The Emphasis

Gen.32:^29-30 “Jacob asked, “And what’s your name?” The man said, “Why do you want to know my name?” And then, right then and there, he blessed him. Jacob named the place Peniel (God’s Face) because, he said, “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!” (MSG)

When it comes to confrontation, the key is to pass through conflict in order to achieve unity. You must keep the objective in sight with every confrontation and the objective is to achieve unity. The objective of confrontation is not to retaliate, or to humiliate, or to berate. What most people do when they confront issues is to retaliate, to get their pound of flesh back and that is not confrontation. Sometimes when we confront, what we do is to humiliate but the objective of confrontation is not humiliation. Sometimes when we confront people, what we do is to berate them, again that is not the objective of confrontation. To confront is to pass through conflict, emphasis on passing through so that peace can be achieved.

So, who should you confront? The first person you should confront is yourself, start by confronting yourself. Why do I feel lonely – confront your loneliness and overpower it with the Word and the love of God. Why am I holding on to offense and why don’t I forgive easily? Confront the unforgiveness, wrestle with yourself, and then take it to God. Why do I shy away from confrontation? Confront yourself on why you do not like confrontation. When we confront ourselves, we actually become stronger and better. After confronting yourself, then you need to confront the people in your life. Look at everybody in your life and confront them one after the other. You know what confrontation means, right? I am not saying you should fight the people in your life, I am saying confront them.

Why? It is because as long as you are in relationships with human beings, there is something that is imperfect that exists and that can be better. Is it your child, is it your friend, is it your sibling, is it your spouse, or is it your boss? Confront them, have a conversation about the issues, the things that are preventing your relationship from getting to the next level. List everyone you are in a relationship with and then one after the other, check. Is this person important to me? Am I in an interdependent relationship with this person? For your relationship to be optimal, you need to with an attitude of humility and the objective of getting the right results, confront the person. List five people you are going to confront this week from Monday to Friday. Then evaluate the relationships and make sure you are in touch with five of them. By Sunday, the start of a new week, you will see what will happen.

So, you start by confronting yourself, confront the people in your life, and then confront God. Confront God? Yes, come together face to face for the purpose of unity. After confronting God, Jacob named the place Peniel which means the face of God. He said, I have confronted God face to face, yet my life has been spared. That was when he was transformed from Jacob to Israel.

Prayer: Father I ask for the courage to truly confront my vertical and horizontal relationships with humility and the right heart, in Jesus Name. Amen!