Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
Romans 13: 8-12
Sitting here, staring at the trees sway in the constant flow of a gentle breeze, it would be impossible to imagine what is happening across the world without the constant flow of news. I could so easily become consumed with my own issues, desires, and plans. I could set my prayers to the drumbeat of my own goals and the things I want from God. But as beautiful a moment this this, the world is in chaos, and many innocent people are losing their lives. Many who do not know Christ have died, and many more will if the current world crisis continues.
The world itself is weary of war and bloodshed. We tire of seeing atrocities across the globe, and every news report takes our emotions up a notch. We have heard people use words like, anger, outrage, visceral, fury, and wrath to describe how they are feeling about what has been happening in Ukraine, and now Israel. Seeing what we’ve seen, we can hardly blame anyone form experiencing these human emotions.
Believers in Jesus (Yeshua) must always add the primary emotion to any list—love! If we remove love from the equation, anger will lead to hate, which is antithetical to a believer. We serve a God of love who say to us, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). This may be the last thing you want to hear in moments like this, but this is exactly why I feel led to write it. We must never take our eyes of the One who calls us His own to focus solely on what has stirred us.
We do not know if one to whom we direct hate is someone God will use to share His love. Paul (Saul) was a prosecutor of Jesus’ followers before he encountered Jesus on his way to arrest more of his followers, and subsequently became Apostle to the Gentiles. He would later write that the commandments “are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”” (Romans 13:9).
So, wherever you are today and whatever the situation you are in, if you profess to follow Jesus I encourage you to pray. Give thanks if you are at peace, glorify God in the midst of your battle, pray for those in harms way, pray for the one fighting next to you. Pray that those who do not know Jesus as Lord will come to believing faith in Him. Pray for the plans of those who plot harm to be exposed and uprooted. Pray unceasingly and rid yourself of the feeling that you are powerless to do anything. Pray!
The Watchman's Diary 
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