I love THE BEAUTIFUL PRAYER. Very touching prayer indeed.The one that touched me most was this part:

I ask God to help me LOVE others, as much as He loves me. God said...Ahhhh,
finally you have the idea.

Because its really not easy sometimes doing simple things like loving your neighbors as yourself. I know it was not initially easy for me when enemies arose in my life! And being an on-going thing makes it tougher! Its simply a true test of one's faith, I tell you! Cos while you are angry at them, you aint definitely praying or praising God! So, its soooooo NOT worth it!

The Guest minister at my church yesterday- Pastor Sturdivant seemed to have been talking directly at me! You know that uneasy feeling when you are in church and the pastor is preaching and its like he is talking to you one-on-one? About stuff you actually only talked to God about prior to coming to church?!

He preached from 1 Samuel Chapter 30 and was talking about when David returned and found out that they had lost everything! They wept till they couldnt weep no more! A king and his soldiers wept!!

1Sam 30:4 Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their
voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

How kings and anointed people of God would at one point in their lives lose all!!! And that is because its within God's plan to form their character so that when they make it back up, they would only ascribe the glory to God and no one else?

So, people, if you are down now, its part of the PROCESS of life! You cant get the POSSESSION without going through a PROCESS.

And then in Verse 19 of same chapter, they recovered all!

1Sam 30:19 And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great,
neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to
them: David brought back all.

And you know how? THROUGH an enemy!!! An Egyptian weary soldier that was left behind by his own people!

1Sam 30:13 And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art
thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my
master left me, because three days ago I fell sick. 1Sa 30:15 And David said to
him, Wilt thou bring me down to this troop? And he said, Swear unto me by God,
that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master,
and I will bring thee down to this troop.

Saying that not all enemies are bad!! Some are actually there because they would play a divine role in your life somehow. And I know this to be true. God plants friends to even turn into enemies to do a good to our lives!

Trust me, I have personal testimonies to that.Truth in my life is that some things done to me by enemies (we all have them) ended up being actual blessings to me in more ways than one! I cant explain it. So, next time when a best friend, a sibling, a parent, a colleague changes and starts acting strange and 'mean' or 'hateful', fret not! Just pray. Dont be too fast to retaliate! And the hard part, love them like Christ loves you! Now, that is a tough one! Isn't it? But with the Grace of God, its possible. Yeah, that is one area I ask God daily for more grace to love back enemies, definitely not easy, but I have been doing it, and have been blessed in the process. And God does awesome things in my life daily! Shows me that enemies' actions and behaviors dont matter in my destiny! Its my reaction that makes the difference.

And Pastor Sturdivant also said that being angry and holding onto what people did or said about you is like drinking a spiritual poison. Because you are killing yourself with anger, killing your spirituality while losing your blessings God has in store for you! And holding unto grudges keeps your hands occupied to receive the blessings coming your way......

Powerful message, loved it! And that is what a good sermon should do, touch our hearts and make us want to change, right? And I am glad for that........I need my hands to collect all the goodness and blessings I have remaining in this 2007. And no one is worth losing them! NONE at all!

Stay blessed y'all, and love, love, love no matter what! It frees your mind to think good thoughts... Phillipians 4:8

Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are
honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things.
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