Love your enemies and pray for them...

"Love your enemies...and pray for them..." Matthew 5:44

Patricia Ann: Originally posted on Saturday, May 04, 2013 
 
Matthew 5:44 King James Version (KJV)
 
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;...
 
 Have you ever had a friend (a best friend) who one day just stopped being your friend?
For no apparent reason, they don't like you anymore.  There was no argument, disagreement or misunderstanding that you know of. 
You can think of nothing that caused the friendship to end so abruptly.
 
It makes your heart hurt and in your mind you keep wondering "what happened?"  You miss your friend.
 
You decide to give it some time and allow your friend space to deal with the problem, whatever it is. Then one day you hear that your friend has been persecuting you by spreading lies about you,  attempting to destroy your reputation and alienate you from others. 
 
You feel sad.  Not only have you lost a friend, but someone whom you once trusted, confided in and shared with has become your enemy.
 
"Why?"  Your heart aches for an answer, but the answer doesn't come. 
 
After several weeks, you decide it is time to ask your friend what happened and why the lies were being told about you. 
You invite your friend to your home to talk.
 
Your friend never shows up at your house, but a short time later your friend has told even more untruths about you.
 
You feel angry for a time and righteously so.
 
You feel as if your friend must being going through a terrible emotional trauma and has blocked you out completely.  But why seek to destroy you?
 
You realize that you may never know the reasons, but you do recognize that evil is hard at work in attempting to destroy your friend and you.
 
The Bible tells us in Matthew 5:44-45,48
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;
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...
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
 
As we cannot fix our friends, or our relationships with our friends, we can seek counsel in the Word of our Father in Heaven. In His Word, we learn that we are to continue to love our friends, blessing them as they curse us, continuing to do good to them and praying for them as they spitefully use us and persecute us. 
 
I pray that as evil seeks to destroy God's children, we continue to do our Father's works by walking as Jesus walked; in love and choosing to forgive those who openly choose to persecute us. 
 
Let us pray that our lost friends will one day see the error of their ways and turn to the light of Jesus, as it is reflected onto them through those of us who choose to walk in His glorious light every day. 
In Jesus precious Name, Amen.