Love Your Enemies and Bless Those That Curse You
Greetings sisters in Christ,
I pray you are strong in the Lord and not allowing circumstances or people get in the way of your devotion and obedience to God. Yes, in everyone's life, even godly homes, there can be much strife and flesh, but we as sisters in the Lord, must strive diligently to not get swept away in it. The ones closest to us can hurt the most, but that doesn't mean we should hurt them the most, does it?
The word of God says we are to love our enemies and we can say it all day long, but do we really?
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. [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; [45] That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. [46] For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? [47] And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others ? do not even the publicans so? [48] Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48
If we only love those who love us or do good to those who do good to us, what reward have we? We must rise up above all that and strive to do as our Savior did in the midst of all the hatred and persecution.
But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, [28] Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. [29] And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. [30] Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. [31] And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. [32] For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. [33] And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. [34] And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. [35] But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. [36] Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Luke 6:27-36
We are instructed to take it even further than our flesh wants. It's one thing to forgive and love someone, but to also do good and then go the extra mile?
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: [22] For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee. Proverbs 25:21-22
Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Romans 12:20
We sisters, even if we strive for that meek and quiet spirit, can get in our flesh when situations get heated or troublesome. We may be able to go so far and then something breaks and we are overcome instead of overcoming.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21
How many of you are able to do this? I can raise my hand for some of the time but certainly admit I need much work in this area. When pressed to my limit, one of two things happen. In one instance, I remember that we are to take every thought captive for Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) and I begin that internal struggle against the sinful thoughts coming to my mind, which brings me to tears. I'm then weak and defeated for satan to do his dirty work and bring me lower. The other situation is when I didn't catch my flesh in time and my mouth becomes a weapon against the evil and fights with an evil of it's own.
Tears may be somewhat better than spouting off, but neither one is the way we are to go because we are to 'do good' are we not? It means that we rise above the occasion, overcome our flesh and actively do what God's word commands. The only way to do this is to be prepared and have our Ephesians 6 armor on, not forgetting that this is all a spiritual battle, good vs evil, flesh vs spirit etc.
My first line of defense is to work hard at not opening my mouth when I haven't mastered my flesh, remembering one of my favorite verses:
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Isaiah 53:7
What a great and encouraging example, amen? And if I do say anything it should be as the following:
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. Proverbs 31;26
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
