Praying For Our Enemies

Okay guys, I know y'all can feel me on this one.  I'm not sure about all of you, but I have always had this overwhelming need of acceptance.  I hate conflict and want everyone to like me.  But when there is conflict, I have a tendency to want to get back at the ones who have hurt me.  So as I was dealing with a situation, I began to look through the Bible hoping to find something that could make me feel "better".  Something that will make me feel justified for the anger or hurt I feel.  So I flip to the back of my  Bible and I start looking for verses that will tell me what I WANT to hear.  Time and time again....I find the same thing.  "You shall not take vengeance, not bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Leviticus 19:18.    And yet again and again we are commanded to not only love one another, but also to love our enemies.  Matthew 5:44 says "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." What? So I not only have to love them, but pray for them too!  Frustrated I closed my bible and started praying.  I woke up the next morning and  thought I had received  a revelation through the night....I remembered somewhere in the Bible it said something about an "eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth".  I hurriedly found that verse and hate to admit it, but was a little disappointed that this did not not mean I could go scratch someone's eyes out.   As I studied this verse, I learned this statement in the Old Testament was applied only to punishment for serious crimes, like assault (this does not include back biting or rolling of the eyes), and was not to be carried out by individuals , but only through the judicial system.  I had heard this verse so many times growing up and it was used out of context.   We have taken this verse and twisted it to justify our actions and feelings.  I wonder how much of God's word we have picked apart and tried to make it fit to make us comfortable.  God's word gives us the standards He wants us to live by. Don't try to change it and make it comfortable, because sometimes it just isn't.  Sometimes it is very uncomfortable.  Sometimes it tells us things we don't necessarily want to hear.  Why? Because He loves us.  He knows what is best for us.  He knows if we fight evil with evil, no one wins.  He knows we are freed by forgiving others and when we pray for our enemies, we are releasing ourselves from bondage.  So today...I pray for my enemies.  This does not mean I am a doormat for people to walk on, it simply means I try to see them as God's children also.  As much as I hate to admit it, He loves them just as much as He loves me.  I am not perfect either.  I have hurt others also.  I hurt God everyday by sinning against Him.   But every day I am granted New Mercies!  Praise God! And my need for acceptance from others is slowly becoming less of a necessity.  I have an Almighty Father in heaven who accepts me for me.  Not only does He accept me but 1 John Chapter 3 tells me that I am a child of God! Through the good, bad, and the ugly....He has chosen to be My Father!  That my friends, is all the acceptance I need!