Mat 25:31-33 (NIV) WHEN the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He WILL sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations WILL be gathered before Him, and He WILL separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He WILL put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

Mat 25:34 (NIV) Then the King WILL say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”

Mat 25:35-36 (NIV) For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’

Mat 13:3-4 (NIV) Then He told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Mat 13:19 (NIV) When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The reason this person failed Jesus’ final exam was because they rejected ALL of His training on how we are to live life. Let’s see how this happened to them.

Some fell along the path: At first glance this doesn’t sound like something we, as Christians, need to concern ourselves with; we didn’t reject the gospel message. But, let’s take a look at what is going on here. What turns a person into having a heart that is so hard that it won’t even consider Jesus’ training? What kept them from learning how to help everyone get all their needs met for the rest of their lives?

The situation that created the path condition is the fact that people who were trying to get from point "A" to point "B" used this area of the field to traverse across; it was getting walked on. The more it got walked on, the harder it got. The harder it got, the better of a path it became. The more it became a good path, the more people used it to walk on. Gradually it became a popular path. Sound familiar?

Now, what does this path person who totally rejects Jesus’ training have to do with us? Mat 13:8 (NIV) Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Mat 13:23 (NIV) But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Yes, you have been walked on; yes, you have even been walked on by other Christians. But, you didn’t allow all that mistreatment to cause you to give up on Jesus. However, you do have damaged areas in your heart from it; that damages your crop production.

What happens to us when we get walked on and especially when we get walked on by other Christians? That area of our life gets hard. In other words, that area of our life isn’t able to produce a crop. Which means that area of our life isn’t able to be used to help people in need. Since we haven’t been able to give it up to God for healing, we still don’t know how to help others with such problems. The difference in us and the "path" person is that we don’t have this problem all over our life. We just have little patches here and there where our heart is hard. If we have a lot of these areas, however, we can be reduced all the way down to thirty percent of normal crop production.

The Holy Spirit isn’t going to let us use the sword of the Spirit to cut the legs off of passersby. But, He will help us fight the effects of their walking on us. When we have been walked on by someone we trust, we face a real temptation to retaliate, harbor resentment, or build up a wall against all other potential pedestrians. The Holy Spirit will help us use the sword of the Spirit to love and forgive them.

Satan will stage an all-out siege against your brain, will, heart, and mind. He will be trying to get you to make a bad decision. You can’t just let him pound on your helmet of salvation all day long. You are going to have to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. You are going to have to put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes (Eph 6:10-11). That is when the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith will play a vital part in protecting you. You must allow the shield of faith to help you believe that God is doing a good enough job of protecting your rights.

Mat 11:28 (NIV) Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. We have to give Jesus the issue that people are walking on various areas of our life. Even though it doesn’t seem fair to us that people are using and abusing us, we give our attitude over to Him and let Him handle the people. Our battle is with Satan and not with people. Eph 6:12 (NIV) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [people], but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Satan is the one who is trying to get us to hate the people and attack them. He wants us to try to make them stop doing things to abuse us. However, the people are just Satan’s messengers. Satan is pushing and influencing them to use and abuse you. It isn’t a physical problem (people); it is a spiritual one (Jesus and us vs. Satan). Go to Jesus and ask Him to set you free from this satanic attack; then find the Scriptures that keep you from getting mad at people and use those Scriptures to protect your attitudes. "Attack" the people with love. Start doing special things for them. Pour God’s love on them until they melt.

Luke 6:27-29 (NIV) But I tell you who hear Me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. If you will allow Jesus to train you, you will become a surgeon with your sword of the Spirit. You will be able to cut between the person and the chains that bind them to Satan.

This isn’t your weaponry AGAINST people it is FOR people. When we love people who are doing things that should cause us to hate them, this confuses them and causes them to see the powerful light of God. If, after an adequate period of time, they don’t respond to your love, then separate yourself from them and start working with others who need Jesus. If you can’t completely separate yourself from them, then avoid them as much as possible. BUT, spend most of your time with those who will listen to you about Jesus’ plan for them getting all their needs met for the rest of their lives.