GET TOGETHER- Turning Our Anger Into Intercession.
Mt 5:43 -48″You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'”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, “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. “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? “And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
(NKJV)
Last night as I was watching the news there was a political leader that I have a very different worldview from saying something. As he was saying it anger rose up in me. This morning the Holy Spirit brought this person before me. I began to pray for this person. I began to say Lord I know that this person is made in Your Image. Lord I know that You died on the cross to save this person from their sins and from spending eternity in Hell. I am asking You to save their soul. Lord I am asking You to fill them with your Holy Spirit.
It is not easy sometimes when people call us names just because we believe something that is just so Biblically and naturally basic as marriage being between a man and a woman. It is not easy when people label you as a hater because you believe that life begins at conception. And yet we are told by our Lord Jesus that we are to love and to pray for our enemies. It is not easy to pray for leaders of other nations who would love to destroy us. But we are commanded to do that.
The Lord loves turning His enemies into friends. Look at what happened to Saul of Tarsus. He had been putting Christians to death and the Lord appears to Him on the road to Damascus and he goes from being an enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ to a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at what happened to me! Look at what happened to you if you have been saved
Certainty as Christians we are to hate sin. Not only are we to love people, but we are to abhor evil. The Apostle Paul writing in Ro 12:9” Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” The Greek term for abhor is apostugeo, ap-os-toog-eh’-o. It means to hate, to have a strong dislike for someone or something, implying repulsion and desire for avoidance – ‘to hate, to despise. So, it is Biblical to say to love the sinner and to hate the sin. Jesus commands us to love those who persecute us. So, there is no one on earth that I have the right to hate.
Love the sinner enough to pray for them that they would begin to hate the sin and to turn from it. Pray also for ourselves that we would never hate the sinner, but that we would never accept the sin no matter how much the culture may persecute us or mock us. We are told in Eph 4:26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Don’t let your anger at the sin consume you to a place where you grow bitter.
Today as I was watching the Passion of Christ with some students here are some things that stood out to me. Jesus was praying for His persecutors and tormentors while He was nailed to the cross and was being scorned, ridiculed and mocked. If He could do that Him being the sinless Son of God. How much more can we in our everyday lives pray for those who oppose us and the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to remember that our battle is not with people. This is who our battle is with : Eph 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” A wise preacher once said it like this, “don’t try to beat those who are not saved but try to win them.” This is not compromising. We are to speak the truth. But we are to speak the truth in love. Some of us may lean and like the truth part more. Others may like the love part more, but it is both.
So today I believe what the Holy Spirit is saying to us is to turn your anger into intercession. I am angry about the demonic attack on marriage between a man and a woman. I am angry about the killing of the unborn. I am concerned if I am living out what Jesus said to do in Matthew 25 and 28. I am concerned for the future of our children and grandchildren should the Lord not return first. May we let our concern and our anger be turned into intercession. If we do, I believe that many souls will be spared from an eternity in Hell. I believe that His Kingdom will be advanced upon the face of the earth.
Let Us Pray
Lord we know that you got angry. Your motivation for anger was that Your House had been turned from a house of prayer into a house of thieves. I pray for us that our anger will not manifest in any unholy way. I pray that our anger will be turned into intercession and that Your Kingdom will be advanced upon the earth.
In Jesus Name
Amen
Had our first meeting with our board of directors for Real Party Ministry today. We Hope to have more information about Real Party in the coming days. Please pray for this ministry.
Your friend/Kinfolk
Preston
Real Party Ministry 