If you ever heard or read the scripture that says love your enemies you may have wondered how is that possible. Matthew 5:44 says, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you, and persecute you;" It goes on to say that by doing these things we prove we are the children of God. I'm sure most people feel like that is a lot to ask from someone who feels that they have been violated or victimized. How is it possible for a Christian to honor this command and be kind, loving, and well-wishing towards those who have been cruel to you? Especially without feeling like you're being phoney? If you have ever wondered about the logic behind loving your enemies, then below are three reasons that might help you see things from God's perspective, so you can find a path that will lead to peace in your heart and forgiveness towards those who have hurt you.
1.Understand that enemies NEED your prayer- When someone is hateful toward you, usually the last thing you want to do is pray for them. In fact most times, it's hard to want anything good for them at all. After all it doesn't seem like they want anything good to come to you. But did you know that God instruct us to pray for those who are cruel to us, and he says that if we don't then what makes us any different from them. God says, your enemies love the people who are nice to them, and hate the people who are mean to them, but Christians are to be like God. He allows his enemies to have sunshine, rain, clean air, life, and many chances to repent before he releases His wrath. God is God because He is good to those who do not follow his commands even though they are unworthy. Now that you are a Christian, you have to give up on the idea of treating others the same way they treat you. Christians treat others better than they treat you. It takes a loving spirit to do that. If it seems like you are running low on love, work on thinking good thoughts, Remeber Philippians 4:8-9 which says,
"Finally, brotheren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
2. Understand that your enimies may not know Jesus- Jesus says, "You will know they are my disciples by their love." Therefore, when you run into people who lie, cheat, steal, and who enjoy being intentionally cruel to others, you can be certain that they don't know Jesus, even when they say they do. The reason is because people who really know Jesus understand that God sees everything that we all do. God can see the true intentions of our hearts. That means no one can deceive God. If a person sincerely means another person harm, they can not hide their true intentions from God. Those who truly know God understand that we all are accountable to him for the way we treat other people. God commands us to treat one another the way we ourselves want to be treated. If a person practices intentionally cruel behavior, they are putting themselves at odds with God and one would have to be insane person or completely spiritually ignorant of what God says to do that. Anyone who is insane or ignorant needs someone to feel sorry enough for them that they will pray for them, not hate them.
God says that there will be consequences for those who harm others without repenting, therefore he urges those of us who encounter people with bad behavior to pray for them, so that they might repent before they have to pay the penalty for their sins. By this we know that enemies who don't repent are actually much worse off than the people who they offend.
3. Understand that your enemies are in pain- All Christians should know that when your enemies do things to hurt you, it's because they too have been hurt. Cruelty is a learned behavior. We all come here as babies, and babies aren't cruel. Human beings grow into cruel behavior through what they see and experience. If a person's environmental upbringing is hostile and void of Godly training, then they usually go on to become someone who causes pain for others. Bad environments deposit bad seeds which sprout into inappropriate behavior. Once those bad seeds have been implanted in the spirit of a person, it takes constant exposure to a Godly example to uproot it and replace the bad behavior with the proper behavior. Since so many people have no genuine spiritual life, or no relationship with God at all, they have no way to get free of these fowl seeds or their effects. The bad behavior produced by the seeds produce feelings of guilt and shame. The guilt and shame soon becomes a heavy weight for the person to bare. God says that confession and repentance is the proper way to unload it, but instead, many seek to unload that burden onto someone else, who most times had nothing to do with hurting them.
That is why we often hear that hurting people hurt other people, and we see it too in cases such as: abusive husbands who also had abusive parents. We hear of child molesters who themselves were molested by someone.
It's really up to those of us who love Christ to pray for the healing of those who hurt us. I believe we survive painful situations in order to minister to the ones who do us harm, no matter if it's physical, mental, emotional, or otherwise.
your prayers for their sins may very well be the only prayers they get for those offenses.
This is why it is important to understand why God tells us to pray for them so that we won't miss the opportunity to minister to a sin sick soul.
It takes having the heart of Christ to see violators for more than cruel and hateful monsters. Many times it's even necessary to pray for them from a distance, because change and deliverance takes time. The most important thing to know is that you don't have to hate them or seek revenge against them, even when it's tempting or convenient. God promises that he will take care of issuing out their punishment if they refuse to repent. So instead of revenge, seek the truth for yourself to heal your own pain and destroy your enemy's effects on you. That way you can move past those negative situations. Praying for your enemies is spiritual medicine for you, and it's important for you to get healed in order to keep yourself from becoming just like your enemies.
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