Living in the Shadow of the Cross and Loving Our Enemies

It's hard to tell this story without going into the specifics, but there's no need to dredge the past up again, so please bear with me. 

More than a decade ago, I went through a terrible time. Two people, in particular, plus a third who helped in the gouging of my heart, had the greatest role in that awfulness and, for a time, I considered them all my enemies. 

What does the Bible say about enemies? 

...Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you..." Luke 6:27-28 nasb

"repay evil with blessing..." 1 Peter 3:9 

"...love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you." Matthew 5:44

Those passages are perfectly clear. When we, disciples of Jesus, have an "enemy," we are to pray, bless, and love them. This behavior is not optional. It's what disciples of Christ are supposed to do, so I did it. There was nothing amazing or saintly in my decision to obey. It was simple Christian living.

Not to love my enemies, or bless them, or pray for them would've been disobedience to the command of Jesus. It would've been sin, whether I felt justified in my anger or not. 

Disobedience to a hard command is sin. We don't like to hear those words, but they're true. 

In the first few hours of that devastating darkness, I sank to my face on my prayer room floor and spoke words of blessing toward all involved. I didn't feel it, and both God and I knew it, but I did it as an act of surrender and obedience.  I prayed that same prayer over and over again. It took a long time to "mean it" when I prayed, but that effort in persevering prayer changed everything.

The situation didn't resolve in the way I'd hoped, but God did a work in my relationship with one of the people, and, over the years, with another one of them.

Yesterday, I was in a business meeting with one of the three former-enemy people, who's doing some work for me. I had to call another person in the trio about the outcome of the meeting. 

"What's up with this? Is he helping you?" the second person asked.

"Yeah. He's a great guy."

"Are you kidding me? He was against you."

I laughed. "Yeah, well, look at all you did, but I forgave you. I'm big on forgiveness, you know. We forgave each other and we love each other now. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him, and nothing he wouldn't do for me." 

My former enemy was aghast. "Really?"

"Yep. This is what forgiving and loving your enemies look like. They become your friends. This is how I treat you, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah..."

There is no way to communicate how horrible the situation was. I was absolutely devastated by it. More than a decade later, though, I can look back and laugh. God did a powerful work in me, and in the other people involved, as well. 

I've never even met the third person in the trio, and I don't particularly want to, but I'd be fine if I did. That's how a healed wound works. It doesn't hurt anymore.

All that blessing and praying and loving was worth it, even though I didn't want to do it at the time. 

When we live in the shadow of the cross, we must allow it to determine how we live, how we respond to trouble, how we treat our enemies. Jesus set an example we are to follow. 

What about loving our enemies is optional? Nothing.

Why love our enemies when the world says don't? Because Jesus commanded love. 

When I was face down on the prayer room floor, my reality was pain, hurt, fear, anger. I couldn't imagine the future we all have today, but Jesus could. I didn't have to envision it, plan for it, or anticipate such a glorious outcome. All that was required to gain the love we share today was one tiny act of obedience at all time. 

If we're reeling from the betrayal or hurt of another person, we have two options. Respond as the world responds or respond as Jesus said. Only one of those choices brings blessing. Only one brings the healing that turns enemies into dear, much-loved friends somewhere in the future. 

Which will we choose? It's a decision that can change the future is ways we cannot begin to imagine, so let's choose obedience. Choose love, blessings, prayer, and let God use our efforts to do a work only He can do. 

Loving as Christ loves is always the right decision. 

___________________

In case you missed it, here's the link to yesterday's post: When I Couldn't Tell if I'd Achieved My Goal or Not

Nothing is Impossible: Ayman al-Zawahiri

I've had terrorists on my mind. That's partly because I'm editing my first novel and it's filled with terrorists. It might also be because I've been jumping to conclusions and seeing terrorists where there were none.

All that terrorist thinking has reminded me of the time when I selected a terrorist of the week and asked you to pray for them.  It was July 6, 2014 and our terrorist of the week was Nasir al-Wuhayshi. He was the general manager of Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula and one of the most dangerous men in the world.  

His stated goal was to "destroy the cross. The bearer of the cross is America."

I use the past tense because he was killed in a drone attack in Yemen on June 12, 2015. He was 38 years old.  He left behind a legacy of death and destruction. 

I wept when he died, but not because I was sorry his reign of terror had come to an end. I wept because I had prayed for him to come to a saving knowledge of the Great I AM, but he never did. He died as he lived. A bitter and murderous man.

He had a choice and he made it, but I still grieve the lost potential of a man redeemed and transformed by the blood of Jesus. 

Stranger things have happened. Consider the Apostle Paul. 

