Enemies are all around us. Things that should be right are now wrong. People get by with all types of things while we get our hands slapped for no reason at all. Certain wrong doings are praised by the multitudes while right doing is frowned upon. Does this sound familiar?
The Bible speaks clearly of these times. God’s people are slaughtered and persecuted and it goes unnoticed. These happenings occur frequently yet no press. In fact there is no mention of these happenings at all. Yet let a prisoner’s execution date come up and the multitudes are protesting in the street. It doesn’t matter to them that the prisoner brutally murdered someone else or several individuals with no remorse. He will even say to the media he will murder again if he is set free. Why do people these days defend only the dark side while the light goes ignored? Could it be that they see holy convictions as an embarrassment instead of a loving nudge to change directions in life?
Unfortunately many people will no longer attend a church that puts a finger on things that are not right in order to avoid the convictions. The Bible clearly states that a loving parent will discipline a child in order for the child to become wise. Discipline, though painful and embarrassing, is an act of love that earns respect and honor. If we have a church who loves us enough to place a finger on certain habits to avoid we should be on our knees thanking God.
These days people flock to churches that have motivational speakers and very little gospel. The gospel that is preached is the rewarding part and not the parts that keep us out of trouble. A preacher stated things this way; Once we leave a church service, is there enough church left in our hearts to carry encouragement to someone else? Many attend church just to hang out. Sadly to say, many gospel preaching churches have eliminated their choirs and children’s activities to mimic these powerhouse churches. Eventually these mimicking churches lose their congregation because they come wanting the truth including the convictions.
Everything is about multitude pleasing these days and the horrible truth is that the multitudes are lost. They make life difficult for those who continue to seek the truth and obey Christ. This brings up a question. How do we get this many people to see and accept the truth? How are we to respond when they harm us in so many ways?
Jesus mentions that we are to pray and He gives specific instructions on how to pray. We enter into prayer acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior and declare Him holy. This puts all focus on God. Then we seek His will for earth just like He has things in heaven and to meet our daily needs. After this we ask His forgiveness then we forgive our enemies. This is where it gets difficult but God will honor His word. We forgive these people. If it’s too hard for us to forgive we are allowed to ask for more grace to help us. We are not required to forget and we are not expected to make them our best friend. We are to forgive through Christ then ask that we not be brought into temptation. At this time we ask to be delivered from the devil and the people he uses to accomplish evil things.
Many times we try to fight our enemies by human means when it is a spiritual battle. The devil uses these people against us and God will need to be the one to deal with them. As we pray for these people God will deal with the spiritual aspect of these enemies and some of them could be turned around in favor of God. While so much evil is growing these days, so is the love of Jesus Christ. The press may not mention anything but the evil, however lately pastors and missionaries are stating that great works being done in the lives of people all over the world. Jesus is the victor and as focus remains on Him, there are no limits to what He will do. Through prayers of His people things can happen.
Matthew 6:9-14 New International Version (NIV)
“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”” For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
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