by Raymond Doward

Created on: October 24, 2009   Last Updated: October 26, 2009

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 despite-fully use you and persecute you (Matt. 5:44)

One may look at the title of this article and say, what do you mean my enemy is my friend ! you have no idea what I'm dealing with on my job, or in church or even in my family! An enemy is very valuable to those in the kingdom of God because they are needed to position us to receive from God. For example Psalm 23 says that He (The Lord) prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemy. Notice if there is no enemy...no prepared table. When you look at key bible characters in the bible, you will find that they all had enemies, for example Moses had to deal with Pharaoh who God allowed to be a part of his life, for his entire life. Moses 'mother hid him for 3 months until she could no longer hide him from being killed by Pharaoh.

So she prepares an ark pitched and has him placed in it on the Nile only to find him going toward the one who was out to kill him to begin with...Pharaoh. At age 40 he sees an Egyptian beating one of his brethren and he kills him, and has to run from...you guessed it ...Pharaoh. Moses is minding his own business tending sheep for his father-in-law Jethro when God suddenly appears from out of a burning bush and sends him to...you've got it! Pharaoh. Like this example from the life of Moses we can find ourselves hanging out with our enemies unintentionally because God understands the importance of us being prepared and positioned for what he is about to do in our life.

Because of Pharaoh, Moses saw God's power and blessing in his life in a great way and without Pharaoh he would have missed all of those great miracles and the same thing holds true for us today. Our enemy positions us to see God's blessing and power in our lives in a great way also.Our enemy also pushes us into our purpose and destiny just as Judas did for Jesus when he betrayed him with a kiss. Jesus knew Judas was going to betray him but he still called him "friend". Yes we must pray for our enemies until we can see them as friends. God turned the captivity of Job only after he prayed for his friends, but they were really annoying enemies (Job 42). Are you angry and upset at work because of an enemy? or trying to hold your peace with a family member? whatever your case, remember that your enemy is really your friend.

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