My first terrorist for whom I prayed was Ayman al-Zawahiri.  He is Egyptian and was trained as a surgeon. He practiced medicine for a while, but now, he is a full-time terrorist. One of his wives and two of his children were killed by a U.S. bomb in Afghanistan. Their loss fueled his anger, but he was a terrorist before they died and eventually became the head of Al-Qaeda. He was instrumental in helping the ISIS expand and merge with other terrorist organizations to become ISIL. 

As a physician, one who is trained to preserve life, it is unthinkable that one of my colleagues would dedicate himself to the murderous atrocities of ISIL, but al-Zawahiri knows no bounds. 

Assassination. Kidnapping and torture. Bombings. He is responsible for the death of untold numbers of people.

Law enforcement officials around the world have tried and failed to stop him. 

Only God can bring this man to his knees. 

Only God can stop him.

Jesus said, "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5:44 nasb) 

Ayman al-Zawahiri is one of those enemies for whom we are to pray and to love. With the command of Jesus in mind, I'm choosing to pray for him. I'm choosing to ask God to bring him to repentance and salvation. Whether it is through a dream or a vision or the testimony of a believer, I pray this evil man will be transformed. 

He's not the only terrorist for whom we need to pray, but he is the leader of a large group of terrorists. Imagine the impact his salvation could make. 

Praying for our enemies. As disciples, it's not optional. We have it to do. 

There's no better place to start than praying for Ayman al-Zawahiri. 

"Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, 

but with God all things are possible." 

(Matthew 19:26 niv)

____________
photo from Wikipedia

Kathy McKinsey wrote a beautiful article for Friday Night with Friends, New Beginning. If you haven't read it yet, you can click here. You can read more by Kathy at her blog. Our next Friday Night with Friends guest blog will post at 6 pm this Friday night. You don't want to miss it!

In case you missed one of the past week's posts, here are the links:  Starting Over: It's Not as Easy as It Seems, Behavior That Demonstrates Belief, Answered Prayer: The Bulletproof Vest, Bringing Good from Tragedy: Wives of Warriors Make a Difference, Friday Night with Friends: New Beginning, The Temperament Test and Married Oneness, Leaving a Legacy: Choices That Last for Generations, and Jumping to Conclusions: The Terrorists That Were Not.

#prayingforterrorists #AymanalZawahiri #loveyourenemies #disciple #JesusChrist

Praying for Nineveh

As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. (Luke 11:29-30 NASB)

Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?" (Jonah 4:11 NASB)

Much to my surprise, we are not through with Jonah after all. 

The story of Jonah begins with the compassion of God. I generally forget that. Because the book opens with Jonah on the run, in wide-open rebellion, I tend to think the story begins with Jonah. It does not. Jonah's story, like all our stories, begins with the love and compassion of Almighty God.

Nineveh was a city of 120,000 people who were lost. They did not know God and they didn't care that they didn't know Him. What we easily forget is that Nineveh was the capital of Assyria and occupied the "Assyrian Triangle" made up by what is now Syria, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, and southeastern Turkey. The people were fierce warriors and were busy conquering the world. 

Fifty years after God sent Jonah to Nineveh, Assyria invaded the Northern Kingdom of Israel and took them captive. What Israel had no way of knowing was that God had already gone ahead of them to temper their judgment with mercy. 

God had taken note of the spiritual condition of Nineveh and knew (being omnipotent) that He would judge Israel for their apostasy. They would soon be in the hands of the godless people of Nineveh. The best way to protect His people was to go ahead of them and draw their captors to Himself.

Jonah went to Nineveh, preached an eight word sermon, and everyone in that city turned to God. Fifty years later, when Israel was taken into captivity, they went to a country that already knew something of God. There were converts there. Not all of the 120,000 had persevered with their new faith, but some of them had. Even after fifty years, there were still some living who had seen Jonah, who had experienced the great awakening. Faith in God had almost certainly had an impact on the people of Nineveh and the way they treated their captives. 

Jonah hated Assyria and Nineveh, its capital. He knew they were a cruel, wicked people. He did not want to go to them, and did not want them to repent. He would have denied the people of Nineveh the chance to know God. What Jonah couldn't know was that, in denying the people of Nineveh the chance to know God, he was also denying his own people the chance to find mercy in the midst of judgment.

Had Jonah known what God was doing, he'd have rushed to obey. 

Today, there are modern day Assyrians waging war on the world and seeking to gain control of all the territory they can conquer. They are known as ISIS and are based in Syria and northern Iraq (part of the original Assyrian territory). Their capital is Mosul, Iraq, built on the ruins of ancient Nineveh. They are not figurative Assyrians. It is not a figurative Nineveh. They are literal Assyrians. It is a literal Nineveh.

