Loving Your Parents

Dear Mary,

Your good letter arrived today, and I thought it need an immediate
reply.

I am glad to see that you really saw the change in Susie’s
relationship with her parents when she took the action she took of writing
letters of respect and love to them. Then you said that you did not take that
same action, and in fact, you were not sure that you wanted their love. And the
more you prayed for them, the less you felt attached to them, and this included
your whole family.

Well, you are doing things backwards. You do not want their
love, you pray for them, and you feel less attached to them. Listen, God did
not give you those unloving feelings. The enemy gave you those unloving feelings.
Since God did not give them to you, and you decided to have them from some
other source, you are going to have to repent of those feelings. Repent of your
not wanting their love. You will not be able to grow in the Lord without taking
this action. You might learn more, and you might not get really back-slidden,
but you will not grow until you take care of this problem.

Susie took care of her problem first, and then she wrote the
letter. She took care of her problem by confession, repentance, getting rid of
all of her negative feelings which she had toward her parents. So when she
wrote the letter, it was not a hypocritical letter, it was a real letter. And
being I real letter, it got a real response. You haven’t written the letter
because you have not taken care of the problem. If you wrote one with your present
feelings, of course it would sound phony. So, you get to the Lord and confess all
of your unlove for your family. You stay with it until it is all gone.

After you have been forgiven, cleansed, you still may not
love them, but you will be clean. From a clean position, then, you choose
to love them because they are your parents, because they are your neighbors,
because they are enemies. Regardless of who they are, you should still love
them.

You are not looking forward to Christmas at home because of
previous unpleasant times at home. That is why you must take care of your side
of the problem, until you have confessed your unlove and chosen to love them,
and then express your love toward them either on the telephone or in writing,
so they can respond to love. When they do, it might change your view about
being home at Christmas. If you are in some other Christian home that is happy,
it is a happy Christian home for a reason (they forgive each other), and it can
be the same reason in your parents’ home, only you have to act on it as a
Christian.

This is a rather strong letter. I hope you receive it in
love and get with the Lord and take action. Give my love in the Lord to the
other believers.

In His love,

Jim Wilson