{"id":2415,"date":"2020-08-17T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=2415"},"modified":"2020-08-06T07:02:52","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T12:02:52","slug":"who-knows-you-enemies-better-than-you-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/08\/17\/who-knows-you-enemies-better-than-you-do\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO KNOWS YOUR ENEMIES BETTER THAN YOU DO?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cContend, Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.\u201d (Psalm 35:1 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God knows who your true enemies are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may think you know, but you don\u2019t know.\u00a0 We get our enemies so wrong.\u00a0 We fight the wrong battles.\u00a0 We put energy into a battle that doesn\u2019t exist, because we think we know what people are thinking.\u00a0 We think we understand their hearts intent, but we don’t.\u00a0 We create enemies that don\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, God knows who the real enemies are.  He\u2019s fighting the battle we ignore because we\u2019re focused on the wrong thing.  God contends for us in the battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God contends for us in the battle.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I’m on a zoom chat and I see the deadpan faces of others, I try not to assign emotion based on their look. Zoom has taught me what I look like when I\u2019m listening, it isn\u2019t what I thought.  Where I thought I had a pleasant look on my face, I now know, it\u2019s just plain.  No look whatsoever.  Now I understand why strangers have come up to me and said, \u201cSmile, life isn\u2019t that bad.\u201d  The lack of emotion on my face makes me look sad.  People could make lots of wrong assumptions because of how I look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We assume we know.  We read into words or actions meanings that are incorrect.  We form the wrong conclusions in our minds about who is our enemy and who isn\u2019t.  God knows who is truly fighting against us, often our biggest enemy is ourselves.  We think we know, so we assume.  God knows the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God knows the things we say to ourselves that aren\u2019t true.  He knows the lies we believe.  He knows the actions we take that hurt ourselves more than anyone else.  Lord knows, I\u2019m my own worst enemy.  Only through Him have I learned to not trust myself when I make a snap decision.  God reveals the truth in time, but I have to wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,  bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.\u201d (<\/em>Luke 6:27-28 NIV<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God contends with our enemies by how we treat them.\u00a0 We are to love and pray for them.\u00a0 Which is why we should love and pray for ourselves.\u00a0 If we are our own worst enemy, then only God can protect us from ourselves.\u00a0\u00a0A common prayer I pray: “Lord protect me from myself.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I look back over my life, I\u2019ve been my own worst enemy.  The mistakes I\u2019ve made are a result of the decisions I made.  No one else is to blame.  But God protected me.  He taught me.  He carried me.  He contended with me when no one else did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God contends for us, especially when we\u2019re the enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever considered your worst enemy is yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading:<\/strong> Nehemiah 12:27-13:31 NIV<\/a>, 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 35:1-16 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 21:17-18 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cContend, Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.\u201d (Psalm 35:1 NIV) God knows who your true enemies are. You may think you know, but you don\u2019t know.\u00a0 We get our enemies so wrong.\u00a0 We fight the wrong battles.\u00a0 We put energy into a battle that doesn\u2019t exist, because… Continue reading WHO KNOWS YOUR ENEMIES BETTER THAN YOU DO?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2415"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2420,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415\/revisions\/2420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}