The Opposite Life: Unlocking the Mysteries of God’s Upside-Down Kingdom

By Alex Seeley

What if the path to a life of abundance and blessing isn't what we expected? What if the way forward begins with going backward?

In our constant search for a life filled with blessing and abundance, we often follow our human instinct and then wonder why we come up short. But it doesn't have to be that way. Join pastor and author Alex Seeley as she teaches us that God always has a better idea -- we just have to move in a new direction.

In?The Opposite Life, Seeley explains that the secret to living a powerful and abundant life lies in the upside-down kingdom of God. Each chapter of The Opposite Life explores the opposite-life principles that can start to shift our mindset for the better, diving deeper into the natural contradictions between:

• death and life
• fear and faith
• hate and love
• worry and worship
• impossible and possible

Along the way, she offers encouraging and simple challenges to help us align our lives with God's subversive plan. As we learn to exchange our default instincts for the surprising teachings of Jesus -- our pioneer of the unlikely -- we discover a life of transformational power, abundance, and more blessing than we ever thought possible.

Praise for The Opposite Life:

"Our broken earth longs for just this type of unveiling. It is time for us to remember who we are and respond as sons and daughters of the Most High God. There is a desperate longing for His goodness in the face of overwhelming anger, pain, and confusion. The Opposite Life is a drink of living water in a dry and arid land."

--Lisa Bevere, New York Times bestselling author of Without Rival and Girls with Swords

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Aug 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9780785216131

Alex Seeley

Alex Seeley was born and raised in Australia and spent seventeen years pastoring there. It is also where she met and married her husband, Henry. After relocating to Nashville in 2012, they founded The Belonging Co., a church where they minister together to thousands of people each week. She is a passionate teacher of the Word with the unique ability to reveal how the Word of God is applicable to our everyday lives.  

Book preview

ONE

MOVING IN THE OPPOSITE SPIRIT

When I was twenty-one years old, I was finally ready. Since the age of eleven, I’d dreamed of going into full-time ministry. But after high school my father had asked me to get a job before going to seminary, even if just for a year or so. I guess he wanted me to be sure I knew what I was doing, and maybe even have a few experiences in the marketplace so I would be certain ministry was my calling.

But after a couple of years of working as an administrative assistant at a law firm, I knew that administration was not my passion; people were. So I enrolled in Bible college. I was over-the-moon excited. I was eager to begin learning the deep truths of the Bible so that I could step into my God-given calling.

During this time, someone very close to me began to provoke me in hurtful ways, cutting my heart deeply. For the sake of protecting that person’s identity, I am going to call him Fred. He was not a Christian; in fact, he was quite averse to anything remotely related to church or ministry. Whenever we talked, he would tease me and call me derogatory names in an obvious attempt to get a reaction. But I always remained calm, because I felt like that was the Christian thing to do. I believed I was supposed to grin and bear it.

He was relentless in his pursuit to upset me, and one day his taunts escalated. Besides the usual name-calling, he said something that was unforgiveable and then finished the sentence with, Who do you think you are, trying to become a pastor? I finally lost my cool and let him have it. Uncontrollable anger burned inside of me. I yelled at him and cussed right back with fire in my tongue, wanting to hurt him as badly as he’d hurt me. I felt justified in my decision to fight back.

Later, as I was talking to my mum about it, I couldn’t get past what had happened. And my heart hurt even further when she didn’t take my side. How could she not see that I was justified to respond the way I had? Enough was enough, right?

Don’t you even care that he was rude to me? I asked her.

That was when my very wise mum said, Alex, who is the Christian in this scenario?

Well, I am, of course.

Exactly, she said. He doesn’t know any better than to be insulting, to verbally attack you. However, you do. You could have walked away without saying a word. You need to forgive him and ask for his forgiveness for the things you said to him in anger.

I was stunned. But she wasn’t finished.

If you really want to be a minister of the gospel who practices what you preach, then you need to understand the principle of moving in the opposite spirit. Kindness would have disarmed the situation, because kindness is not what he was expecting from you. He was expecting anger, likely even goading you to see if he could get a reaction out of you, and he succeeded. You allowed his words to become personal instead of seeing him through the eyes of Jesus. Nothing he said to you should have had any bearing on who you are. Next time you find yourself in a similar situation, you need to show love to that person, even when they hurt you. That will change the atmosphere and give you authority over the situation.

Her advice seemed impossible to carry out. How could I forgive someone who continually hurt me? I honestly didn’t want to forgive Fred, and I told her so.

