Love Your Enemies

Love Your Enemies

1 Sam 26:11 "The LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD'S anointed.."

King Saul hated David. Saul was busy hunting David down and wanted to destroy him. What was David’s great sin that Saul should hate him so much? Saul simply cherished a spirit of jealousy and once envy was cherished it became hatred which led to Saul desiring to murder David.

"Envy is the offspring of pride, and if it is entertained in the heart, it will lead to hatred and eventually to revenge and murder." EGW

Jesus was hated.

John 15:25 “...they hated me without a cause.” '

I am hated. How much self wants to retaliate, to shout the real truth from the mountain tops, to respond in anger, bitterness, to hate back, to desire their downfall. God calls to my heart to surrender all to Him. To surrender all my hurt, all my anger and all my desire to hurt back, all my desire to restore my ruined reputation. 

God calls me to not touch the one He has anointed for ministry. How do I surrender to God’s calling? How does God want me to feel, to act, to respond?

I pray the prayer of David and my heart calls out to God

Psalms 35 :19- 26 “Let them not rejoice over me who are wrongfully my enemies; Nor let them wink with the eye who hate me without a cause. For they do not speak peace,But they devise deceitful matters Against the quiet ones in the land. They also opened their mouth wide against me,And said, “Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen it.” This You have seen, O Lord; Do not keep silence. O Lord, do not be far from me. Stir up Yourself, and awake to my vindication, To my cause, my God and my Lord. Vindicate me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness; And let them not rejoice over me. Let them not say in their hearts, “Ah, so we would have it!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”
Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion Who rejoice at my hurt; Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor Who exalt themselves against me.”

I cry out for God to vindicate me. I cry out for God to speak to my enemy’s heart that they may see their wrong and be ashamed and be led to repentance.

Time. Waiting. Day after day goes by. How long oh Lord?

How do you want me to live in the midst of this hatred? What do I do?

Prov 25:21, 22" If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the Lord will reward you

Rom 12:19-21 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Ex 23:4,5 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.”

God calls me to treat this person who hates me with kindness and thoughtfulness. To think of their needs. God asks me to do only good to one who does evil to me.

What attitude does God want me to hold? What are my thought processes to be?

Matt 5:11 "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake."

1 peter 2:23 " Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously"

1 Peter 3:9" Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing."

Rom 12:17-21" Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 

Lev 19:18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.

God wants my heart to surrender all rights and desires to pay back, the desire for vengeance, the desire to respond with evil for evil. He asks me to search my motives and my words and my thoughts. What is truly deep in my heart? He asks me to not hold onto any grudge...no bitterness and no unforgiveness in my soul. He calls me to live peaceably and to feel blessed. He asks me to commit the whole situation to Him. Most of all God calls me to love the one who hates me. To love with other centred love.

Matt 5:43- 48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

God give me a heart that loves my enemy, give me a heart that prays for her, give me a heart that is perfect towards her as yours is perfect towards me who was once your enemy
Col 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.

Lord for how you have loved and treated me is how you want me to love and treat my enemy. 

Ps 109:1-5 Do not keep silent, O God of my praise! For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful Have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, And hatred for my love.

Oh Lord I give myself to prayer. I want your other centred love in my heart.

Guard Well The Avenues to The Soul

Guard Well The Avenues to The Soul

1 Kings 9: 15-17 And this is the reason for the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) And Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth Horon, Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,

What appears to be random verses in the Bible of just simply stated facts can often hold deep insight to something God is calling for me to do in my life.

Here we see Solomon busily building. He is building Millo, a fortified strong hold in the city of Jerusalem, he strengthens the wall of the city,he builds Hazor, a strong city in the far north of his territory, Megiddo a strong hold in the far south, Gezer, strategically placed in the western plains, Beth Horon a town in an important mountain pass, and Baalath and Tadmor are outlying towns, he strengthens.

Solomon, ruler of a vast territory, King of strength and power and wealth and might. From Solomon’s life of the busy work of fortifications and plans of defense for his territory, what does God call me to do in my life? Solomon is guarding well all avenues into his dominion so that the enemy may not enter in and thus conquer any part of his territory. Nor does Solomon give the enemy any opportunity to entirely defeat him and bring him to total destruction.

“Those who would not fall a prey to Satan’s devices must guard well the avenues of the soul; they must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing that which will suggest impure thoughts. The mind should not be left to wander at random upon every subject that the adversary of souls may suggest” MYP 285

Do I guard the avenues to my soul as diligently as Solomon guarded his domain? Do I plan how those avenues can be guarded? Do I pray about it? Do I fortify those places? 

My mind is my citadel. It is up to me to choose to guard all avenues to it. To hold it in strong protection. It is the domain of God in my soul. I do not want the enemy to conquer any part of my mind, to weaken it, to take over God’s domain in way...not in part or in whole.

Phil 2:5 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus...”

John 17:20 You, Father, are in Me, and I in You

As the Father dwelt in Christ’s mind so he desires to dwell in my mind.

John 15:5 Abide in me, and I in you

Jesus’s mind was a fortress, a dwelling place for God. Jesus wants to dwell in my mind and set up a strong hold against the enemy in my mind.

Ps 27:1 The LORD is the stronghold of my life

God calls me to choose to guard that strong hold, His dwelling place in my soul, which is in mind.

What are the avenues to my soul that satan will use?

“All should guard the senses, lest Satan gain victory over them; for these are the avenues of the soul.” A.H 401

It is through touch, taste, smell, sight and sound that satan gains access to God's domain in my mind.

Prov 4:23 Above all else, guard thy heart; for out of it flows the issues of life.

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What I allow into my mind will either take over the domain of God within or enhance the domain of God within and thus out of my mind will flow the enemy of God or God himself.

Prov 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he...

Phil 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Luke 6:45 "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

Every Christian must stand on guard continually, watching every avenue of the soul where Satan might find access. He must pray for divine help and at the same time resolutely resist every inclination to sin. By courage, by faith, by persevering toil, he can conquer. But let him remember that to gain the victory Christ must abide in him and he in Christ. AH 401

2 Cor 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ

John 15:5 Abide in me, and I in you