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  Rushing Streams Ministries

Thinking out loud

Be Perfect; Love the Ones Who Mistreat You…Love Your Enemies

9/23/2013

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“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48

It is easy to love those who love us, who are kind to us, who value us. Anyone can do that.

However, loving our enemies is a different thing altogether; that is a call to move into the unfamiliar, to come into another realm.

To love unconditionally: that requires the refinement, the purification of our hearts. It is a call to  perfection.

The Father’s heart is fully committed to us and to our enemies: that person who damages us, the one who slanders us, the one who hurts us, robs us, violates us.  When we choose to love the “unlovable” we come against everything in us that resists dying to self, but when we do, we become like our Father in Heaven. He is not swayed by the actions of anyone, but only guided by His love for man he created, in whom he sees a part of himself, that part he is fully committed to redeem. We must look for that spark of the Father in everyone we meet, particularly those we shy away from because of the pain they cause or may cause us.
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The “When” of God

9/2/2013

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2Samuel 5:24
When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, act decisively. For at that moment the Lord is going before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.


David listened, heard and acted. It was a day of victory that helped establish him as king.

When you hear the sound…

We must learn to hear the sound of God moving or we will miss the “When” of God.

How often have we missed the perfect moments to act when He said, “Now is the time,” and we failed to hear?  One of the reasons may be that most of the time we are telling God how and when to move.  We are so involved giving Him directions that we fail to learn and to nurture our spirit to hear his voice.  David heard God, because he was a man who desired to hear from God, rather than being heard by God.

When our prayer carries an agenda for God, we will always fail to hear the still small voice, the voice that requires our concentrated attention and vigilance.  That comes from those times of intimacy when we learn to listen without intrusion.  Times of listening without having to hear our own ideas and opinions.  Times of restful contemplation on the very nature of the one who loves us.

Listening is a greatly neglected form of prayer; it means that we must silence the desire to hear our own voice and submit to the sound that speaks deeply to our spirit.

Without the ability to hear the heart of God we will miss the moment when He tells us, “Now!” simply because we have failed to recognize the moment of action.

Most of us fail to hear and therefore fail to act not because of disobedience, but because we did not hear.  We fail to move because we do not recognize the clear voice telling us that this is the moment when He proclaims that the time the time to act is now.

God’s “when” moment is always perfect, it is our responsibility to recognize  it.

Are we prepared to recognize the “When” of God?

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    Thinking Out Loud

    These are short meditations on some of the thoughts and ideas we receive as we read, study or ponder the things of God.
    They are short blogs meant to cause us to think, explore, meditate or simply delight in the things of the Lord.


    Author

    In a counseling career spanning over 30 years, author and teacher Martin Frankena has shared the life-changing power of Christ’s redemption with individuals and churches in America, Canada, South America, and Europe.  Martin's heart is to further the Lord’s mandate of releasing people into freedom from bondages to experience greater wholeness and fulfillment in life. A major focus of the ministry is healing from generational issues.

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