Tuesday: Talking to God 2

"But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. Another beautiful morning here at the Southern Location of the North Pole. And it is Tuesday, and that means it is schools day on this line, and the day we pray for our schools and all who have anything to do with them -- students, teachers, those who work with special needs children, the ones who work in the office, the ones who clean the bathrooms, the ones who drive the buses, and of course the parents. A good school needs a good team and to be a good school the team leader must be in touch with God and let Him have a voice over that school.

If you think for one minute that there are not Christians, good solid born-again Christians in our schools, think again. They may not all speak out, but a good many of them do. And speaking of our students, please pray for the youth group at the Duncannon (Pa.) Assembly of God Church as their youth pastor, Reverend Kevin Wagley, was killed in a car crash on Saturday afternoon. Of course, pray for his family also, and pray for The Couriers, Larry and Tim, as Pastor Kevin was their secretary and traveled with them on some of the trips.

Talking to God 2: As I write this week on Talking to God, I want to talk just a bit about maybe one of the hardest commandments that has been given us when it comes to prayer ... Matthew 5: 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (NIV)

When God tells us to love our neighbors, He did not tell us to pick and choose, He did not tell us to love our neighbor on our left and not our right, or love the one across the street and not in back of our homes. God did not tell us who might be white to love just those who are white, or He did not tell those who are black to just love those who are black. God told us to love our neighbors, and if we love God we will do just that. Now here we find we are to pray for our enemies and love them also. Let me tell you, and I am going out on a limb on this and some are going to say I am judging ...

All of us might have some who hate us, yes even me, but we do need to pray for them, and pray and pray. Maybe we should spend more time talking to God about those who hate us than those who love us. Here I go now ... if you are one who will not pray for your enemies or show love for them, then maybe, just maybe, you need to check on the status of your salvation. If you find yourself hating anyone and not willing to pray for them and love them, maybe, just maybe, you are not really born again.

I know that I do have some people who would just love to cut me down if they had a good chance, and have even made noise to that effect, and let me tell you that I love them just as much and pray for them all the time. Now when I say cut me down, I do not mean in violence! I am talking words here, gossip stuff.

I also know of families where the family does not get along, and folks, please, please try and patch that up, and if you cannot by doing your part, please never stop praying for that family member that might be wavering from the family flock. You will be pleased at what God will do when you talk things over with Him. But please remember that God works in His time and I mentioned, sometimes we must look at the fact that no is an answer. Oh yeah, and then there are times we talk to God about things and it is not coming from our hearts. If you are doing lip service to God, you are wasting your time, for God knows your heart..

And in talking to God, if we do not have faith in God and in His dealing with what we are talking to Him about, then again I tell you we are wasting our time. You see, prayer, or talking to God as I am calling it this week, is the key to heaven, but it is our faith in God and the fact He answers prayer that unlocks the door to heaven. Prayer and faith go hand in hand. Prayer without faith is like a car with no engine, it just will not go anyplace ... Amen.

Dear Father in Heaven, as I pray today, I ask for healing at the Duncannon Assembly of God as they pray, laugh, cry, and remember their beloved youth pastor. ,Please pour out your love on these kids and also the kids to our schools. Lord, I pray that You will be in all of our schools and anoint the staff and the kids. I pray also for this line, and thank You for the messages You send me each day. Please Lord, help us to learn to love more and more each day and love all people, regardless of how they treat us ... In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Now go forth, talking to God often, and also talking to Him about how to share those blessings more and more each day. Remember, when you share from your blessings and do it in faith, you will find you get many more blessings ... love ya, dan.