Tag: Bible verses about loving our enemies

Bible Verse of The Day – 12-27-17

Psalm 67:1 (NKJV) 67 God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us…

If we want to change the way things are going, we may need to change our attitude and the way we see things.

We might need to change the way we look and feel toward certain people, and stop blaming them for the things that we are going through in our personal life.

Let the past be in the past. We can’t allow it to ruin our future any longer.

God is merciful toward us and He blesses us as we walk in His example and do the same for others, no matter how they treat us. And as we do this, things will begin to change.

Pray for them, bless them and move on. Start today by letting go of the things we have held onto for years. Let the wounds in our heart heal as we take this step today.

Matthew 5:44 (NKJV) 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…

This verse contains a lot of action words, and no one said any of them would be easy. But if we want change, these are the steps we need to work toward.

Dear God in Heaven,

I come to You today and ask for your help. I want to do what is right. I have been hurting for a long time, and today I want to be free and let my heart heal.

Forgive me for holding onto things that I should have let go of a long time ago. I want to be able to sincerely walk out Matthew 5:44. I can’t do this on my own. I know that I need You, your strength and your compassion to take these steps. You know me best. I ask for Your help in fixing me up so I can let go and move on. I truly want to love like You.

Thank You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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Bible Verse of The Day – 10-25-17

Matthew 5:44-45 (NKJV) 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

I know what you’re thinking; how in this world do we love our enemies?

This is a big thing and most times we just skim over it, because deep down we all know it’s impossible for man to love his enemy.

So let’s take a look at what an enemy is. An enemy is someone that is antagonistic to another; one seeking to injure, overthrow, or confound an opponent.

You mean to tell me I have to love those who want to antagonize me, injure me or overthrow me, and that’s only one part of this verse?

How do we do this with the right heart and not just go through the motions? How do we keep our heart from not wanting to do the same things back to them that they’ve done to us?

We are human, with feelings, and those feelings sometimes scream really loud to do the opposite of what these verses are saying. How do we win over what our own feelings, mind, heart and our attitude are saying? It’s so hard, and seems impossible.

Matthew 19:26 (NKJV)26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The first thing we need to do is get out of our heads. We can’t do this with intellect. We have to get into the Word of God. God’s word has a way of softening the hardest of hearts.

When hurtful things come our way, it can cause our heart to get hard quickly and our minds start to race. There is no room for God when our heart has been hardened and we are operating solely on intellect.

The second thing to do is to try to avoid spending a lot of time with negative people.

We should surround ourselves with people who can find the good things even in hard times. That doesn’t mean finding people who don’t face reality. But people that see things for what they are and choose to give it to God. They spend more time praying, listening and worshiping Him than they do trying to be in control of the situation.

Third, we shouldn’t speak whatever we feel like speaking or saying in that moment of anger, persecution or when we’re being accused. Learn to hold the tongue and wait on God to bring understanding so that when we do speak, if needed, it is well worth saying and good seeds are planted.

Without God it is impossible to live out these verses. But, with Him, we can learn to walk in them and live them out daily. Amen.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page. 

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Click the player below listen to today’s devotional.

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Bible Verse of The Day – 1-30-17

Matthew 5:44 (NKJV) 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…

Our hearts don’t always think of the right thing to do. If we are hurting, sometimes it can tell us to do the wrong thing. Or it might keep us from doing the right thing. In cases where we have been hurt, scripture or verses like this will guide us to do right, in spite of how we feel.

This is a very humbling and right-to-the point verse and it will bring healing in many ways if we let it. We need to reach a point within ourselves to be able to act out in such a way. This kind of change requires help from the Holy Spirit.

Loving our enemy(s) is impossible to do on our own. There is no way we will love them if we don’t have God’s Spirit moving in us.

Blessing those who curse us, well, that’s just plain not happening without God’s help.

Do good to those who do what to us? HATE us.

Try doing something good for someone who hates us and see how far we get while still having the right attitude toward them.

Praying for those who spitefully use us and persecute us? OK, How? How do we pray if our heart is broken, angry and sad? We don’t. At least not by our own strength. Or if we do, we don’t do it for the right reason and we don’t have the right motive.

It takes God’s help to walk this verse out. It takes the Holy Spirit moving in us.

How do we find freedom or healing in any of this? It sounds like it is just hard work and painful.

We find freedom, peace and healing when we sincerely want to see that person (or people) get help. Not just any help, but God’s help. When we want God’s will for that person, His blessings on them and everything else that He has for them, we know we’re on the right track.

When we begin to pray for them, it may feel like it is hurting us more than we can stand. But that pain will subside when we stick with it and do what He tells us to do. When we put ourselves aside, we will learn how to love in spite of the pain and hurt we feel.

We will soon find God’s peace. Not by figuring it all out, but by doing the right thing and leaving the rest in God’s hands.

Thank you, God, for teaching us these things. We love you and we want to do what is best. Help us to love and pray for those who have hurt us. In the precious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page.

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Bible Verse of The Day – 7-18-16

Matthew 5:46 (NKJV) 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

To love someone who gives love in return is natural for all of us. It isn’t a challenge at all. It’s easy. Even the ungodly can love those who will love them back.

But to love someone who returns no love, or returns hatred, is difficult, for even the spiritually mature person. This is a challenge that most of us would fail miserably at almost every time.

Many of us will deny that we’re like this. But it’s safe to say that if we were to observe ourselves on a regular basis, and how we interact with others, we would probably not like what we saw at all. We would probably fall to our knees and repent before God for our lack of love, compassion and understanding.

So we challenge you today to love those who give us no love in return; The unlovable, the miserable, the cranky, the spiteful, the cynical and the hateful people around us.

Jesus implored us to do this. He even took it one step further and instructed us to pray for those very same people.

Luke 6:27-28 (NKJV) 27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.

This is our “homework” for the days and weeks ahead, to love everyone we encounter, whether they reciprocate or not. Are we up to the task?

With God’s spirit we can be!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

If you know someone who will enjoy this or be encouraged by it, please feel free to share it with them!

To have the Bible Verse of The Day delivered to your inbox each day, please Click Here and then enter your email address in the box near the upper left corner of the page.

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