Jesus said in Matt.5:44
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Lately this verse keep coming to my mind...now I am not writing this post to preach to anyone or say, look at me I am holier than thou, the only reason I am writing it is to let others know that God's word is true and HE is faithful to work with our weaknesses and infirmities even though while in the process we feel so defeated, confused and just down right mad,
Phil 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:So I started thinking to myself and asking this question,
Who are my enemies?
Well from God's word I know that the World, the Devil, & The Flesh, ARE OUR BIGGEST ENEMIES, but in the verse above Jesus is talking about people that are my enemies, so who are they??????... immediately one woman came to my mind..
Now I started thinking what make that woman an enemy?
This is one of the definition from Merriam Webster dictionary,
Date: 13th century:
1 : one that is antagonistic to another; especially : one seeking to injure, overthrow, or confound an opponent.
Wikipedia definitions:
An enemy is a person who hates or dislikes another person, or is nasty or mean to the person he is an enemy to.
Now as I was searching for the meaning of this word many many painful, sad and hurtful memories came to my mind that were done to my family and me by that woman, but by the Grace of GOD I have learned to rise above them and just let them be where GOD can reach and take care of them....AND HE HAS... ALL GLORY AND PRAISE BE TO HIM.
NOW this is why I am writing this post to let you know my reader that GOD taught me to pray for that woman, and if you are thinking right now in the back of your mind that evil person that hurt me so much and some names or situations are coming to your mind reminding you of your enemy... please just stop and ask THE LORD JESUS TO TEACH YOU TO PRAY FOR THEM right now, you might say oh but you have no idea what they have done to me..... yes you are right... I do not know, but THESE TWO THINGS I HAD TO LEARN:
1.The ENMITY, HURT, PAIN AND SUFFERING came from the WOMAN and NOT FROM JESUS.
2. What she did to my family and Friends was nothing compare to what MY sin did to JESUS.
If you are a Born Again Christian and committed to serve THE LORD dear reader, I promise you that the biggest dart from the Devil at you and your family will come through someone in church who is gladly serving the Devil, filled with hate and have no compassion, there are at least 10 brothers and sisters that were almost destroyed because of that women in one incident alone that she put us through, many of those people have no desire to enter another church ever.....all because of the deeds of that woman, BUT GLORY BE TO GOD NOW AND FOREVER, HE IS A FRIEND THAT STICKETH CLOSER THAN A BROTHER, do not give up, keep trusting HIM.
HE taught me through the whole ordeal to pray for my enemy (that woman) and ask GOD to bless her and if some day HE wants me to love her and do good to her, I do not know what it will take, but I believe that HIS GRACE is available and freely given to each one of us when we are determined to obey AND DO HIS WORD, until then I will be praying for her as she comes to my mind, and I will go on my way singing...and praising him
Oh victory in JESUS my Savior forever.....
Amen, Helen.
ReplyDeleteYou know, our pastor preached on bitterness this Sunday night. It was In Laws' Sunday, and he made the notion that some of us may not be going to Heaven, based upon how we treat our mother-in-law ... he was joking of course ...
Anyways, Sunday night, he preached a sermon called, "Call me not Naomi, call me Mara."
Naomi means pleasant one; Mara means bitter.
He said bitterness was like a root.
You can either pull it out while it's small, or you can wait to later and have to call Woods Removal Service! (to be continued)
Here's some things to getting over bitterness.
ReplyDelete1. Admit you have a problem.
You know, sometimes I wonder if I really am bitter. I mean, when I think of everything that happened, sometimes, I laugh. I know that sounds kind of bad, but, it's like this: by all logic, I should be spiritually dead by all that happened, but, I am not. It's by the grace of Almighty God and friends like you that are the reason I am where I am today. Thank you!
2. Don't talk about it.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:31-32
Instead talk about the good things, like the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Ephesians 4:29
3. Another one was actually going to the person ... that is for real mature Christians.
4. Was doing good to them. I think prayer is a wonderful way to do this, especially while healing.
Another thing that I thought about is this:
it is hard, but, I have asked Almighty God to bless the church. Well, I figure it this way:
38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. Acts 5:38-39
If this church is of God, we cannot stop it, but, if it be of man, it will come to nought.
So, the way I see it, we should pray for the church and let God do His work.
Stand still and let God move!
Dear Ashley
ReplyDeleteThose are some great points you wrote here, love those verses.
you have been a big blessing to us.