Loving Our EnemiesSample

When I was 18 years old in 1973, I suddenly discovered that I was dearly loved by God, despite my past, my immaturity, my ongoing failures, my weaknesses and my lack of love for other people. At first it seemed too good to be true, but the Holy Spirit was at work to make the message of Jesus and His apostles come alive and take root in my heart. Daily and nightly, I simply meditated upon, prayed and journaled in response to the gospels and the epistles in the New Testament. I was genuinely interacting with the living God, my Father in heaven, in real-time! It still is the best news I have ever heard. As I “listened” and “saw” these words with the “ears” and “eyes” of my heart, a wonderful change was happening within me. My basic identity was shifting as, again and again, God’s Spirit was convincing me that I had received a new heart ... a new nature ... that I was a new creation in Christ.

As a result, I found myself freely sharing with people I happened to meet and came to know, what God was doing in my life. Then I shared with them, with a growing confidence, that He loved them just as He loved me. The good news was just oozing out of me as I spent time interacting with my fellow university students and took a genuine interest in their lives. I only realized in hindsight how much God was putting His love in my heart for people ... even people who rejected me and were offended by me being a Jesus-person. Many of them ... even people I didn’t expect would ever do so ... became devoted followers of Christ. I am still in touch with many of them to this day.

Ask your heavenly Father to provide an opportunity to share about your spiritual journey with a person or a small circle of people and listen well to their journeys too.