Praying for My Enemy

I'm sad today.  I'm sad because of so much hate in this world, the kind of hate that people turn their backs on.  The kind of evil that we don't like to look at because looking at it makes it real and we don't want it to be real.  The kind of hate that causes my stomach to turn while children are being beheaded by monsters and it seems like no one is doing anything real about it.  I want to scream and pray for horrible things to happen to these men shrouded in darkness, but the more I think on it the more I know that evil cannot conquer evil.  Hate will never eradicate hate.  What I will do is pray for these men to be brought into the light.  For them to turn from their wicked ways of terrorism and come to repentance in Christ Jesus.  I will pray for them to come face to face with God and to finally see the truth and the love that is meant for all man kind.  I will pray for their salvation because as a follower of Christ that is what I am called to do.  For those terrorists who ultimately reject God, they will face His wrath and I know that God will deal harshly with them.  They are killing His people and it won't be tolerated.  They also must know by now that those Christians they have martyred are celebrating in Heaven right now.  They did not destroy them, they did not conquer them, they lost and will continue to lose because they are chasing Gods people and God has already won this battle.

Deuteronomy 32:35
It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them."

I am a Christian and I will not sit back and do nothing while my brothers and sisters around the world are being hunted.  I will do the only thing I can right now and that is to pray and to continue to post about what these terrorists are doing.  I will not stop posting, I will not stop praying, I will not sit silently because it upsets someones perception of the world.  The truth is that morality has left so many aspects of our lives and our self absorption keeps us from wanting to look at things like this head on.  Lets face it, its dirty, its messy, its scary, and it makes it hard to be excited about regular things.  Good, I hope that we get uncomfortable and then I hope we fall to our knees and beg God back into our Countries, into our Governments, into our families, into our lives.  Sure, most people don't want to hear that, but I am saying it because it needs to be said!

2 Chronicles 7:14

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.


This is the time for boldness, this is the time for action, this is the time to stand against the political correctness and declare truth and light and not care who it offends because I love the world enough to care about the people in it.  For me to sit silent would be the opposite.

I have had the privilege of having my eyes opened.  God has allowed me to live in some hard parts of the world, to experience life outside the veiled view of a first world country.  To see things that I otherwise would have not even bothered with.  I am thankful to have had my eyes opened and I will never allow them to be shut again.  We can sit in our own little fantasy and pretend like things aren't happening but they are.  This world is being flooded by evil and that is because we have invited it.  We no longer speak up for morality, we no longer have boundaries, we no longer know right from wrong and we live in a world of dangerous grey.  The world is not grey, it is black and white, there is right and wrong and covering your eyes and shutting your ears does not change that for one second.

I listened to an awesome debate yesterday and Frank Turek's responses really stuck with me as he debated an atheist student, I will paraphrase.

"Love must be freely given, if we reject Him He gives us up to our own desires.  God will not force you into His eternal presence, He loves us too much for that.  There are only 2 possibilities if God exists, in eternity you're going to be with him or you're not going to be with Him.  Hell is the complete absence of God, a quarantine of evil.  It is a choice and it is up to each and every one of us to decide.  Do we want to spend eternity with God, surrounded by His love and peace, or do we want to spend it with a complete absence of God.  He loves us enough to give us free will, it is ultimately our choice." (this is my paraphrase of Frank Turek's debate, it is a mixture of his direct quotes and my personal thoughts)

We live in a world that clearly is seeing the result of men living by their own desires and not being held to any standard of morality.  These are some trying times, some very hard times and as a Christian I can only look to God for guidance in my roll to play.  I can pray for peace, but as long as we are allowed to be human and live by free will there will never be peace because there will always be evil in an unrestrained world.  We received the free will that we desire but it comes at a great cost.

Tomorrow I will begin fasting and praying not only for those fleeing for their lives in Iraq but for the entire human race.  We need God now more than ever and I will serve Him in any way that He calls me to serve.

John 15:19
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world.  That is why the world hates you.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:9
Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

**bold emphasis on scripture has been added by me**