So she went on. It’s true you can’t do this by yourself. You need the Holy Spirit’s help to forgive. Why don’t you go find a quiet place and talk to God about it. Ask Him how you should respond.

Though I did pray, I didn’t need to do so in order to figure things out—I already knew the answer. Jesus said in Luke 6, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you (v. 27). And that’s what I was called to do.

WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON

Living with a loving and forgiving heart can feel defeating. It seems as though the wicked get through life without a problem and Christians are the ones who suffer. It seems as though the wicked don’t get called out for their bad behavior while people of faith are called to a higher standard. It seems as though the wicked go unpunished while God’s children are held accountable. It seems as though the wicked get the upper hand while the faithful take the heat.

This may be how you feel, but the truth is, the very opposite thing is taking place in the spiritual realm. What I learned from my mum that day was the importance of living according to the opposite spirit. By this, I mean acting in a way that is contrary to what is expected in our world. The Holy Spirit living in us allows us to react positively, which is contrary to the negativity coming our way. As a result, we exchange generosity for greed. We exchange peace for stress. We exchange excellence for laziness. We exchange silence and wholesome words for gossip. Or in my specific case, I exchanged forgiveness and kindness for slander.

Since then, I’ve come to realize that when we move in the opposite spirit of what we naturally want to do in our flesh, we activate God to move on our behalf and fight the battle for us in the spiritual realm. Rather than fighting flesh and blood, we begin to war against the authorities and rulers of the spiritual realm over our lives (Eph. 6:12). We defeat the Enemy by doing things God’s way, which is what the kingdom of God is all about. When faced with a situation, we should ask ourselves, What would Jesus do? Asking this question can yield miraculous results in our lives. Living in the opposite spirit enables us to live victoriously, with great power and abundance.

When we move in the opposite spirit on a consistent basis, we are storing credits in a heavenly bank account, so to speak. Every time we respond with love instead of reacting in anger, Jesus sees our choice and records it (Rev. 20:12), even if the person we are interacting with doesn’t change. Our account builds over time, with interest, and offers a reward in this life and the life to come. What we sow, we will reap. And when we sow goodness in times of hardship, we will reap goodness. Luke 6:35 says it clearly: But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. God rewards us when we move in the opposite spirit, and the reward will be far greater than anything we can imagine.

If we live life God’s way, our lives will flourish. For those who oppose God’s way, their lives will not flourish unless they repent and turn from their ways. Isaiah 55:7 says, Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them. The bad guys never win in the end, but a repentant heart always does.

In my case, I didn’t get justice—even after I apologized to Fred. But God brought a reward for my own heart. My response pleased the heart of God because I was reflecting His nature and not the nature of my flesh.

Fred continued to mock me and berate me for being a Christian. His insults often came out of nowhere and sometimes at the worst possible time in an attempt to throw me off my game. However, as I grew stronger in my faith and stood by my decision to see him with different eyes, I found that love was growing in my heart for him. I found myself responding in love instead of reacting in offense. Over the next year, I saw him completely change his stance toward me. He stopped mocking me and started engaging in real conversations. He even began to seem interested in what I was pursuing.

I don’t see Fred very often today, but when we do connect it’s lovely. I have heard through the grapevine how much he respects my life. I have even had the opportunity to pray with him several times when he has been in crisis. Though it would appear he might not be living for God, his heart toward God has softened greatly, which is a miracle in itself.

LIVING OUT THE TRUTH

Imagine how the world could be impacted if followers of Jesus all moved in the opposite spirit to that which we find in our cultures. Imagine if Christians actually practiced what we are instructed to do in the Bible. Jesus spoke about how to move in the opposite spirit in Luke 6:

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. . . . But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. (vv. 27–31, 35)

Love your enemies. That’s a countercultural thought, I know, but the Bible is really clear on how we need to respond to our enemies. Still, it continues to astound me how, as Christians, we justify our actions and bend biblical truth to rationalize our responses. Also, we need to remember that our enemies are not always strangers. In fact, when Jesus speaks about loving our enemy in Matthew 5:44, the Greek translation for the word enemy used in this verse means our personal enemy. Our enemies aren’t just the evil people we read about or watch on the news, but they can also be family members and people we thought were our friends.

As we live out the truth of the gospel, the results are staggering. It is not always easy to do, since our flesh is often screaming to do what feels right. But if we discipline our lives to obey the Word of God, we will gain a peace that transcends understanding and receive a reward from doing things God’s way. And Scripture promises that when we obey, goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives (Ps. 23:6).

