You need enemies in your life: We looked at Truth-tellers. So I want to turn your attention Enemies. Jesus Christ gave us this commandment. “Love your enemies” (Luke 6:27). We cannot escape it. This is a key part of our own spiritual journey from bitterness to forgiveness to freedom. To say it another way, we cannot be set free until we set them free to be blessed by the Lord. The dictionary defines an enemy as “one who feels hatred toward, intends injury to, or opposes the interests of another.” “A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household” (Matthew 10:36). In that very passage he specified three very close relationships that go sour: A father and his son, A mother and her daughter, A mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law etc. God puts in every family people whom he uses to prepare for leadership in the world. He puts a Judas, an Absalom, a Peter, a Barnabas, King Saul and Timothy in every family. That’s why your closest friends, your strongest supporters, and your biggest critics will probably all come from your own flesh and blood. You have to learn to deal with the people closest to you before you can impact the world around you. On a deeper level, our enemies come from God. He allows them to enter our lives for reasons that are rarely apparent to us at the time. The case of Joseph and his brothers (Genesis 37-50) illustrates this truth. “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). Only a man with a deep belief in the sovereignty of God could utter those words after suffering so much mistreatment. Every time we are faced with people who mistreat us, we have three options: 1) We can hate them with total hatred. That accomplishes nothing. 2) We can struggle to hold back our anger. That will emotionally exhaust us. 3) We can pray for God to bless them. That opens the door for God to bless us as well. The world says, Get even. God says, Seek the good of those who have harmed you. The world says, Get angry. God says, Pray for them. The world says, Look for chances to make them suffer. God says, Look for chances to do good to them. The world says, Don’t waste time loving bad people. God says, I want you to love them anyway. We need to pray for our enemies—and they need our prayers. If we don’t pray for our enemies, who will? If we don’t pray for our enemies, how will they ever change? If we don’t pray for our enemies, how will we ever be free from bitterness? Here are some examples of those in scripture who prayed for their enemies: 1. JESUS: Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”. 2. STEPHEN: Acts 7:60 “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”. 3. MOSES: Numbers 12:13 “And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee”. 4. JOB: Job 42:10 “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends”. 5. DAVID: Psalm 35:13 “As for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom”. 6. JEREMIAH: Jeremiah 18:20 “Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digger a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them”. If you are to obey “Love your enemies” (Luke 6:27) and believe Romans 8:28, enemies are not really enemies… they are some of the best friends you will have. What is sometimes meant by some to hurt us actually helps bring about a work of grace in us that wouldnt take place any other way. Let us refer to Kind David. The person who turned against him was his son Absalom and also King Saul. But if the two never existed, how was Kind David supposed to write Psalm 18, Psalm 121 and many other Psalms. Psalm 23: says the Lord prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies, therefore enemies are not really enemies… they are some of the best friends you will have. So what you might call an enemy is really your best friend, a helper, an emissary from God for your good! For the way to Christlikeness is the cross, and the navigator that God uses to direct you there are those who some might call enemies. “Love your enemies” (Luke 6:27). We cannot escape it. This is a key part of our own spiritual journey from bitterness to forgiveness to freedom. To say it another way, we cannot be set free until we set them free to be blessed by the Lord.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 09:33:19 +0000
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