All tagged enemy

Troublemakers, Prayers, and Giving Grace

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Loving Everyone

The troublemakers in our lives... E.M. Bounds spoke to this subject in his devotional this morning. He began by saying "Some troubles are human in origin. They arise from secondary causes. They originate with other people, but we are the sufferers." This is true, many of our day to day problems are caused by those around us. In life we will run across those who do us harm; some out of meanness, and others while trying to advance themselves at all cost. I have had my fair share of bullies in my life that were so full of anger that it was hard to see a glint of good in them, and I have also fallen victim to those whose great desire to advance themselves have hurt innocent people in the process. So how do we deal with this fact? Do we ask God to curse them, or perhaps to destroy them? Well Jesus tells us something much different... we are to love them.

Ukraine, Russia, and the True Enemy we all face

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Our True Enemy

There are times in our lives when we come under attack. It might be on the schoolyard at the hands of a bully, in the workplace as someone tries to ruin our business, take our job, or destroy our good name, and it might be in the world when an enemy wants to subjugate us, or lay our country to waste. But the worst attack of all is a spiritual attack when the minions, or forces of evil, want to separate us from God, and silence the voice of Jesus within us. How do we pray when evil comes to destroy the love we have for God, or pluck Christ from us? How do we gather our strength, and awaken our faith for the battle that is coming? We pray a prayer that will muster our faith, and call on the promises that have been made to us. We pray for discernment, and for God to defend us… to protect us.

Can we actually overcome hate, and love our enemies?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Love Your Enemies

One of the hardest commandments that Jesus spoke to us regarding love is for us to love our enemies, and pray for them. It seems unnatural to love someone who seeks your demise, or wants to harm you in some way. For an unbelieving man this is truly impossible. When we read these words we wonder if loving our enemy is a sacrifice we are asked to make in order to change this person in some way, but as we study these verses we come to understand that by obeying Jesus we are actually refining our own faith, because without knowing, and leaning heavily on the Lord, then loving someone who hates us would be impossible for us to accomplish.

Pray for the Enemies within the Church

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Enemies of the Church

There are many challenges that face the Church today, but none so great as those that have risen up within it. Pastors that are not called by God, but are thieves who see the Church as vulnerable, and its children to be easily abused and taken advantage of. False prophets who desire notoriety, and serve only themselves. Men of God who fall victim to their own lusts; having forgotten God, and how to pray. These, and others, have breached the Holy walls of the Church, put God’s people to shame, have dishonored Him, and stand as obstacles to the salvation of many.

Sinners Ride Home on the backs of Prayers

Richard Forbes
Daily Devotional , intercession

How strong, and fervently, do we intercede for others? Do we save our most sincere prayers for ourselves, and our family, while praying lesser blessings, or asking for things not quite as grand, when it comes to those around us? What about praying for our enemies; can we bring ourselves to pray God’s blessings upon them at all? Can we pray for others as sincerely as Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus?

Who do I call my Enemy? Who do I Love?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Love your Enemy

In His final moments Jesus prayed forgiveness for those who were crucifying Him, do we have it within us to do the same? Could we forgive those that we would call our enemies? If we listen to Jesus as he underwent the passion, and took His final breaths from the cross, it should become apparent to us that He never called them His enemies, and as a matter of fact He never called anyone His enemy in all that is written about Him... why not?

The Answer to the World’s Problems... God’s Perfect Love

Richard Forbes
Christian, Daily Devotional , Perfect Love

God is love and he loves us perfectly. When we accept this fact then we can understand our true relationship with Him, and He will reside in the deepest recesses of our heart and soul. How can we say we know God if we don’t know His love, and how can we say that we are created in His image, and not have His love within us? To believe in God is to believe in love... who is it that abides in us today?