit. I underwent many years of rejection, feeling both rejected by people and God. This built up hurt in me, and out of that hurt, I would often speak negatively. Not of others, but just negatively of situations. This is not to say I never thought a negative thought of other people, I actually harbored a lot of jealousy in my heart toward others, it may have caused me to lash out, if not in words at least in spirit. It was only as God healed me personally of these wounds that I was able to get a positive outlook. Sometimes our situations need to change to have a change of heart.

However, there are also times we need to take captive the negative thinking that can invade our space. But that is more a spiritual battle; fighting off unwanted thoughts. For me, this involved speaking back the word of God to the thought. If I felt like hating someone for the hurt they had caused I had to speak back continually, "No God says to forgive, and love them". In the end, after a long time of doing this, the thought would stop.

Applying the Word of God is the most powerful solution. Thank God for His healing power. And all those experiences work together for your good! (Romans 8:28) Praise God!
 
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