There is a great temptation to view the warriors of ISIS in the same way that Jonah viewed Nineveh, with contempt. God, however, must look at those warriors in the same way that He looked at the people of Nineveh all those centuries ago, with compassion. He longs to bring them to Himself. What if repentance and faith were to come to Mosul, just as it did to its predecessor, Nineveh?

Jesus spoke about our response to our enemies. We are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:33), including our modern-day Assyrians, ISIS, and our modern-day Nineveh, Mosul. What, then, should our response be to the terrorists of our day? Our heart should be filled with the same compassion as God's toward the people there. We must relinquish our prejudice toward ISIS and pray with fervor for God to move in the hearts of the people of Mosul and those vicious Assyrians of ISIS, for we do not know what contact we will have with them down the road.

Had Jonah known what the future held, he might have been eager for Nineveh to repent. Let it not be said of us, years from now, that if we had only known what would happen with ISIS, we would have prayed.

May we view those who are our enemies with the eyes and heart of God, and may it change us so that He can change them. 

Teach us to pray, part 37: Forgive as we forgive

And He said to them, "When you pray, say: ' Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 'Give us each day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'" (Luke 11:2-4 NASB)

We come now to the section of the Model Prayer that may be the most difficult for many of us to pray. "And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us." This business of having our own sins forgiven is one we can all embrace. The task of forgiving others is one we are not quite so eager to accomplish, and I am not immune to this difficulty. 

When someone wrongs me in some way or, even worse, wrongs someone I love, my natural tendency is to respond with anger that easily translates to unforgiveness. Unforgiveness, however, leads to bitterness that does far more damage to me than to the one who wounded me. Not only does bitterness tend to seep out into every relationship and every situation in my life, but it taints my relationship with God, as well. If I want God to forgive me, I must be willing to forgive others. 

Jesus knew this was a difficult area for us, which is probably why He spoke so much about dealing with our enemies. "Be reconciled with your brother first." (Matt. 5:24) "Make friends quickly with your opponent." (Matt. 5:25) "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Nothing of loving our enemy comes easily to us, but it is not optional.

Jesus said for us to love our enemies and He meant it. It wasn't just a helpful suggestion.

I've learned a little about forgiveness over the years. Having seen the results of unforgiveness and bitterness, I do not want what those easily-embraced decisions offer. When hard times come my way, I have learned to take those burdens to our Lord first. Praying for the one who has injured me in some way does not mean that I like what has happened or that I feel "warm and fuzzy" toward the one who has hurt me. It simply means that I begin in obedience and, in doing that, I usually act my way into feeling like Jesus intended. 

Even when I haven't yet acted my way into feeling like Jesus intended, I still have to obey. That's the task that is definitely difficult. Obedience is a choice and, when I choose obedience in praying for the one who is (at least temporarily) my enemy, it helps me to move toward loving them. Unforgiveness is much easier, but it is in no way better. 

Corrie Ten Boom, who suffered in a Nazi prison camp, knew quite a bit about forgiving her enemies. She said, "Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart." Do you "feel" like forgiving? Do it anyway.

What about loving our enemies is optional? Nothing at all. If we want to be in right relationship with God, we must be in right relationship with our fellow man. The burden of unforgiveness is one we were never meant to carry. Why not join with me in taking those burdens of hurt and those difficulties of forgiving to our Lord? Offer a sacrifice of forgiveness, of blessing toward our enemies, and allow the Father to cleanse and heal the wound that unforgiveness has caused.                                                                

Easy love is not enough

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. (Luke 6:32 NASB)

In this passage, Jesus was preaching to a multitude of people. They were assembled on a "level place" at the foot of a mountain. There were people from all over the region, from every socioeconomic level, from every faith persuasion. Some were strictly adherent to the law. Some... well, not so much. 

There was one theme that Jesus was hammering home. He spent a significant portion of this discourse on the subject. Loving your neighbor is the topic, and it is critical if we are to be an effective witness for Christ. This verse is the first of three examples of what loving your neighbor is not. 

To the command to love their neighbor, people were silently thinking, "Look at all the people I love. I love my neighbor." They were quietly tallying the count and feeling pretty good. 

Jesus knew that everyone on their tally list also loved them. Ever the Confronter of Falsehood, Jesus confronted that deluded thinking. "There are no extra points for loving the people that love you.  Anyone can do that."  The overwhelming grace of God is not required to love the people who love us back. That is relatively easy. Jesus was making it very clear that we were not called to easy love only. We are called to HARD love. We are called to love those who are difficult to love. 

Certainly we are to love those who love us in return. He was not denigrating that love at all. He was saying that easy love cannot be all the love you show.  

