Matthew 5:43-44
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you"
I was listening to a talk from Matthew Kelly and he challenged his audience to live a life of radical love and faith. I appreciate concrete action steps and Matthew always delivers. This was no exception. He said, How many of you in the days, months and years after September 11th 2001, attended a church where Osama Bin Laden was mentioned in the prayer intentions? He said he bet people would've gotten up and walked out of the church. But that is what we are called to do.
We are called right here in verse 44 to love and pray for our enemy. He didn't mean just your enemies who only hurt you a little, or just hurt your feelings and not you physically. There was no qualification around who we should love and pray for. Thank God for that because I know if there were qualifications, I would likely fall short a lot of the time.
So here's a what if - what if we as a body of believers - just Spirit FM listeners - made the decision to pray, purposefully for our enemies, personal and societal. What could happen? Probably something pretty radical.
