Considering the war in Ukraine, our first prayer is that there will be peace. Our second prayer is that our brothers and sisters in Christ will persevere and continue to grow in their faith while they offer the Good News to their countrymen. Below Jesus’ words give us one more prayer to focus on,
“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?...” (Matt. 5:44-46b)
We are instructed by Christ to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors. This is our third prayer. For many of us, we might have to stop and think about who our enemy could be. For people in Eastern Europe, this is a glaring reality. If Christ be in us, we must go further than our minds tell us to. We must pray for people far from God, no matter what they have done or are doing to us.
We talk about being part of the Summit community at our mission. That community encompasses individuals, churches, local businesses, volunteers, Eastern European workers, and more. As a mission community, if we humble ourselves and pray for our enemies, we believe that God will answer. As we lift up the name of Jesus, and pray for those who are far from Him, He will draw people to Himself (John 12:32). As people receive His grace, God gets glory (Rev. 4:11).
In God’s economy, His forgiveness leads to increased love. The person who has received forgiveness will love God proportionately to the amount of sin forgiven them (Luke 7:41-48). As we seek our own forgiveness in prayer, Jesus told us to also “forgive those who trespass against us” (Matt. 6:12-15). This is the way of Christ. As we consider Matthew 5, we see why it is so important to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors.
The Summit community is at work doing the Father’s business. Please read more in our Stories from the Field about the eternal impact that Summit Missions is having. Together, we are making a difference in Eastern Europe!
May God bless you as you give and receive forgiveness!
David Windham
Executive Director
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