Think of the people on your "love tally". Are there those on your list who are hard to love? Are there people on your list who do not love you in return? If not, Jesus would have you make some changes. Easy love is not enough. 

Pray today that we will see the most difficult people we encounter as opportunities to love in the name of Jesus, and that seeing our love for the least lovely will demonstrate the love of Christ to those we love the most. 

Loving your enemies part 2 (Luke 6:28-30)

bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. (Luke 6:28-30 NASB)

We continue the passage on loving your enemies. Jesus offered a three-step plan for loving your enemies that involved our hearts, our minds, and our bodies. Praying for our enemies was a critical part of loving them. 

Jesus followed those instructions with examples of mistreatment that would need to be forgiven, done by enemies that would need to be loved. He describes physical violence, stealing/robbery, and unpaid debts.  The examples are all examples of betrayal. The first is a betrayal towards your physical person, the second a betrayal toward your possessions, and the third is a betrayal of trust. 

In every instance, Jesus recommends a very unexpected, nonviolent, response. Turn the other cheek, offer your shirt along with your coat, let the debt go. It's one thing not to fight back. It's another thing entirely to do the surprising act of giving more than has been taken. It makes no sense to us, but it is a very powerful response. In a way, it changes us from victims into victors because it gives us a measure of generosity and control. It loosens our own hold on our possessions. If everything we have is a gift from God, then it is more His than ours. By letting God deal with those who have wronged us, we put the responsibility on the One who can right every wrong. 

How easy it is to get caught up in the wrong that has been done! We can spend years trying to set things right. Choosing not to become embroiled in retaliation sets us free to serve Christ and be about our business. Loving our enemies and forgiving those who have wronged us is mostly for our own benefit. It allows us to avoid the snare of bitterness and anger. 

Has someone wronged you or your loved ones? Are you struggling with unforgiveness or a desire for revenge? Listen to the words of Jesus. "Offer the other... Do not withhold... Do not demand..."  It is a radical response. It's not easy, but it is required. 

Pray today that our response to every wrong would be one of generosity and love. Pray that our loved ones will be so surprised by our response  thst they will be drawn to Jesus. 

---

Here's the link to last night's post:  http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/03/maggie-wonder-dog-confession.html

The Hardest Love of All (Luke 6:27,28)

"But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke 6:27, 28 NASB)

As if the blessings and the woes weren't difficult enough to hear, Jesus plunged right in to a discourse on loving your enemies.  For a people who had suffered horribly at the hands of their enemies for centuries, these were hard words. For people who were surrounded by armed enemies in the form of Roman soldiers, these were impossible words. Impossible, except for the grace of God and as an act of the will. 

Most of us in this country will (hopefully) never have the kind of enemy who invades our land, takes our freedom, rapes, pillages, and terrorizes, but many of our readers experience these frightful horrors on a regular basis We do, however, experience the kind of enemy who says unkind words, starts rumors, cheats in business dealings, betrays us, and does all manner of unkind and hurtful things to us. Those wounds can trigger the same fierce emotions in us that the invading marauders trigger. 

Jesus has a simple solution to either kind of enemy. Love them. It seems easier said than done, but it IS possible.  Jesus knew it would be hard, so He told us how to get started with it using a three-step plan.  

1) Do good to those who hate you. It's not optional if you plan to obey Christ in loving your enemies. When you have an opportunity to do good or get in a little revenge toward your enemy, choose good. When you can, do good. My grandmother used to say, "Kill the devil with kindness."  She wasn't far off. 

2) Blessing those who curse you involves your words, as opposed to doing good to them, which involves your actions. Don't add fuel to the fire with your own unkind words. My grandmother also said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Exactly. 

3) Pray for your enemies. The first two ways of loving are not possible without this most important step. In fact, loving your enemies is a choice that starts with prayer. If you can't think of a blessing you want your enemy to receive, begin by praying that God will bless them with conviction that leads to repentance and transformation. Praying for your enemy also requires that you pray for your own attitude about them. Praying for the heart of Christ toward them is a great way to start. 

Loving your enemy requires every part of your being. Your heart begins by praying, your mind by blessing, and your body by  doing good. This loving is a package deal, and no part is optional. 

Are you willing to love your enemies?  Will you love even those who have contributed to the problems your loved ones encounter? 

If you want to change the world, begin by loving your enemies. Nothing points to Jesus more than this. You will leave those around you stunned and deeply affected. You might just draw them to Christ. 

Today, pray that we will love our enemies with our whole being and that our loved ones will be drawn to Jesus by what they see. 

-----

Here's the link to last night's post:

http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/03/tough-as-peter.html