How to Fight Your Enemies On Your Knees

TEXT: Luke 6:27-31

During the many times we have talked about prayer in the Bible, we have often mentioned the importance of going to our prayer closets -- a private place where we can get away from the world and alone with God. However, we must not fall into the trap of treating our prayer closet as a place to hide from the world and the difficulties of life. Yes, prayer to God is a way of gaining comfort and solace as we fight off the world, the flesh, and the devil. However, the prayer closet is also a place of preparation. It is a place where we get suited up to go back out into the world and do battle in a Godly manner. Jesus' words in our passage for today paint a vivid picture of this truth.
 
Listen to Jesus' command: "Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you." Jesus's words are not complicated. They are not difficult to understand. But they are remarkably hard to obey. Just how can you love your enemy? In our natural mindset, the word "enemy" denotes some whom we have hatred for. How could we love such a person?
 
The key is to get rid of our natural mindset. Jesus challenged his followers to live beyond the reasoning of the world. The natural mindset says, 'Hate your enemies.' It feels unnatural for us to do anything else. However, the Christ-like mindset says, 'Love your enemies.' So, how can we go from hating our enemies to loving our enemies? One way in which we can do this is through prayer. Jesus tells us, "pray for them which despitefully use you."

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