Moving in the opposite spirit is one of the highest weapons of spiritual warfare in a Christian’s arsenal, and when used consistently, it is a weapon of mass destruction to the Enemy. It displaces strongholds in the spirit realm over our lives and releases the angel armies to fight on our behalf. This, in turn, yields supernatural results in the natural realm. The rewards are priceless, because when we act in the opposite spirit against the Enemy, we receive a level of freedom, power, and authority the world cannot understand.

Moving in the opposite spirit has many benefits:

•We will receive any good that we do back from the Lord (Eph. 6:5–8).

•Wrath is forced to leave (Prov. 15:1).

•God hears our prayers (1 John 5:14).

•God vindicates us (Rom. 12:19).

•He supplies all our needs according to His riches (Phil. 4:19).

•We receive heavenly rewards for enduring in this life (Luke 6:22–23).

•We live in peace (2 Cor. 13:11).

LOOKING DIFFERENT

I truly believe that as followers of Jesus we are missing the point if we think memorizing scriptures and reciting them verbatim is the goal of our Christian walk. In our day-to-day lives, consistently practicing what we preach is what is important. Jesus is our greatest example. He studied and knew the Old Testament scriptures, but He also led a perfect life, and everything He did brought glory and honor to God. He introduced us to a new kingdom way of living, a way completely opposite of what feels natural. And His way yields supernatural results.

While studying the Gospels, I began to see that Jesus regularly asked His disciples to do the exact opposite of what people had done for generations. He asked them to live a life in which their spirit dictated their flesh, rather than their flesh dictating their spirit. As His followers, He asks the same of us. Living according to the Spirit is what makes us different and sets us apart from the world. The Christian lifestyle should stop people in their tracks. And as we live lives opposite to the world’s way of interacting and responding, we can begin to turn the world upside down.

Jesus did this not by declaring war or fighting battles. He turned the world upside down and inside out by living and moving in the opposite spirit to the natural realm. He didn’t follow the expected. He threw the natural things into chaos and caused people to see a different point of view. He acted in a completely foreign way to how most in His time did. He did so with such simplicity and kindness that even children could grasp these new concepts. He loved instead of hated. He gave instead of taking. He served instead of expecting to be served. He forgave instead of seeking revenge.

Imagine a world where we don’t seek revenge when we get hurt but rather seek to bless instead. A world where the need to be right means less to us than the need to be in right relationships. A world where generosity is freely given with no strings attached just because we understand it is better to give than receive. A world where there is no insecurity or pride because we have discovered the secret that each and every human is loved and highly favored. A world where we live according to God’s kingdom philosophy, and bless and serve all those around us as a result.

One of our world’s driving needs is for retribution. If someone steals from you, then you are expected to prosecute him or her. If someone hits you on the cheek, you should punch him or her back. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Sounds savage, doesn’t it? When we are wronged, our immediate instinct is to get revenge. We want to cast blame and seek justice.

As the church, God calls us to live unlike the world. The apostle Peter wrote:

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. (1 Pet. 2:11–15)

Another Bible translation says that we are aliens and strangers (NASB) in this world who are away from our eternal home. Here we are called foreigners, but we are commissioned to go into the world and make disciples, teaching them to obey what Jesus taught. We are to teach them God’s way of doing things according to the kingdom of heaven.

If I’m honest, when I look over history and the way the global church has behaved on this earth, I see that we’ve often operated more like institutions of law and judgment rather than places of safety, acceptance, and love. Religion has too often focused more on the things it’s against than on creating a place of refuge; it has facilitated more wars than peace. Is it any wonder why the world looks at the church and sees something God never intended it to look like? The gospel is meant to be conveyed in deeds, not just in words. Talk is cheap, but the gospel in action is priceless and has the ability to change the world.

As I read through the New Testament, I discovered that sinners loved hanging out with Jesus. If I were to ask sinners today whether they like hanging out with Christians, I’m afraid the answer would be no. We have become a body known for what we are against instead of what we stand for.

A friend once said to me, Alex, everyone wants the real Jesus. And I believe this to be true. Jesus was kind and He was truthful. He never compromised His core beliefs, and yet everyone around Him was given an opportunity to be changed for the better.

Perhaps we as the church have missed our calling to follow Jesus’ example with the message of the gospel. Rather than living an opposite life and changing the world, we’ve been filling up our time with knowledge from the Bible without going the next step of applying it to our everyday lives. We have been hearers of the Word but not doers of the Word (James 1:22). We have been listening but not applying the kingdom principles Jesus taught when He walked the earth.

Maybe this whole time we have overcomplicated things and are actually missing the point of the gospel. The gospel is