“Perhaps the reason God has not dealt with our adversary is that it would give us too much pleasure.”
Love laws conflict with human nature. Our human impulse is to punish those who hurt us. The reality of love is that God loves the sinner and saint, victim and victimizer, abused and abuser. Jesus died for the murdered and murderers. He loves the pedophile and the child. LOVE loves ALL by HIS divine nature.
However, It is human nature to look at our adversaries and want to punish them. But that is not the way of love. Matthew 5:43-48 commands us to love our enemies. The word enemy is adversary. It means one who opposes. It is the coworker who tried to get you fired. It is the spouse who cheated on you. It is the drug dealer who shot your child. These things hurt. And human nature demands equal pain for the one inflicting pain on us. It is the eye for an eye mentality.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; … 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. NKJV
God is LOVE. This word is both verb and noun. It is an action and a person. It is the person that verse 45 was talking about. 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; God wants his children to look, behave and be like HIM. Since he values all of us so highly, to manifest a revenge mindset (the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands.) is a violation of his very nature.
It is not possible to be LIKE HIM and quietly wish pain upon others. The very concept is not possible in HIS mind. So in order to be like LOVE the noun side, WE have to choose LOVE the VERB side.
Our path to LOVE (noun) has four steps…
1) LOVE (verb) …
2) BLESS…
3) DO GOOD…
4) AND PRAY. These steps are pathways to son-ship. It is how we become like HIM.
STEP ONE — LOVE
I Corinthians 13:4-7 is a LOVE BLUEPRINT. (AMP) Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly)and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person…
STEP TWO — BLESS
Choosing to speak words of life rather than death over that person is next. It is easy to wish ill when you are hurting. Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. KJV So ask yourself, how do you want them to be? and then decree it into existence. Job 22:28 You will also declare (decree) a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. NKJV
STEP THREE — DO GOOD
I recently heard a story about a minister who had an adversary speak horrible things to them. The person went on and on about how the minister had failed and what a reproach their efforts had been. The minister quietly listen and took what was said as it was given. At the end of the comments, the minister quietly said, “I am really sorry I impacted that way, what can I do to bless you?” The person was so surprised they were speechless.
STEP FOUR — PRAY
Have a conversation with God about your adversary. Bring them to God’s attention. Ask for recommendations about how to manage the situation. In the end, I have always found that the issue was less about the other person and more about my perspective of them. I must get closer to change my perspective. When we pray we get closer in multiple ways. We become closer to the person we are praying for. We become closer to anyone we pray with. And we become closer to the God we are praying to. That intimacy transforms us into HIS image. It empowers us to reject anything that is not a part of God’s DIVINE NATURE.
So there you have it. Perhaps now we can all have access to our breakthrough.