How do you start loving your enemie?

Dave L said:

You might not agree with this. But I see everything that happens to me as God sent. Through which he forms Christ in me. So I look at enemies as blessed tools he uses for the job. And if I do not love them, I do not love him, because God is the one who sent them.

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This is more of a spiritual way of thinking.....which I seldom find here. But yes, I agree. Everything happens for a reason......And "enemies" are footstools.....sent to help us reach higher heights......which we could not reach without them. Loving them comes easier when this is realized....not to be confused with believed.

Arc F1 said:

This is my biggest struggle. I would appreciate any help in overcoming this.

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The fact that you struggle with it and want to overcome it is wonderful. It's the man who doesn't want to overcome it who's in trouble. I'd say to keep telling the Lord that you're sorry you have those feeling and keep praying for deliverance.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

"Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ”

6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1-8

Godsangel89 said:

It doesnt naturally happen, I feel like its impossible to love someone who abuse you for a long time. We are just little humans we have feelings we are not robots. God wants us to bless are enemies and love them, if i pray to god to bless my enemies and love them i will be lying, I dont like pretending to love someone. I just can't . Animals dont even love their abusers

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Thanks .

I would say without God whose very essence is Love and not just a attribute of His power. Without that power or authroity it is impossible to forgive.

He gives us his understanding or hearing of new faith and it defines forgiveness. If we do not know the thoughts and ways of each other seen , how could we say we hear God unless he did the first work the hearing of His understanding called faith in us again not of us who have no faith by which we could understand. ?

Roman 3: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

I would offer as a fallen dying creation that has no power to please God not seen, therefore having no desire to seek after a understanding . If they have no agreement with him how could you seek after his will to begin with and therefore disagreement.?

He works the first supernatural works in us giving us ear to hear His Holy Spirit and a desire or new heart to perform "believing God with us" (Emanuel) It would seem to be the same forgiven love we return to if we harden our hearts .Receiving the end of our new faith from the beginning . . the very salvation of our new soul.

It can be a hard work loving ones enemy forgiving them. Only God can forgive and cast the guilt as far as East is from West. We must work hard to remember we have forgiven. . . empowered by our forgiving father. .

We are not in the place of God the one and only who can forgive and cast the guilt away as far as South is of West.

How many times per day ? 7 times 70 = to many times.

Pray as a blessing coming from God working with you for strength or a desire to bless our enemies and love them and not like Jonah who choose the sufferings of hell rather than work with the Holy Spirit, three times Jonah asked for strength then denied the power knowing God was a God of mercy and would forgive the Ninevites just as he was personally forgiven receiving the end of his new born again faith from the beginning..

The Son of man Jesus did the will of the father with delight. Pray he lighten the load. So the we can call him our forgiving Holy Father.

With God all things are possible without nothing is possible that could please His Spirit of truth

Philipiains2:13-12 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

There exists a barrier in understanding this passage.

The "enemy" in this passage is a believer of a different denomination from the understood "you".

So Methodist and Baptist aren't supposed to be fighting.

Unbelievers?
Not supposed to have anything to do with them as you don't cast pearls before swine or dogs what is sacred.

And lastly...there are several different types of love in Greek/Latin that all get the "love" word in English. Trust me when I say it isn't the romantic love they are talking about. More along the lines of a brother you regularly fight with but woe to the miscreant unbeliever who thinks he can do the same.

Shunnn the unbelievers shunnnn....

Dave L said:

Are you saying the flesh does not battle the Spirit every moment of the day?

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5:17 (KJV 1900)

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I believe these battles happen, but do not think that they result in the display of fruits from a bad tree. I see is more as "having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" The impulse to work in the flesh things we obtained in the spirit....

Hi loving your enemy is certainly not the same as loving your spouse, children or friends. !st of all it recognizes that they are your enemy and have that status so this is not saying let your enemy into your house and fellowship with them. This is a spiritual thing where the love you have is in not wishing them ill and hoping and praying that they find salvation in Jesus. Like Saul was an enemy of the church and we see how his conversion came about. This is keeping us from a place of bitterness and when we forgive and do no hold the grudge we are free from the power of anger and resentment. The mercy and grace we need and hopefully center out lives around is the gospel and Jesus died for their sins too. So the abuser in your life is cut off and you allow those consequences to remain.

There is selfish love which we hold back from enemies. But this selfish love does not do good to the ones we love in a selfish way.

The love which makes us able to love enemies will also make us able to do true good to ones we get along with.

Godsangel89 said:

It doesnt naturally happen, I feel like its impossible to love someone who abuse you for a long time. We are just little humans we have feelings we are not robots. God wants us to bless are enemies and love them, if i pray to god to bless my enemies and love them i will be lying, I dont like pretending to love someone. I just can't . Animals dont even love their abusers

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After years of thought about how to love my enemies, I came to the conclusion that God gave us that command to protect ourselves. If we hate and don't forgive, we will receive the same in return (For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-16)

Another thing I keep in mind is, that loving our enemies doesn't mean to allow them to do whatever they want. God instructed us to love Him, love others as we love ourselves. A woman who was raped can forgive and love her abuser, but it doesn't mean she needs to be their best friend. If that person can't live within the rules of society, then the justice system must set a limit (prison) for the abuser.

