Do You Love Your Enemies?

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Text: Luke 6: 35

“Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked” (NLT)

The command to love our enemies for many people will be easy until they actually have someone whom they can regard as an enemy then they will realize that the command is not as easy as they thought. An enemy is someone who does not mean well for you, someone who will do all that is in his power to pull you down. Someone who will deliberately resist every god thing that he sees coming your way. In summary an enemy is someone who only wants to act wickedly towards you whenever the opportunity presents itself. In the real world, nobody wants to love his enemy, what many would actually like to do is to hate their enemies and to pay them back in their own coin, to avenge the wickedness they have done to them. Many both within and outside the church will even wish their enemies dead and will even dare to make that a prayer point to God.

In the light of this therefore, you will understand that for many, loving their enemies is not an option at all, yet it is the demand of God. Our text reveals to us clearly that loving our enemies is not optional but a commandment from God. It is something we must do it we truly wish to identify ourselves with God as His children. Jesus said in that passage that it is by loving our enemies that we show ourselves as children of God.

God Himself laid example for us in this regard by showing kindness to all men – which includes those who are unthankful and also those who are wicked. If Jesus were to be like men, on the cross He will be issuing all manner of curse on all those who ganged up to falsely accuse Him and also conspire to get Him crucified, but instead He was praying for them. If He is our Savior and Lord then we have no choice but to follow in His footsteps.

Our text gave us examples of what we can do to demonstrate that we truly love our enemies. We should do good to them, even when all they do to us is evil, we should lend to them without expecting to be repaid even when they refused to lend or give to us when they had the opportunity to do so.

Jesus in our text promised that when we love our enemies then our reward in heaven will be great. We will we not fall short of this reward in Jesus name. So we are not to pray against our enemies, we are not to seek for opportunities of revenge against them, in fact we should forgive them even when they have not apologized for the wrong they did to us. By so doing we show ourselves as true children of God. God help us to love our enemies in Jesus name. Amen. Shalom.

Prayer Points

1. Father I give you praise for loving me even when I was unfaithfulness thereby setting example for me to do likewise

2. Father grant me grace not to be vengeful but instead to be quick to forgive in Jesus name

3. Father I command every root of hatred and bitterness within me to die in Jesus name

4. Father according to your word, it is by loving enemies that I show myself as your true disciple grant me grace therefore to love and not to hate in Jesus name

5. Father may I be found worthy of the reward reserved in heaven for those who love their enemies in Jesus name. Amen