Pray For Your Enemies // How To Grow In Forgiveness // Ronnica Chapman

yes so we're gonna talk about praying for our enemies and i know i don't want anyone to run out of the room i know that you might be thinking do i really have to pray for my enemies yes because god calls us to and if you're taking notes i encourage you to do so i have a couple goals during this journey that we're gonna take together and the first goal is this to create a hunger in us to bless those who curse us and the second goal is to help us to come to a place where we can truly pray for our enemies you know you might be wondering okay what does it really mean to pray for my enemies well i'm glad you asked you know because jesus he talks about the prayers that we're supposed to offer to those that we may not like are in agreement with you know i have a a story that i like to share with you years ago there was a time where i experienced a co-worker that was speaking negatively about my my character and i didn't know how to feel about it i was hurt and i would just i was just trying to show up to work and do my absolute best you know i would hear statements like there's no way that a person could always be that happy every day that they come into the workplace well this person didn't know that i was literally born with the joy of the lord i mean many of my childhood pictures are pictures of me joyful being happy and excited about life but if i'm honest with you i chose to be happy every time that i came into the workplace i chose to be a light and it's interesting because as time went on and being feeling like i was being misunderstood being talked about i was tempted to be unforgiving to hold a grudge to deem that person as my enemy but that's not what god led me to do in that moment i had to keep a pure heart by praying for my enemy maybe it's not a co-worker for you maybe it's maybe it's an authority figure that has mistreated you and you deemed them as an enemy you declare that oh they're the enemy maybe it's a parent that neglected you you're saying you were supposed to take care of me but you abused me i don't know what it is that you might be dealing with today but i want to tell you that god wants to heal that hurt he wants to heal the unforgiveness today god wants to heal the bitterness today the resentment that we've been holding on to you may not even know that you you you see that person as an enemy you see that situation as an enemy somebody say god wants to help me today you know when we pray for our enemies we actively let go of the hurt or the unforgiveness that that person or the situation has caused by walking in love we're going to create a hunger in you today so you might be wondering why why do i need to pray for my enemies why do i need to point number one would be because god instructs us to do so you see the world will tell you to hurt those that hurt us to be against those that are against us but god says the opposite god has always been the opposite from the world did you notice that you know there's this idea of cancer culture it's when you dismiss someone socially professionally it's like i don't want to be canceled on cancel me i didn't ask for you to just cut me off i'm not an enemy i promise i come in peace i'm a friend praying for our enemies i want you to go with me to matthew 5 43 through 48. and my text begins it says you have heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy but i tell you to love your enemies and pray somebody say pray pray for those who persecute you that you may be children of your father in heaven he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous if you love those who love you what reward will you get are not even the tax collectors doing that and if you greet your own people do not even the pagans do that be perfect therefore as your heavenly father is perfect now that's a mouthful and we're gonna digest it because loving our enemies isn't something that's done out of convenience loving our enemies is choosing to walk in love choosing to forgive that you might be in a situation where someone has hurt you well your friend has betrayed you god is saying pray pray for those that persecute you you know being perfect as our heavenly father is is perfect that means to resemble christ when i read the bible i think about a mirror and if god is telling me to pray for those that persecute me to love to turn the other cheek i have to look at the word and ask myself am i resembling christ god wants to help us today why why do we pray for our enemies number two is to not hinder our relationship with god mark 11 25 it says when you stand praying if you hold anything against anyone forgive them so that your father also who is in heaven may forgive you your sins that's that's powerful you know last week pastor aaron did a powerful job with sharing how to handle unanswered prayers and he talked about the hindrances of our prayers you know the willful sin the dishonoring in our marriage wrong motives i'd like to add on unforgiveness as a hindrance to our prayers you know i have boy girl twins as i shared earlier and you know one of the things that i like to do as a parent is to pray for them in their relationship with each other because i understand that there could be situations that will cause them to be against one another to be upset with one another and i can imagine that there are going to be opportunities uh where aj is upset with ari or r is upset with aj and they might come to me and try to have a good time and spend time with me and and fellowship with me and i'm gonna look at aj like go get things right with your sister get things right with your brother in the same way god is asking us to get those things right you might not have an opportunity to physically go to that person because they may not be here but god is at least asking us to get it right in our hearts i gotta get it right in my heart i can't let i can't hold on to to this unforgiveness and be free at the same time i've gotta let this situation go i don't want it to hinder my relationship with god why why do we pray for our enemies number three is to keep a pure heart before god in psalm 51 10 it says keep creating in me a clean heart fill me with pure thoughts and holy desires ready to please you i had a i mentor when i rededicated my life to christ she says raniku you have a heart of gold you're going to want to guard your heart you're going to want to keep your heart pure and i believe that this verse should be the cry of our hearts i got to keep a pure heart i can't allow unforgiveness to contaminate my heart the bible says to guard my heart above all else because out of it it flows the issues of life i got a guarded by all means you see when we keep a pure heart before god it pleases him how many of you want to just please god i don't want to keep anything in my heart that's going to be displeasing to god i've got to get rid of it you may be thinking okay you explain why why i need to pray for my enemies but how do i do this what does that look like i'm glad you asked today how to pray for our enemies number one is to pray with the understanding of who's in control now that's interesting because when i understand who's in control i approach the situation a little differently i can't keep the bitterness in my heart because i know who's who's in control i know that if god be for me then who could be against me i understand that if god be if god before me it's better than the whole world being against me i'm trying to help somebody today i want to help somebody get rid of the bitterness that is causing them bondage romans 12 17-21 it says repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all but love never avenge yourselves never avenge yourself believe it to the wrath of god for it is written vengeance is mine i will repay says the lord but to the contrary because god has to give us balance right if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty give him something to drink for by doing so you will keep burning coals on his head do not overcome by evil but overcome evil with good vengeance is mine i will repay says the lord it's having the confidence that if god is for you then it's better than the whole world being against you there's that part in the verse where it says heap burning coals on his head i know some of you may be thinking yes let's keep those burning coals no no no no no i want to help you today that's talking about a burning conviction of what our kindness does to our enemy you see how how do we do this it's when that that person that treated you badly that friend that betrayed you god is going to give you an opportunity to make it right god is going to give you an opportunity to show the act of forgiveness to show the act of love and it's up to us to answer to it to say i'm not gonna let this bitterness get in the way of my relationship with god i'm not gonna let this bitterness to get in the way of of my of my of my relationship and my time with god of the pure heart that god wants me to have how how to pray for your enemies you have to look beyond our enemy's faults and that sometimes could feel like the hardest to do because all you can think about is the pain that this situation has caused you we have to look beyond our enemies thoughts faults there's a story in the bible about a man named saul who literally chose to look past his enemies faults you see in this moment stephen is being persecuted and being sentenced to death for the accusations that were made against him for simply just being a bold christian in acts 7 58-16 my text it says then they cast him out of the city and stoned him and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named saul and as they were stoning stephen he called out lord jesus receive my spirit and falling to his knees he cried out with a lot a loud voice lord do not hold this sin against him and when he said that and fell asleep in the moment where stephen was taking his last breath he prayed for his enemies god do not hold this sin against them what would it look like if we begin to pray for our enemies in the midst of them hurting us don't hold it against them god god i just i just want you to bless them because your word says to bless those persecute us it's only god it's only god that can give us the power to walk in forgiveness and to pray for our enemies in that kind of way in any situation that we find ourselves in how how to pray for your enemies number three is it starts with forgiveness it starts with saying you know what i'm not gonna hold the thing that they did against me against them i'm gonna forgive you know it starts with opening up your heart towards them opening up your heart towards them i want you to go with me to matthew 6 15. going to be reading out of the amplified version it says but if you do not forgive others nurturing your hurt and your anger with the result that it interferes with your relationship with god then your your father will not forgive your trespasses nurturing your hurt and the anger with the result that it interferes with your relationship with god you see this word nurture it means to care for and to encourage the growth of or the development nurturing is not a bad thing but in this context when we nurture the hurt when we nurture the pain when we nurture that situation the abuse the betrayal hinders it interferes with our relationship with god have you ever been in a place where you found yourself nurturing your pain what is god speaking to you in this moment you know as i i mentioned earlier about my coworker i was speaking negatively against me and i was praying and asking god god just show me how i could be a love and can be a light and i think god likes those prayers because he answered very quickly he started giving me opportunities to be there to go out of my way to show love and every time it was like removing the pain it was like removing the unforgiveness and god began to protect my heart from the negativity from the words that were being spoken over me you know i can imagine that as i was walking in love and as i was sharing the love of god god was showing up in their life in some way because you never know the impact that you have on someone years later someone comes to me about from that workplace and they say you know what they said that maybe it was maybe that person just was that happy what was that that was me sowing a seed of love into their heart because my prayer is that one day they'll be able to receive jesus you know as i was preparing and studying i came across this article on forgiveness and it reads holding onto a traumatic past does nothing but consume your present emotional space holding on to the anger holding on to the bitterness holding on to the resentment i want to ask you what is it that you're holding on to what situation that situation happened years ago but somehow i still find myself holding on to it maybe someone has caused you a great deal of pain maybe maybe you don't even know that that's there you see them and they're like i'll go the other way that's unforgiveness there's something there that god wants to deal with us today i have to say this that forgiveness it doesn't mean that you're making what happened to you okay forgiveness you're setting yourself free but as long as you hold on to the unforgiveness you will remain bound unable to move forward unable to complete the call that god has for you unable to do what god is leading you to do in that very moment i can't remain bound to this unforgiveness i gotta let myself go free it starts with forgiveness i gotta let it go i feel that i gotta let it go i wanna move on but i gotta let it go i gotta let it go somebody say i'm letting it go today it's for you forgiveness it's for you it's for you somebody needs to know that today you know we've been on a journey we've been taking steps and i believe that the journey we have been on is to get us here to our next step and that is to identify where you are pastor kenny says this that the law of destination it starts with location you've been speaking to me god has been showing me and i've been holding this unforgiveness and i'm ready i'm ready to let it go i didn't even know i had unforgiveness there about that person but i'm ready to let it go what is god speaking to you in this moment what is he showing you in your heart you see this message is about letting go of unforgiveness this message is about letting go of the bitterness the pain that the past has been trying to hold you back god wants to set his people free today you know i want to number two is to receive the healing that god wants to give you today i truly believe that he wants to heal you today and i have a couple of stories that i want to share with you about two different perspectives of forgiveness and the first story reads i'm i'm not forgiving them other people can forgive them but not me and i hope god doesn't forgive them either because if this person forgives them and god forgives them then what's left there has to be some place in the universe where this person is still held accountable so that it still happened maybe the least that i can do is carry that anger and never forgive so that i'm still afflicted in some way so that i'm still afflicted in some way this is a real story about someone who is battling the pain of their past was battling something that is terrible that happened to them and if that's you today i want to tell you that there's still hope for you that god still has a plan for you that he's with you he's called you right now i believe he's calling you to forgive there's another story about a woman who was virtu verbally mentally emotionally and sexually abused by her father and she lived her life for many years of anger and inner turmoil and she felt like she could never forgive her father for what he did to her and for never forgive her mother for knowing what was done to her not doing anything about it she tried to go on and live life as best as she could and later on she received jesus and she's walking with god she's married at this point and god begins to speak to her about taking care of her father because he became ill literally she became the caretaker of her father she didn't want to at first she wanted to hold on to the unforgiveness at first she wanted to hold on to the pain she wanted to nurture that pain but god as he continued to speak to her he brought her in to her home and god created an opportunity for her to be able to pray and lead her father to the lord that's a story about restoration a god who can redeem she wrote she went on to write about over 70 self-help books and she now has a worldwide ministry to help people all across the world to enjoy their every day life you may know her by the name of joyce meyer you know it's interesting she said that when she was in that moment she said someday i'm gonna do something great someday i'm gonna let this unforgiveness go someday i'm gonna be free someday i'm just gonna start praying for my enemy someday i'm gonna do something great see i have this key and this key represents forgiveness and the bitterness and the resentment and the anger it represents a prison that we put ourselves you have the key you have the key to forgive but as long as you stay in that prison cell you'll be bound but you can unlock yourself and become free i want to become free i don't want to be bound anymore i don't want to be sent to the pain my past i don't want to be stuck you know in that story there were one person decided to remain in the prison cell the other person decided to unlock themselves and experience true freedom and i believe that god wants to free you today maybe you feel like you're in a prison like you're in the prison of the past that you're in the prison of the pain god wants you to use that key and unlock yourself so that you can walk in true freedom i want to pray with you today in just a moment i'm going to have the worship team come up but i want to pray for healing i want to know who i'm praying for today who is it that i've been speaking to today i want to pray healing from unforgiveness and i just want you to lift up your hands to receive it god i thank you these are your people you know the situations that they may be battling god i ask god i step in the gap for them and i pray father that you are unlocking them out of the prison of their past and that you're causing them to walk and treat freedom that you're causing them to to forgive i declare father god that who the sun sets free is free in jesus name free to forgive free to love again freedom in the name of jesus hey thank you so much for tuning in to a live online today i pray that message was a blessing to you i pray that the holy spirit just takes something from it he illuminates it to where your life will never be the same again that's the case make sure you 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Channel: Alive Church

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Id: VsnGZMV4ekQ

Length: 28min 6sec (1686 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 28 2021