Wisdom for my Children- Day 3- Enemies

Hi kids,

Dad here. This one is going to be a hard one.

Today I want to talk to you about enemies.

On this day, America had it’s worst mass shooting in it’s history, and the worst domestic terrorist attack since September 11.

I hope and pray that when you are older there won’t be any more terrorists attacks, that everyone in the world would love one another as Christ loves them, that there would be the illusive world peace. However, I know people… we are broken, and broken people break things. With Christ we can be a whole lot more whole while on earth, and certainly in heaven we will be completely restored… but while there is people, sadly, there will be enemies of some form or another.

For you it may be;

• a bully at school,
• someone with a different ideology to you, or
• someone who simply hates you and you don’t know why…

Whoever it is, here is my advice for how to deal with enemies.

1. Love them. Jesus said, love your enemies (Matthew 5:44). You can’t beat hate with hate, only love beats hate. If you come at hate with hate, you only create more hate. It’s like fighting a fire with fire, you just get even more burnt. You have to fight a fire with water, it’s opposite. Fight hate with love. As a bonus…Nothing confuses your enemies more than your love! Read this one kids; Proverbs 25:21-23  (NLT)”21 If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat.
   If they are thirsty, give them water to drink.
   22 You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads,
   and the Lord will reward you.”
2. Pray for them. Also in Matthew 5 it says to pray for those that persecute you. Pray kids, pray. There is more power in prayer than weapons. Prayer is our weapon. When you pray, miracles are possible. When you pray, lives can be changed. Whether it’s a single person, or a whole people group- pray for your enemies. Pray that God would speak to them and reveal Himself to them. Let Him deal with them.
3. Forgive them. If you can’t forgive your enemies, how can you expect to be forgiven? Even Jesus asked for forgiveness for the very people that killed Him. You can do it, this may be especially hard for you son, but you have to forgive. Un-forgiveness builds a prison around your heart and joy, that only the key of forgiveness can free you from. Forgive.
4. Stop them. This one may sound funny on this list… but think of this… Jesus drove the people out of the temple that were using it to make money (Matthew 21)- but he didn’t kill them. He stopped them, but didn’t smite them. Think of the woman caught in adultery (John 8)- a mob of men were going to kill her. Jesus stopped them but he didn’t destroy them. Kids’ you have my full permission to stop an enemy, just don’t take revenge- God will do that, that’s his responsibility. Your responsibility is to stop what is happening… then do the above 3 so that you don’t grow angry and bitter and hand the devil a double victory.

I love you so much kids. I do pray that this world would become a better place, but if it doesn’t, know this- your permanent home will be so much better, God’s got great things in store for us all. For now, give people a glimpse of true heaven… and love your neighbor as yourself, even if they are an enemy.

With all my love, and prayers for wisdom and discernment, and a courage to love, pray for, and forgive your enemies,

Dad

About the series:

I’m 29 right now, but soon I’ll be 30. 30 sounds so young to some, but to me right now, it’s feels old! It’s a real milestone.

It’s sounds funny to say this but the closer I get to 30 the more I think about what legacy I’ll leave my kids.

To be completely honest, the closer I get to 30, the more I realize I won’t always be here for them, one day I’ll go to heaven and get to be with Jesus face to face, and they’ll have to walk this earth with God in their hearts, the Holy Spirit as their comforter and guide, and Jesus as their example and intercessor, but they won’t have me here. So, for the times they might wonder, what would Dad have to say about this… I’m writing them a blog a day for 30 days. They might not need it now, but if they ever do, I hope it speaks to them.