Enemies

Yesterday was Monday - I did my fasting/prayer/time in the Word. As I prayed for the children of Haiti, their famillies, all involved in caring for them, and those involved in processing adoptions, I was focusing on the word enemy (see the end of my "A word about comments" post for why), and using my concordance to find verses and use them for my prayer. The last passage I found was awesome, and thought I'd share it with you...

1 Peter 5:6-11
⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

⁸Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

¹⁰And the God of grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. ¹¹To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

No matter the specific situation, we all go through trials in our lives. Through the passages I read and prayed over today, God showed me today that we are to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27,35) and pray for them. God will shine light on them in his timing (Matthew 5:45). I will instead, put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6), remain strong, firm, and steadfast in my faith, cast all my cares and anxiety upon Him in prayer. God's mighty hand will life me up and restore me from my times of suffering, to eternal glory in Christ Jesus.

If you do not have time each day/week that you spend in prayer and reflection, I want to encourage you to find some time to do this. I have found this to be such a blessing in my life.