Devotional

Luke 6:35
“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.”

Matthew 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;

One of the hardest thing for me, and I am sure for others, is to bless my enemies. It is easier to forgive, but then we are asked to reward them with blessings? An upside down-God? 

No. An upside-down world.

I was praying over this issue, because whenever I think about enemies of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, I get angry. I want them punished and brought to justice. There is nothing wrong with righteous anger, and the Psalms of David call for the humiliating defeat of our enemies.

Still, God commands us to bless them, but we don't bless their action, their evil, their depravity. We bless their souls, that they, too, may be saved. Why? Because when they turn to God with all their heart, and all their soul, and all their mind, they will also turn from their wicked ways and the world becomes a better place.

Matthew 22:37, Deuteronomy 6:5
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

And that is, the Holy Spirit told me, why we bless our enemies. This may be hard to do, but it is easy to love our friends. Blessing our enemies sets us APART from the world; it makes us HOLY. We still hate what they do. But when we bless them, we pray for their salvation. In addition, how many evil people have broken down and given their lives to Jesus because a true Christian showed them kindness, not vengeance. And once an evil person is saved, they become powerful allies of God. Think of Saul, who persecuted Jesus by jailing and killing Christians. As Paul, he still saves lives today,

Acts 9:4
And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

I pray then:

Heavenly Father, bless Joe Biden and his family, that they, too, may be saved and turn from their wicked ways. Bring them to justice and repentance. We trust in Your righteousness to administer vengeance. Who am I to question Your judgement? Bless them, Lord, so You bless us despite our many transgressions. We show Joe Biden and his family the same grace that You granted us when You waited patiently before softening our hearts. Thank You, Father. In Jesus' name. So be it.

If every single human were to turn to God, there would be no strife, no evil, no envy, no war. If we all were righteous in God's eyes, evil would not exist. 

Thank You, Lord, for the power of prayer, and for your infinite wisdom, goodness. All glory belongs to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.

And from today, I find it easier to bless my enemies.

Praise be to God.

#Devotional #Scripture4TheDay