Heaping Burning Coals

Main Scripture:  Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Romans 12:19-20

Song to Meditate on: Show Me How To Love (Lyrics) - Sidewalk Prophets (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ9SNWNulhw)

During my reflection recently I was thinking how amazing it is that God can actually cause someone who is your enemy to bless you. Also the scripture above was dropped in my spirit and like many persons I know, I always thought that “ I will my enemies to God because God is going to avenge them by wreaking havoc in their lives and send brim stone and fire on them for troubling “him pickney” (Jamaican for his child).” Well not so drastic.

Then I started researching and found that heaping burning coals has nothing to do with literal discomfort or trouble to our enemies. According to by Ivan Maddox in an article entitled Coals of Fire “This has been described as a reference to an Oriental custom. A fire in the center of a village was kept going day and night. This fire was used to light the fires in individual homes each day. Every morning a village youth would put a container on his head, and hot coals would be heaped into it. He would then go from house to house distributing the hot coals so that the villagers could start their fires. On cold days this was an enviable job, since the heat from the coals of fire kept the head and hands of the youth warmed. To heap coals of fire on someone's head, then, means to warm him, and, by extension, to bless him. “

God actually want you to bless your enemies not with the hope that God will take revenge but with the hope that they will see God’s love through you, that the good you do will warm their hearts and turn them around. It is kind of hard to show a cheating husband love and kindness or to forgive someone who has been unkind to you. However, when you show love to someone who has done bad to you, it confuses them and it will eventually change them and cause them to bless you in return. It is not our prerogative to worry about how God will bring about revenge we should just show love to those who does bad to us. Matthew 5:44 further encourages us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

Ladies you might be going through a hard time right now but if you are tired of the tension at work, with your husband, with a family member or with a friend. I encourage you today, pray and ask God to show you how to love, then instead of allowing the person to irritate you and cause you to do or say something bad them, show them love instead. Do this exercise this week and let us see how things change.

Have A God Filled Day Ladies

Let’s Pray,

Father God, teach us how to love our enemies in spite of the wrong that they have done us. Help us to start today by being kind to them and to encourage them.

In Jesus Name

Amen