Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The Bully

Growing up as an extremely skinny, smallish and sometimes sickly looking child, was not an easy inferiority complex to deal with. Whenever anyone referred to the “broomstick”, “stockfish” and in advanced times “AIDS patient”, I knew who they were referring to. Some said such at my back. The ones that said it to my face did it often during exchange of words. But there was one special girl. Let us call her “Estella”. She was bigger than our mates. She was a tomboy. She could beat up boys. Her mouth was very sharp. Everyone feared her – how much more me.

My mother tried to help with my self-esteem. She called me “small but mighty” (knowing we could not deny the “small” part). It was from her mouth I first heard the word “charisma”. She said declared that I had charisma, and that anyone who gets to know me will like me.

When Estella had finished with those close to her size, I became her prey. She was impossible to deal with. She called me names. She shoved and pushed me. If I said any word back at her, she would hit me real hard. For me there was no point attempting to hit her back because I was no match for her. I had seen what she had done with others. I did not need to go home blue-black before I knew what she was capable of.

As I lay down one day on my bed, afraid of going to school the next day, I wondered how I could get back at Estella. Just before I drifted off to sleep, I remembered that I was “small but mighty”. I most likely had something she did not have. I was going to let her know about that the next day.

As usual, the next morning as I arrived, I was about to enter my class when Estella shoved me to a corner. “Stockfish,” she started, “I am going to break you this morning and have you for my snacks”.

I faced her boldly and said, “One day you will get tired of calling me stockfish. I am very intelligent, and that is something you do not have. Continue beating me. It is your mother who will beat you every time you fail because instead of reading your books, you spend time fighting people. And that is why nothing ever enters your head”. (Her mother was a teacher in school, and I can bet her poor grades were serious matter at home).

That did the trick, because that was the last time she touched me, insulted me or any other person in that school. By the time we got to secondary school, we had become friends.

In life, there is one I liken to “the bully”. He is none other than the devil. He is out to steal, kill and destroy. His schemes are centered on making you Doubt - question God’s Word and his goodness; making you feel Discouraged - if you look at your problems rather than at God; Deceives you that wrong things seem attractive so that you will want them more than the right things; makes you feel Defeated so that you will feel like a failure even before you try; make you Delay things, knowing that procrastination will prevent you from getting important things done. Have you ever found yourself in any of these situations?

As I think about the experience with Estella the bully, some things I learnt that can be applied when dealing with the enemy are:

1. Know who you are: - Though I was smallish, I knew I had something Estella did not have, which gave me an edge over her. When dealing with the enemy you need to understand that you are a child of God through faith in Christ Jesus [Galatians 3:26]. The DNA of God is in you.

2. Know that the enemy no longer has power or authority over you: - The authority that was originally given to man in the beginning, and was taken when man sinned, has been restored by what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus stripped the rulers and authorities of their power, and made a public spectacle of them as He celebrated His victory ... [Colossians 2:15, GWT].

3. Words have power to cause change: - When dealing with the enemy, the words that matter are the words of God. The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, is our offensive weapon [Ephesians 6:17b, Isaiah 49:2]. The word of God is powerful and effective at driving away the enemy and destroying his work.

While this is not an exhaustive list, simply understand the enemy has no power or authority over you. You can overcome him and his ways because of who you are in Christ Jesus.

By the way, though I am still slim, I have added some height and body parts *wink* that would make one think twice before calling me those names I used to be called before.

Remain Blessed...

22 comments:

doll (retired blogger) said...

insightful

Myne said...

LOL at adding body parts.

Thanks for sharing this. The devil is certainly a liar.

Denike said...

Very uplifting Rita. I always enjoy your "articles" though I don't always comment. A refreshing Word to feed my soul! God bless you!

ZeL said...

Lol@estella. You sure did stand up for yourself

Thanks for this...inspiring

Anonymous said...

I like the fact that you chose to no longer be intimidated when you discovered something she didn't know...something that stops her in her tracks. The same with dealing with the devil. Once we KNOW who we are and what the word says, we can no longer be intimidated by his threats.

Kafo said...

may i never give in the bully who masquerades as a friend

Blessing said...

Wow...I just came back from mid-week service and my Pastor preached a similar msg!

I guess God is tryin to tell me something!

Thanks for sharing Rita!

Giagerry said...

very lovely post Rita!
How r u doing??--take kare hun!!

bArOquE said...

interesting read...point(s) noted

Olufunke said...

Small but mighty Rita!!!

The devil is a liar!True

jhazmyn said...

Reminds me of something I heard yesterday....when the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future....

Those points are so valid...God bless u Rita

Dee! said...

SOFT but mighty words!

Thank God Estella was wise enough to take the cue and work on her lapses.

Geebee said...

Hmmm, this was a good one as usual. The devil is indeed a liar and a bully and all we need do to remember our place is the fact that we may be small but we are indeed mighty through God's grace upon us. I loved this. The Estella story was definitely something.

bob-ij said...

This was such a good story to blend into Faith. What easier way to comprehend than to apply it to real life.

Thanks!

~x~

David C Brown said...

Subject yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you, James 4:7.

~Sirius~ said...

Words are powerful, so that gives an insight as to how powerful the Word of God is.

LOL @ Small and mighty

Rainyjoy said...

nice write up !

i love the way you were able to bring out the message from the story.
when we don't know our identity in Christ we permit the enemy to lie to us.

well said 'the DNA of God is in us', yay !!!
thanks 4 sharing.
xxx

Rita said...

@doll:-Thanks

@Myne Whitman:- ah, I had to include the added body parts cos to me it's a miracle...yes oh, he is d father of lies...

@Denike:- hey Nike, I didn't know you've been reading. Thanks for dropping the comment, and now am aware...

@ZeL:- Estella was something else...but now she's a loving wife and mother n am sure she'll laugh when she is reminded of the terror she was. Thank God you found the post inspiring.

@Maid of Heart:- Well said. We cannot be intimidated for we are mighty in God.

@Kafo:-Amen.

@Blessing:- You're welcome B.

@Gee:- thanks oh. I'm taking good care now :-)

@bArOquE:-Ok oh... But you are still owing me gist.

@Olufunke:- thanks to Mama.

Rita said...

@jhazmyn:-does the devil have a "future"? :-) Thanks dear.

@Dee!:- love your choice of words. Yeah, thank God for her...

@Geebee:-I just like reading your insightful comments...

@bob-ij:- you're welcome. I guess there are things in life from which we can draw analogies to our walk with God...

@David C Brown:-Do you know I was thinking of this scripture when I wrote this post? Amazing!

@~Sirius~:- So true. And you can picture the truth of "small but mighty"...Meanwhile, what was Mrs. doing on blogsville early saturday morning?

@Rainyjoy:- Thanks. Taking ur words, I think it is key that we know our identity in Christ.

Anonymous said...

The power of words........... "Small but mighty". All you needed were those 3 words to make you permanently victorious over the bully.

Anonymous said...

Genial dispatch and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Thanks you as your information.

Anoda Phase said...

you r very right...there is indeed power in words...I thank your mum for instilling that self esteem in you from a tender age, and especially when you needed it most...4 real, all the devil does is try to assign us a defeated mentality which if we subscribe to definitely spells doom.