Love Your Enemies, And Pray For Those Who Persecute You: Part 1

Hey guys! Sorry this post is so late. After procrastinating about posting all day, I'm finally here. XD

Without any further procrastination, let's get going with todays post, entitled, 'Love Your Enemies, And Pray For Those Who Persecute You: Part 1'. It's going to be slightly like my post that I did a while back called 'I'll Love You... When/If/Then', but slightly different.

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Photo credit: Bible.com

Loving your enemies is something that probably sounds strange, and the complete opposite of what you want to do. When someone does something wrong to us, our automatic reaction as humans is hate. We just want that person to "get a taste of their own medicine", and see how that would feel to them.

But the Bible says that's not how we should be. Matthew 5:43-45 says,

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“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 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.

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I just read 1 Samuel, and am currently reading 2 Samuel, and it's crazy how King David still showed love and kindness to Saul's family, even though Saul wanted to kill David. That's an amazing example of loving your enemies.

I'm sure it wasn't easy though. In 1 Samuel 24:4 it says,

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The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

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David might of been tempted to kill Saul, after all David had been through because of him. But he didn't. How did he resist that temptation?

David was a man of God, and knew that Saul was the Lord's anointed, to be king over His people, Israel. David probably knew Saul must have been anointed king for a reason, so he wouldn't dare to kill him.

Yes, even those who do wrong to us have a purpose in this life. God put them on the planet for a reason. It might be hard to see the reason through all the hurt they've inflicted on you, but they must be here on this earth, in your life, for a reason.

Even through all the pain, we have to realize they're people just like us. In Matthew 5:25 says how evil and rain comes on them too. They might not even realize they're just inflicting hurt, and evil, and rain on us. Even if they do, I'm sure they don't like getting hurt, evil, and getting rained on with problems. So we should never do wrong things back to them. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 says,

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Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

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We might be tempted to repay wrong for wrong, but we need to resist that temptation, and just cover the people who hate us with love, and prayer.

Like I said in my 'I'll Love You... When/If/Then' post, we need to pray that they will change their ways while we love them, but not praying they'll change their ways so we can love them.

Who do you need to start showing love instead of hate to today? Pray and ask God about that.

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On Sunday (orrrr next Thursday, all depends XD), part 2 will go up, which will be more about praying for those who persecute you.

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~Graciepopstar91