Greetings and Salutations,

 

WOW, woke up to sun shining on the hills around us; in our neck of the woods today.

AND it has stay shining down on us all day.  Still a bit crisp, but love it.  Now, for the colder nights that shall follow, I ‘think’ we are prepared for them, though.  Even if we are forecasted as being 31, I do believe it will be a bit colder up here.

Mountains are getting a bit of snow, but it is just teasing right now, not enough to make much of a difference.

Got a few things accomplished today, not enough, but a few.

-------------------------------------------

Mathew 5:43-44  KJV  “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

⁴⁴ 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;”

I can remember asking my first Pastor, ‘what am I supposed to pray for these that are described in verse 44?

He just looked at me and didn’t reply.

Do we pray that they suffer accidents, illnesses or problems greater than others?

Do we wish the worse on them so that they can’t continue to harm us?

Nope.

Often time these people have no idea who God is; they have no inkling of how they should behave to others.

They are upset with us, or they really do hate us and want the worse for us.  If they could they would wipe us off the face of the earth – and unfortunately, in many countries this indeed has happened to Christians who live their faith.

Our prayers should be that they find God and understand who Jesus is and how He can change their lives – not for our sake, but for theirs.

No one said it is easy, no one said that our adversaries will change – especially how they treat us – but, if gives us a strength to endure that cannot be done in any other way than to pray for them – truly pray and mean it.

There have been hundreds of true stories that have been shared with Christians over the years by other Christians that show people can change – and usually it is because of how the Christian acted toward their adversary.

The adversary found that the inner-strength of a Christian through the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit can, indeed, make a difference in a person’s life AND they have found Christ as their Redeemer.

Some people would have us believe that once we are a Christian all our cares will be swept aside; that we will have no further problems.

History tells us that thinking you will never have problems is just a pipe dream.  Christ, Himself, suffered and if He suffered how can we possibly think we are above that?

While suffering is not something any of us want, many times it makes us stronger; it makes us more capable of relating with others and helping them through similar problems; and, there will be people watching us to see how we react and to see if Christ really does make a difference in our lives.

2 Corinthians 6:4-7    KJV  “ But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

⁵ In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;

⁶ By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

⁷ By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,”

That is part of our responsibilities of being a Christian.  I don’t see anything in these verses that says, “don’t worry it will be easy.”

And praying for those we have problems with won’t be either.

I want it to be, but I also know that satan is doing all he can to prevent each one of us from being effective in our lives and testimonies.

Later, Art (-: