Christianity Oasis Forum

[twodayzgn]

Per the Lord's instruction, forgiving my enemies is an extremely difficult thing to do! Oftentimes I wonder if one of my enemies, in particular, has placed a curse on me. Health and personal problems just seem to be at an incredibly high rate these past few years; more than the average for sure! As irrational as this sounds (even to me), I even discussed this possibility with my husband. While I won't get into "how" I developed 4 enemies, I can say that I tried very hard to reconcile both situations with no success.

I try not to dwell on these matters, because it doesn't seem like a healthy activity. However, both situations have left scars on my heart! One of my enemies was a friend of over 40 years. Believe me, I've given a lot of thought as to "labeling" these 4 people enemies. Ultimately, its their efforts to utterly destroy my reputation, both through online social networks and my local court system.

Every fiber of my being cries out to God to punish them, so I'm having a difficult time figuring out HOW to forgive them instead. They hurt me tremendously, and for no good reason. In one situation, the kind of hurt that has caused irrepairable damage to my relationships with my adult step-children.

David comes to mind, as he asked God to punish HIS enemies, so why can't I make the same request?

HELP!

[Maverick_Reborn]

Hello =) Dealing with enemies is very difficult, especially if they used to be friends, because then there are confusing emotions to deal with. You cannot ask for God to punish your enemies simply because it is not His will. He will not punish them automatically because He is a loving God, but at the same time He does not ignore justice. Revenge is His in the end, but do you really want your enemies to perish and endure punishment forever? Surely, you are going through a trial, and you need to find a way to reconcile with them.

[realtmg]

Hi,
When you have time, read 1st Cor. Chapter 13.
Look at the sin in them and not them.

Hope this helps.

GBU

Real

[Timothy]

We ask for God to forgive us as we forgive others.
So forgive others as you would like God to forgive you.

Matthew West has an awesome song out titled Forgiveness.
I encourage all to look it up. It speaks to this situation.

God Bless,

Timothy

[twodayzgn]

Since my original post, I reached out to one of my "enemies" in hopes of reconciling. She still doesn't want anything to do with me or my apology. I pray to God to give me the strength to forgive, and the humility to turn the other cheek. I then prayed that God would take this burden off my heart. Its just too much to deal with right now. Thanks for the prayers and advice! rose

[ChildofPeace]

I just wanted to say, even though its been awhile since your original post, I know the feeling of having several enemies. It can be a hard traumatic thing and sometimes it can feel very overwhelming. I sometimes struggle with it but prayer and talking to God has helped me keep my sanity through it all. I pray that your situation has improved.

God Bless

[RockofAges]

Hey I found out when I can forgive myself I can forgive just about anybody.

[mlg]

wooohooo Amen RockofAges

[DicipleofJesus]

For me forgiving my enemies is all about dropping that debt I feel they owe me for all they have done to me. I have forgiven that way and I feel so much better as a concequence. However forgiveness and reconciliation are two distinctly differrent things. Forgiving enemies is an easy task compared to reconciling with SOME of them. One can forgive all one's enemies. But not all of them will want to reconcile with you. One can't make the other person want to reconcile with him/her, you just because you have forgiven them. Best to let them be, those who don't want to reconciliate and find others who will accept you as you are because of what those enimies did. I myself was not such a cool guy myself once upon a time. and new I'd need a lot of forgiveness from God myself. That is why I forgave a lot of enemies. Something you can do in your mind simply by dropping the debt they owe you without even telling them, for fear of them taking this forgiveness as a licence to reoffend. Some people have psychiatric problems of a pathological nature. All one can do is forgive them. Afterwards you have to build your own life without them to a degree because they are planning to reoffend. Jesus died on the Cross to forgive us all of our sins. Obviously not all will accept this forgiveness and see themselves as sinners. In the end there will be no reconciliation from God if they die without accepting Jesus as their Savior even if Jesus did die"once for all" So here we see that God forgives all, but will not reconciliate with all. So forgive without expecting your enemies to autiomatically want to reconcile with you. And I hope you will find peace in the midst of turmoil.