Criticism Can Bring Growth if Handled Properly

Dear Saints,

We really need to talk about how to deal with criticism. Many people don’t take criticism well because they truly don’t know how to look at it in the right way. But when you have the right understanding, you will use it as fuel for your growth and never allow it to drain your strength again! Today I’ll give you some of the keys that you need to handle the various criticisms that come your way.

One of the keys you’ll need in dealing with criticism is to recognise and be THANKFUL that someone sees your value enough to want to inform you, in their own way, as to how they see you. If you didn’t have value, you really wouldn’t attract the attention. It doesn’t matter what is said or how it’s done. If you can take it well, criticism will actually get you to recognise and realise your value. Sometimes criticism comes so that you can see what you do and how you do it means something to someone. The Scriptures say that we enter His gates with thanksgiving, so bring it all, with thanks, into His presence. He will show you the meaning and purpose of it all and why it has come at this time, and how it fits in with what He wants you to see. Respond in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

Another key is to recognise that sometimes God is using your life to tell someone a story that they need to hear in order to WAKE UP. When people are nit-picking and criticising you, they are also watching you. You’re living out your dreams, moving forward in life, and God’s story is unfolding for you while they only sit and observe and comment. One day they will eventually realise they have been living off crumbs that fell from the table that the Lord was preparing for you right in front of their eyes. They were feeding on the goodness of God in YOUR life, forgetting that they too need a table of their own to eat from. Your life will be a witness of God’s goodness and glory to them, and what it looks like to journey well with God, even if at first they were looking only for the wrong reasons.

And finally, sometimes you just need to hear what your enemy is saying. If it were not important, then God would not have told Gideon in Judges 7:10-11 to go down into the camp and hear what the Midianites and Amalekites were saying. After Gideon heard their words, he worshipped God! From his enemy’s own mouth, he understood their weaknesses and discerned how God was about to move. His enemy had recognised his value and yet was still choosing to attack. And God turned the whole thing around, exposing the truth.

Sometimes people may attack you but the reality is that they are just intimidated by your growth and the only way for them to feel good about themselves is to come against you anyway. So just worship and advance! Listen carefully to what you hear so that you can discern the true nature of the battle and pray effectively. God sent Gideon down with one other person, so identify who God has put with you for this season and move forward. Just as God spoke to the Midianites and Amalekites after they had gathered against Gideon, so will God speak in due time to those who criticise and oppose those who live for Him today. For now, be thankful for the affirmation that comes through criticisms and for the strategies that come along with them. In ALL things be thankful and SURGE ahead.

HALLELUJAH! {eoa}

Rev. Betty King is a world-renowned speaker and prophetess. She is a true embodiment of the Father’s love and compassion. Her passion to fulfill God’s call has seen her travel to all the continents, moving in the prophetic, touching and transforming many lives and rekindling hope. She is a woman full of love, wisdom, kindness, hope, compassion and grace.

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