Victory in Your HeartShembull

Victory In Your Heart – Loving Our Enemy

“Your ancestors have also been taught ‘Love your neighbors and hate the one who hates you.’ However, I say to you, love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you, and respond to the very ones who persecute you by praying for them.”

- Matthew 5:43-44 TPT

Over the last few days, we looked at the life of David. Even though Saul was trying to kill him, David still loved Saul. It’s crazy to think about, but he did. How could he? David guarded his heart. Because he did, that allowed God’s love and faith to dictate his actions.

Have you ever met someone that doesn’t like you? I have. It is not great. Depending on who they are, it can be pretty bad. But our faith is made for this. Jesus will not tell us to do something that is impossible, but He will always tell us to do something that requires faith.

“If you are a follower of Christ Jesus, it makes no difference whether you are circumcised or not. All that matters is your faith that makes you love others.”

- Galatians 5:6 CEV

Our faith in God is essential. "Anyone who wants to please God should remember Hebrews 11:6. In it, the author reminds us that it is our faith that pleases God, and nothing else.

People are what matters most to God. He gave His Son up for us. He gave the best He had just for you and me. So, when we put pleasing God with faith and His love for people together, we get this verse in Galatians 5:6: “All that matters is your faith that makes you love others.”

Is our faith helping us love others, or are we only using it in times of crisis for when we need God to work a miracle? There is nothing wrong with believing God to meet our needs, but there is another level of faith that God wants us to LIVE in: faith that makes us love OTHERS.

We shouldn’t use our faith only to believe God for things; we should use it to love people. Not everyone will be loveable in the natural, but we can use our faith to love them anyway. The faith that we use to provide for our needs is the same faith that we have to love others!

God showed us His love through Jesus, and we can show His love to others through our actions!

Confession Today

“God has given me the faith I need to love others. Even when people talk badly about me, I can love them. My faith is not just to believe God to meet my needs, but I have it to love other people. I will practice God’s love with every person that I encounter. God has shown me His love, and I can show His love to others.”