Read time: 4 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.\u201d (Proverbs 25:21-22 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want God to reward you, feed your enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When someone hurts me, the last thing I want to do is feed them. In fact, I prefer never to have to see my enemies again. However, that isn\u2019t what God wants. When faced with evil, He wants us to give back good, replacing meanness with kindness, hate with love. In no way can any of us accomplish this task without His divine intervention. When we partner with God to deal with hurt feelings, we receive His reward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you noticed, the ones who hurt you the most are the ones you love the most? The reason is simple if you didn\u2019t care, you wouldn\u2019t get hurt. People take each other for granted the longer they are in each other’s lives. Our enemies aren\u2019t necessarily people, but complacency and neglect. People assume you’re always available for them without making any effort in the relationship. These \u201cenemies\u201d are the most difficult to love because the pain is deep, the history long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God provides the food.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We can\u2019t love people who hurt us without God\u2019s provision. When injured, the healing process starts by acknowledging your feelings. Scream to God, give Him the pain, cry out in your torment, release it to Him. Identify the emotions you are feeling, take time to understand them. Ask God to reveal to you the truth of the situation, exposing lies you\u2019ve believed. Then allow God to renew your heart and mind as His Spirit renews within you. Wait for His prompting; He\u2019ll show you how to respond in love instead of hate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you love those who love you, what reward will you get?\u201d (<\/em>Matthew 5:46 NIV<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n God\u2019s rewards aren\u2019t monetary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.\u201d (<\/em>Galatians 5:22-23 NIV<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As we work to love our enemies, God\u2019s fruit blossoms in our lives, taking our pain and turning it into a beautiful bouquet of love.\u00a0 When God\u2019s Spirit fills our lives, grace and mercy overflow from our hearts.\u00a0 Instead of focusing on the pain we suffer, we recognize others suffering.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n People cause harm when they are hurting themselves.\u00a0 Often, the pain inflicted is unintentional, a result of not dealing with their issues.\u00a0 In cases like this one, prayer is the best way to respond.\u00a0 Words and actions won\u2019t help, only God.\u00a0 Loving your enemies doesn\u2019t mean allowing them to walk all over you.\u00a0 Instead, let God show you the best way to love them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What enemy do you need to love today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further Reading:<\/strong> Jeremiah 31:27-32:44 NIV<\/a>, 1 Timothy 3:1-16 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 88 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 25:20-22 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read time: 4 minutes \u201cIf your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.\u201d (Proverbs 25:21-22 NIV) If you want God to reward you, feed your enemies. When someone… Continue reading HOW CAN YOU GET A REWARD FROM GOD?<\/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-2607","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\/2607","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=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2609,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions\/2609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}