“Love your enemies”

You have heard that it was said “love your neighbor and hate your enemy”. But I tell you LOVE your enemies and PRAY for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matthew 5:43-45

Meditation:

Love those who respect and love us is easy…

but JESUS said “LOVE your enemies” …

For human beings that is not easy because it is not our nature…

There are times when the gospel message doesn’t fit into our way of thinking, and this is one of them. How are we expected to "love our enemies?" Jesus offers us an answer when he tells us to PRAY for them. So often we think of LOVE as just an emotion, something we have no control over. While it is true that we can’t always control our feelings, we can control our actions, and LOVE is a function of the will, not the heart. We are not expected to have gushy feelings for those who attack us, our country, our way of life, and the people we love, but we are expected not to take action against them.

If we do, are we just as wrong as they are?

I have always found it ironic, that people use violence to bring about peace. IT DOESN’T WORK!

JESUS did not resort to violence. Do we realize that our enemies are still God’s children loved by him just as we are? GOD does not want us to hate, but to LOVE.

PRAYER is a very POWERFUL force. All we need to do is look at the changes brought about over the years by constant prayer.

For more many years in “Prayer Place” and “Peaceful Pastures” we had been praying with FAITH for many people, and PATIENTLY waiting for answers, but GOD answers in His time...

It may not have happened as quickly as those of us, who can barely wait for water to boil, would have liked, but it happened. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but is does happen – one loving heart at a time. We can begin with our words and move on to our actions. Words of PRAYER and LOVE can open the stoniest of hearts.

As the song says, "Let there be PEACE on earth, and let it begin with me." inner peace...

Prayer:

Our Father in Heaven, it is not always easy to love those who have hurt us, or whose ideas we disagree with, but this is what you ask of us. Help us to continue Praying and spreading your word with Love. It is the only thing that can make some enemies friends, help me to fill my life with your HOLY SPIRIT’S FRUIT and OBEY you. In JESUS’ name we pray. Amen!

Jose Reyes