"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." -- Matthew 5:44
This is a hard one. It goes against our human nature. We don't want to love people who hurt us! We want to lash out at them. We crave revenge. What about all that eye for an eye stuff in the Old Testament?
Well, Jesus addressed that very thing in Matthew 5:38-39. He told us to turn the other cheek -- so the person could strike that one too. Ouch!
Beth Moore wrote a wonderful book called Praying God's Word. It has a chapter on praying for our enemies. The chapter even includes a prayer you can read as you pray for people who would destroy you if they could. I have used that prayer. Over and over. It's amazing. Not only did my anger diminish but I actually started to feel compassion for those who hurt me. I didn't let my guard down. I had changed. They hadn't. But it did teach me a valuable lesson about forgiveness and letting go of anger.
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