Chapter 13 - The Enemy -- the "Extraordinary"
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 5:47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Bonhoeffer - 'From now on there can be no more wars of faith. The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him.
To the natural man, the very notion of loving his enemies is an intolerable offence, and quite beyond his capacity: it cuts right across his ideas of good and evil. More important still, to man under the law, the idea of loving his enemies is clean contrary to the law of God, which requires men to sever all connection with their enemies and to pass judgment on them. Jesus, however, takes the law of God in his own hands and expounds its true meaning. The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.'
My thoughts-
The wars of faith were fought plentiful and often, just read your Old Testament and the call to war was seemingly constant. It was a war against those who were idol worshippers, those who broke the law of God consistently as a way of life.
God destroyed all but eight human beings because of the evil of mankind. The evil that was man living separate from God without any desire whatsoever to establish a connection with Him ever again.
The Creator did NOT create us to be separate from Himself, this is what people fail to comprehend.
Only in Him are we truly complete as we were meant to be, as we were created to be. We were NOT created to be apart from God, we were made in His image. We were made by a Creator who KNOWS that us without Him- equals nothing.
People rail against this bond, they fight against is as if they created themselves and know what's best for themselves. People judge that God is against them, when HE created them!
He truly does have the RIGHTS to us, the RIGHTS of OWNERSHIP. And yet… He created us with the ability to CHOOSE whether or not we comprehend and accept the LOVE of this OWNERSHIP. It's not a MASTER - SLAVE relationship. It's a MASTER - COMPANION relationship. We are NOT forced to remain as slaves are forced, we can choose to break the relationship whenever we want. This is a FATHER- CHILD (ADOPTED) relationship to those who choose to remain.
However, if we do NOT choose to remain in a relationship with our Creator, the ONLY relationship that really complete who we were created to be, then we forfeit our life. When we choose to live outside the ONLY relationship that can sustain us eternally, we are choosing our own death.
In the very beginning God told Eve she would die if she separated herself from Him by choosing to believe that she could live apart from Him.
Yes, people say it was just a piece of forbidden fruit, none of that separation stuff. But Eve knew that God had created her, and loved her. Eve knew that God denied her nothing she needed. Even knew that God wanted to be in a relationship with her, and she wanted for NOTHING. The choice she had to make was whether or not to BELIEVE in Her Creator, the One who had given her life and everything she ever needed. Satan entered the picture and lied to her about God and she LISTENED to Satan. She chose to DISBEILEVE God. She chose to abandon HIS TRUTH. She chose to SEPARATE her life from God's. God told her that separation would mean death and He did not lie, He cannot lie.
Because Eve did NOT on her own make this choice, but was INFLUENCED to do so, mankind was given an OPPORTUNITY to RECONNECT with their CREATOR, while Satan was condemned permanently.
This opportunity is given to us all. We still are all subject to death, but we are not all going to be subject to permanent death. Those who CHOOSE to believe, those who CHOOSE to accept the sacrifice of our Savior, the price He had to pay to once more reconnect us fully with Him will live eternally as we were originally intended to live.
When we do not choose to reconnect, we are choosing permanent death.
Millions have chosen to die rather than reconnect with their source of eternal life. There are a myriad of reasons they give for this choice, but none matter. The fact they have chosen death over life is the bottom line.
Our God hasn't kept silent about this choice- it is well known and has been since the beginning sin.
Bonhoeffer's saying this-- 'From now on there can be no more wars of faith.' He was saying that all the wars that had been fought prior to our Savior's sacrifice and resurrection, were wars fought because our Savior had NOT lived and died. The FINAL sacrifice, the ULTIMATE sacrifice had to be completed not something looked for, not something anticipated. Satan, up until Christ died on that cross, had hope that He could keep Christ from making that sacrifice. Satan wanted to thwart God's plan of salvation. This war of faith was all the revelation of the GREAT battle truly going on in life- the battle between good and evil, God and Satan. A real WAR with real consequences! When our Savior died and rose to live again, the BATTLE was WON. And our Savior did not want there to ever be another war of faith- a war that cannot lay claim to Victory. The WAR was WON! And if we BELIEVE the WAR was WON by CHRIST, we know that no physical war in the name of faith is being fought to determine a victor. The VICTOR, CHRIST JESUS OUR SAVIOR, told US NEVER to fight the physical battle of faith again, never in His name strike another person. When we do that we are fighting the wrong war.
We are still in the war. The enemy keeps on fighting only he is not fighting to win the war, but to take as many people with him as he possibly can. We can choose to side with the VICTOR and place our FAITH in HIM. Knowing that even if Satan attacks us physically, provoking us to war, that we are NOT to fight back in that way.
Right there in the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus healed the Roman soldier's ear that Peter cut off, we are being shown beyond a doubt that it would NOT EVER BE by the sword we should fight again.
Bonhoeffer said this-- 'The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him.'
Christ said this--
'Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you'
Truth!
Bonhoeffer said - ' To the natural man, the very notion of loving his enemies is an intolerable offence, and quite beyond his capacity: it cuts right across his ideas of good and evil. More important still, to man under the law, the idea of loving his enemies is clean contrary to the law of God, which requires men to sever all connection with their enemies and to pass judgment on them. Jesus, however, takes the law of God in his own hands and expounds its true meaning. The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.'
Defeat our enemies by LOVING them!
Christ's LOVE.
All through CHRIST!
This is truth!
And we MUST live in TRUTH, live in CHRIST!
Yes, we still have the power of choosing eternal life, or eternal death, that will not be taken from us. We will choose, all of us will choose, and by the grace of CHRIST may we choose life in HIM! To be with our Creator as we were intended to be, no longer separated but united to Him in LOVE, selfless love!
Please LORD, all by YOUR GRACE, YOUR MERCY, YOUR LOVE!