I had to ask God to help me in this area a lot because I was confused about it. I thought that because I was a Christian I was supposed to always agree with any abuse, control and manipulation, but then I learned about healthy people and how I had power to decide who was in my circle and who gets to have information about my life. So, I do love my enemies, i pray for them because if a person doesn't love then it means they don't have Christ, but I also remember that I need to love myself and if their behavior is affecting my life and priorities, then it's ok to say "No" and place a boundary. Always ask God for wisdom about what is your part in loving the person/enemies who are hurting you.

Also, always be honest with God. That's what I do. If I am having a hard time loving someone, I talk to God about it and I ask Him to help me grow love for that person in my heart. I don't want bitterness in my heart.

Godsangel89 said:

It doesnt naturally happen, I feel like its impossible to love someone who abuse you for a long time. We are just little humans we have feelings we are not robots. God wants us to bless are enemies and love them, if i pray to god to bless my enemies and love them i will be lying, I dont like pretending to love someone. I just can't . Animals dont even love their abusers

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What do you put into the word "enemy"?

The wicked are God's enemies.

David says,
"They exalt You for evil schemes."


So if it says,
love your enemy, I would reckon I would have to try and work out,

Who is my enemy?

Not like in war where opposing sides wear
different uniforms.

David goes so far as to say he hates Göd's
enemies as if they were his own.

But he also asks God to check him out to see if he is on the right track.


You can check it out in Psalms 139:19-23.

Translations can vary though.

Godsangel89 said:

It doesnt naturally happen, I feel like its impossible to love someone who abuse you for a long time. We are just little humans we have feelings we are not robots. God wants us to bless are enemies and love them, if i pray to god to bless my enemies and love them i will be lying, I dont like pretending to love someone. I just can't . Animals dont even love their abusers

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Love is not essentially something we feel. Love is something we desire and do. What does love desire? Love desires that which is good. What does love do? Love does that which is good.

Imagine your worst enemy comes up to you dying of thirst. You couldn't conjure up warm, fuzzy feelings for this individual if you wanted to. In other words, you can't feel "love" for this person. Nontheless, you give your worst enemy a drink. In this instance, you loved your enemy by giving the good thing they needed, and you did it without the warm, fuzzy feelings that often accompany love.

Jesus said we are to love our neighbor as our self. You want and seek good things for yourself. Jesus is saying do the same for others.

Forget about your feelings. Overcome evil with good. That is love.

Who is your enemy? Could I suggest it is anyone your own tribe hates or dislikes or discriminates against. Those are the ones we are to love, be they the "Russians", the "Americans", the "Australians", the "Chinese", the "Working class", the "Wealthy", "of other Faiths" they are the ones you are to add to your brothers and sisters. You can dislike them but the deserve respect as fellow children of "GOD", with all the rights and privileges that brings. "The Kingdom of God NOW" demands nothing less. We should question our government if they are not bringing peace and justice to all even to our enemies of whom we should have none, else we are in no position for God's kingdom in the afterlife

In Love
Jay Sea

Godsangel89 said:

It doesnt naturally happen, I feel like its impossible to love someone who abuse you for a long time. We are just little humans we have feelings we are not robots. God wants us to bless are enemies and love them, if i pray to god to bless my enemies and love them i will be lying, I dont like pretending to love someone. I just can't . Animals dont even love their abusers

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In response to the supposed command to love my enemies, my answer is no. That is making a mockery of love. Love is my response to my highest values, not of their destruction.

Godsangel89 said:

It doesnt naturally happen, I feel like its impossible to love someone who abuse you for a long time. We are just little humans we have feelings we are not robots. God wants us to bless are enemies and love them, if i pray to god to bless my enemies and love them i will be lying, I dont like pretending to love someone. I just can't . Animals dont even love their abusers

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Because we have to love someone does not mean that we excuse them the consequences of their actions. We have love for them as God enables us to and consequentially we have to remove them from their temptations as much as is possible and treat them as having a medical condition that perhaps requires them to be tract permanently.

In Love
Jay Sea

Masochism might be one possible method. Although the success of that might depend on one's brain chemistry.

Godsangel89 said:

It doesnt naturally happen, I feel like its impossible to love someone who abuse you for a long time. We are just little humans we have feelings we are not robots. God wants us to bless are enemies and love them, if i pray to god to bless my enemies and love them i will be lying, I dont like pretending to love someone. I just can't . Animals dont even love their abusers

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It is an unrealistic notion, at least as its commonly presented. Confucius expected the most natural love was for ones own family and people, gradually extending outwards towards the world as one is capable and is wise to do so. Even in Buddhism, love begins with self-compassion. It's wise to be cautious around people that abuse you, and there's no need to feel bad for having that natural tendency.

Rather than worrying about authenticity (which I would argue is a notion that is rooted in a false consciousness of the self) worry about cultivating good habits.

I believe that the whole point is to love your enemy such that they are no longer an enemy. This would be the goal. Are you going to escalate their anger or deescalate it? Maybe there is just a misunderstanding that they need to work through.

The concept of escalation or de-escalation applies to countries as well as individuals. Should we, as individuals, also attempt diplomacy? How often does the Bible teach us simple common sense ideas of how to manage our lives?

The word love has been so misused in our modern society. The Greeks had seven different words and meanings for love. Should we define love as "a deep commitment to the peace and well-being of another human". If this is how we see the goal of loving our enemy, doesn't that give them the best chance to overcome their hatred or malicious ways?

I believe you can only love your enemies once you grasp how much Jesus loves,He loves them the same as you.