Leap for joy

Jesus tells me...

Keep loving people no matter how they treat you.

Love is not a feeling.  It is a choice.  It is action.

I chose and loved Judas knowing from the start he would betray Me.  But he was a crucial part of the Father's plan.

So when your enemies "send you to the cross," so to speak, since everything that comes your way must be approved by Me first, I am allowing it for your ultimate good.

Though the cross is excruciatingly painful - dying to self, to "rights" - it births a resurrection always if you follow through.

If you refuse to "go to the cross," then you forfeit the fruit, the rewards.

Because it is the cross that eventually gives life.  

"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."  I Peter 5:10

So don't be too quick to complain or grouse when you are mistreated for My sake.  They hated Me and they will hate you, too, because you belong to Me.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."  John 15:18-19

If you get in the habit of forgiving and blessing your tormentors, they can no longer get to you.

You have forgiven much.  The enemy hates this because it glorifies Me and sets you apart as Mine. So he tries to rehash old hurts with you in an attempt to get you to sin, to not forgive.

But you have allowed Me to crucify your flesh - that which is of no good to you anyway.

This is one major reason why most are not on the narrow path.  It hurts.

But you are wise to think long-term about it.  For your enemies are the very ones storing eternal rewards for you in heaven.

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets." Luke 6:22-23

So press on!

Love everyone!

Pray for everyone!

Bless your enemies!

And your reward in heaven is great!