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 5:47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Bonhoeffer - 'From now on there can be no more wars of faith. The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him.
To the natural man, the very notion of loving his enemies is an intolerable offence, and quite beyond his capacity: it cuts right across his ideas of good and evil. More important still, to man under the law, the idea of loving his enemies is clean contrary to the law of God, which requires men to sever all connection with their enemies and to pass judgment on them. Jesus, however, takes the law of God in his own hands and expounds its true meaning. The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.'
My thoughts-
The wars of faith were fought plentiful and often, just read your Old Testament and the call to war was seemingly constant. It was a war against those who were idol worshippers, those who broke the law of God consistently as a way of life.
God destroyed all but eight human beings because of the evil of mankind. The evil that was man living separate from God without any desire whatsoever to establish a connection with Him ever again.
The Creator did NOT create us to be separate from Himself, this is what people fail to comprehend.
Only in Him are we truly complete as we were meant to be, as we were created to be. We were NOT created to be apart from God, we were made in His image. We were made by a Creator who KNOWS that us without Him- equals nothing.
People rail against this bond, they fight against is as if they created themselves and know what's best for themselves. People judge that God is against them, when HE created them!
He truly does have the RIGHTS to us, the RIGHTS of OWNERSHIP. And yet… He created us with the ability to CHOOSE whether or not we comprehend and accept the LOVE of this OWNERSHIP. It's not a MASTER - SLAVE relationship. It's a MASTER - COMPANION relationship. We are NOT forced to remain as slaves are forced, we can choose to break the relationship whenever we want. This is a FATHER- CHILD (ADOPTED) relationship to those who choose to remain.
However, if we do NOT choose to remain in a relationship with our Creator, the ONLY relationship that really complete who we were created to be, then we forfeit our life. When we choose to live outside the ONLY relationship that can sustain us eternally, we are choosing our own death.
In the very beginning God told Eve she would die if she separated herself from Him by choosing to believe that she could live apart from Him.
Yes, people say it was just a piece of forbidden fruit, none of that separation stuff. But Eve knew that God had created her, and loved her. Eve knew that God denied her nothing she needed. Even knew that God wanted to be in a relationship with her, and she wanted for NOTHING. The choice she had to make was whether or not to BELIEVE in Her Creator, the One who had given her life and everything she ever needed. Satan entered the picture and lied to her about God and she LISTENED to Satan. She chose to DISBEILEVE God. She chose to abandon HIS TRUTH. She chose to SEPARATE her life from God's. God told her that separation would mean death and He did not lie, He cannot lie.
Because Eve did NOT on her own make this choice, but was INFLUENCED to do so, mankind was given an OPPORTUNITY to RECONNECT with their CREATOR, while Satan was condemned permanently.
This opportunity is given to us all. We still are all subject to death, but we are not all going to be subject to permanent death. Those who CHOOSE to believe, those who CHOOSE to accept the sacrifice of our Savior, the price He had to pay to once more reconnect us fully with Him will live eternally as we were originally intended to live.
When we do not choose to reconnect, we are choosing permanent death.
Millions have chosen to die rather than reconnect with their source of eternal life. There are a myriad of reasons they give for this choice, but none matter. The fact they have chosen death over life is the bottom line.
Our God hasn't kept silent about this choice- it is well known and has been since the beginning sin.
Bonhoeffer's saying this-- 'From now on there can be no more wars of faith.' He was saying that all the wars that had been fought prior to our Savior's sacrifice and resurrection, were wars fought because our Savior had NOT lived and died. The FINAL sacrifice, the ULTIMATE sacrifice had to be completed not something looked for, not something anticipated. Satan, up until Christ died on that cross, had hope that He could keep Christ from making that sacrifice. Satan wanted to thwart God's plan of salvation. This war of faith was all the revelation of the GREAT battle truly going on in life- the battle between good and evil, God and Satan. A real WAR with real consequences! When our Savior died and rose to live again, the BATTLE was WON. And our Savior did not want there to ever be another war of faith- a war that cannot lay claim to Victory. The WAR was WON! And if we BELIEVE the WAR was WON by CHRIST, we know that no physical war in the name of faith is being fought to determine a victor. The VICTOR, CHRIST JESUS OUR SAVIOR, told US NEVER to fight the physical battle of faith again, never in His name strike another person. When we do that we are fighting the wrong war.
We are still in the war. The enemy keeps on fighting only he is not fighting to win the war, but to take as many people with him as he possibly can. We can choose to side with the VICTOR and place our FAITH in HIM. Knowing that even if Satan attacks us physically, provoking us to war, that we are NOT to fight back in that way.
Right there in the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus healed the Roman soldier's ear that Peter cut off, we are being shown beyond a doubt that it would NOT EVER BE by the sword we should fight again.
Bonhoeffer said this-- 'The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving him.'
Christ said this--
'Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you'
Truth!
Bonhoeffer said - ' To the natural man, the very notion of loving his enemies is an intolerable offence, and quite beyond his capacity: it cuts right across his ideas of good and evil. More important still, to man under the law, the idea of loving his enemies is clean contrary to the law of God, which requires men to sever all connection with their enemies and to pass judgment on them. Jesus, however, takes the law of God in his own hands and expounds its true meaning. The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.'
Defeat our enemies by LOVING them!
Christ's LOVE.
All through CHRIST!
This is truth!
And we MUST live in TRUTH, live in CHRIST!
Yes, we still have the power of choosing eternal life, or eternal death, that will not be taken from us. We will choose, all of us will choose, and by the grace of CHRIST may we choose life in HIM! To be with our Creator as we were intended to be, no longer separated but united to Him in LOVE, selfless love!
Please LORD, all by YOUR GRACE, YOUR MERCY, YOUR LOVE!
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