loving your enemies

My students love Bible class. It is their favorite part of the day. And I love that I can pray with them and teach them that God loves each one of them.

Last week we talked about loving our enemies and about praying for them.

This week we are talking about how Jesus calmed the storm and how we can go to him with our fears. The word is always powerful, but seeing the light it brings to these kids blows me away.

Across the street form the Al Beit building (where out teenagers meet for bible study) is the wall that separates my students from the rest of the world. I still get chills every time I see it and think about how it is affecting my little 7 year olds to see this graffiti covered wall each day.

"Even if they hate us miss?"

"Yes, Jesus wants us to love people who hate us."

"What if they want to kill you?"

"Yes, Jesus wants us to love these people."

If you've never sat and thought about this, It is definitely a radical concept that goes against our human nature.

I can't change their circumstances. I can't make their problems go away. It can be really frustrating and overwhelming how useless it feels like I am sometimes. But Jesus gently reminded me of how powerful his word is this week and how my job isn't to solve anything but to share him with these kids and to read his word and his promises to them.

"Jesus is always with you. You will have bad things happen, scary things even, but he will always be with you." as I speak this to my students and pray for them I am still reminding myself of these concepts daily and trying to grasp how deep and wide is the love of Christ. A love that PRAYED for those who crucified him.

Wow.

Just think about that for a while and let the Lord do a work in your heart.