Note from author: This is a continuation of “Love for Enemies”.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” – Romans 12:21 (NIV)

Loving our enemies is very different from how we are taught in the world. Loving our enemies is not something that is easy to do, and sometimes it may even go against what we feel is the right or better way to live.

The world’s way is to take revenge. To give our enemies trouble, pain and suffering worse than what they did to us.

God’s way is to break the cycle by loving our enemies. To pray for them and bless them and not repay wrong for wrong, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). Just as Christ prayed for them and blessed them, even as He suffered on the cross for all our sins, we are called to pray and bless those who persecute and hurt us.

There were probably times we have hurt people back. After we hurt people the same way they hurt us, our pain does not go away. Instead, we still feel our own pain and on top of that: guilty.

Remember how we learned that loving our enemies doesn’t come from our own strength and willpower? It’s the same when dealing with our guilt. We need to deal with our sins and our guilt before we can forgive the sins of others against us.

When dealing with your guilt, we must humble ourselves and go before God. When you pray, give Him your pain. Admit the wrongs you did and confess how the other person made you feel. Ask for Him forgiveness for the hurt you inflicted on others. Bless the person who hurt you. He will forgive you.

1 John 1:9 (NLT) says: “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

Amen? What’s more, God will cleanse your own conscience so that you can serve Him with a healed and whole heart full of love for Him and people. Hebrews 9:13-14 (NLT) declares:

“Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.”

This is really amazing! God doesn’t just cleanse us from our guilt, He purifies our own conscience from all the evil deeds we have done – rage, malice, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, cursing, hatred, etc. so that we can truly worship God with a healed heart and full of joy, love and peace! Jesus made this possible through His sacrifice on the cross for our sins!!!

Hallelujah!!!!!!!

I want you to make it a habit to pray every day. Even if there are some things you don’t feel like talking about with other people, give it all up to God. Even if your prayers are short or you don’t feel like you need anything to confess about, go to God!

Andrew Murray, a South African writer, teacher, and Christian pastor. He said very simply, “I need to spend time with God even when I do not know what to pray.”

 We all stumble and sin in many ways, whether it is in our thoughts, or actions, or choosing not to take action. So all need to spend time with God in prayer, even if we do not know what we pray for – that’s why the Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26).

That’s why the Bible says we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 5:43; Matthew 19:19; Matthew 22:29; Mark 12:31).

When we cannot forgive our enemies, it is because we cannot forgive ourselves for something we have done.

Forgiveness that God offers through Christ is freely given to all, but we have to personally receive it.

When we receive forgiveness from God for ourselves, then we receive that power to forgive others.

This EM’s former pastor, Pastor Jonathan Kwon, put it this way: “Forgiving is impossible without “paying attention to yourselves.” … You can really only forgive somebody else if you find yourself forgivable. So the exact opposite must be true if you can’t forgive somebody else – you are as unforgivable as the person you can’t forgive. Forgiving is more of an act of knowing you are repeatedly forgiven for all the things you failed doing and getting a second, third, fourth and fifth shot, etc. from God through the blood of Jesus.”

Amen? When you feel that you are unforgivable or cannot forgive others, I want you to consider the prayer that a Holocaust survivor prayed:

“God dealt with our whole situation on the cross; there is nothing left for you to settle. Just say to Him, “Lord, I cannot forgive and I will no longer try to do it; but I trust that You in me will do it. I can’t forgive and love; but I trust that You will forgive and love in my place and that You will do these things in me.” ― Corrie ten Boom

Let’s thank God for the truth given through the Bible and for all these people who have experienced the same suffering and still overcame through the blood of Jesus!

Again,

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” – Romans 12:21 (NIV)

The Blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin!