Matthew 5: 43-48, "you have heard it said 'Love your neighbors and hate your enemies' But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And He sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong. If you love only those who love you, will God reward you for that? Even tax collectors love their friends. If you greet only your friends, what's so great about that? Don't even unbelievers do that?But you must always act like your Father in heaven."
I spend a lot of time in prayer. I have known alot of enemies. From years of experience I've found that they all have one thing in common, ME! When I start out in prayer over the misdeed of another, I usually see myself as a victim of unfairness or cruelty. In my own frail and human spirit I am too limited to muster my own resevoir of love. As my time before God releases cries of pain, anger and even vengeful thoughts, I confess by faith that God will right this wrong.
Following my confession, I begin to let go of the emotional reactions. I pray for all the good things I would want to recieve of His goodness and mercy to be released to the offender. This was at first a strange discipline to apply, but here is the real truth about having enemies. If you suffer an offense( and we all will have that oppertunity, if we breathe) it lands on you and comes into you to reveal something of your weakend state spiritually. When we are unable to retrieve the love of Christ as an immediate response by forgiving, we deny the very same access to God to those who need it most!
The offender is simply a container of others offenses toward them!! They are seeking to rid themselves of this hot potato of unkindness. With an adjusted view of the real enemy, we can see that to stop this cycle of hurt and pain, we need Gods perspective to flow directly to the area in need of restoration in our own lives.
When someone intentionally or even unintentionally hurts me, I have to examine my own heart. Because somewhere in there is the real enemy! The selfish part of me that doesn't want to have to share space with other hurting people for the sake of the Lord! Somewhere in there is the real truth, the one that sets us free!
It can take hours,days, months even years , to get free of being someone elses container! But remember we also are vessels. What do we contain that spills out into anothers life? Are we toxic in the things we release? As long as we live we will be filled with something.
And so I pray for my enemies, the ones that keep me from loving, forgiving, and being in right standing with God. I pray for the newness of joy and healing that comes from The Holy Spirit, I pray that the words of Christ Jesus will keep my mind in His peace! I pray for you this day that you will longsuffer for the sake of a revolutionary love, as Jesus continue to longsuffer in His perfect love over imperfect man. That none should perish, all should come to the knowledge of Him in his fullness!!!
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