"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over." -Psalm 23:5 NKJV

The Portland Trail Blazers played the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the 2019 playoffs. It was a competitive and oftentimes chippy series with a substantial amount of trash talk from both teams, specifically between each team’s best players, Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook. The best moment of the series was the fourth quarter of Game 5. With the game tied 115-115, Damian Lillard of the Trail Blazers had the ball with Paul George defending him and hit a DEEP three point shot to not only win the game but also to win the series. The Portland Trail Blazers won 4-1 and Lillard ended with 50 points.

Despite the trash talk, Portland did a great job of mostly allowing their game to do the talking and they got the last laugh.

-Have you ever played a competitive sport?

-Have you ever been in a situation where you have been mocked, bullied, or picked on because you were different (whether physically, mentally, a different socioeconomic background, etc.)?

-Have you ever been in a situation where you have been hated on for no apparent reason?

Please remember that God loves you very much! God created you in His image (Genesis 1:27) and you are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). You don’t have to compare yourself to anyone else (Galatians 6:4-5).

One thing that we must realize is that people were created differently and they have different personalities. Because of this difference, there are different emotions that comes with those personalities. Since people are different, we must understand that we can’t control how they act or how they treat us. We can only control how we react and how we treat others.

When people come against you, you don’t have to fight your own battles by retaliating. Don’t do evil for evil and allow God to do the fighting for you (see Romans 12:17, 19). Oftentimes, the enemy uses people to come against you because He sees you as a threat to him. In addition, the enemy will use your weakness against you. Always remember that his goal is “to steal, kill, and destroy” as many people as possible (John 10:10, 1 Peter 5:7).

One thing that we must realize is that Christians will face persecution and “We wrestle not against flesh and blood (human beings), but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12 KJV).

When you are facing difficult situations with others in which you want to take action and do things your way, don’t. Allow God to take control of every situation in your life. When you avoid retaliating and you allow God to fight your battles, you will win every time! Your enemies or people who the enemy uses to come against you will see that light of Jesus Christ shining through you. As a result of Christ’s light shining through you, your enemies will have no other choice but to show you love. Who knows? Those same people may eventually ask you about God and want to know more about Him. BOOM! That’s the perfect opportunity to witness and preach the Gospel to them. Allow the light of Jesus Christ to shine in your life so that God can ultimately be glorified.

God can and will fight your battles.