A word on forgiveness, and if I may, an outline of praying for the enemy.
There is a very important ingredient concerning those you forgive..the transgressor must first ask for forgiveness.
Repentance must be sought first.
If you just want to forgive for the sake of your own well being, fine, but the person who wronged you must ask for it...then you are bound to forgive them. They’re only human.
Also, for those of you who tend to be hard on yourselves...you must forgive yourselves as well, or Christ won’t forgive you. You’re only human, and when you repent to God He forgives you and blots out the offense...you should too, and realize that honest repentance brings a kind of resurrection, and you may start anew.
God instructed us through Christ Jesus to love your enemy and pray for them.
Understand that your enemy is a child of God too, and He does not wish to kill their souls in hellfire, but He will, and you should pray, for God’s precious sake, That your enemies get some wits about them and begin to follow the right path.
We are warriors for God and he has many enemies.
Don’t go soft on us...loving your enemy sometimes requires correcting your enemy..that takes real love.
God Bless You All.
Anger and unforgiveness devours ones heart and soul. Therefore you forgive others/love your enemies for you own sake...so that your soul is not blemished.
I can't recall any place in scripture that forgiveness of others requires their request for it. If you can, please let me know.
On the other hand, reconciling with another person (i.e. putting aside differences for the sake of a relationship) certainly requires contrition...but this isn't a matter of scripture, just good sense.
When we are attacked and injured out of malicious intent and not for some injury we have caused, how do we respond? This is the sin that lingers for years. It is the cause of lawsuits, of hatred, of bitterness and of broken dreams. It causes the injured party to live with failure they can not overcome.
How, indeed, do we respond to malicious, undeserved injury? Add to this the additional pain that the injury is caused by a person who is trusted, even loved, and the effects of the sin drive a stake deep into the heart of the aggrieved. This is the sin Jesus spoke about. it is not the injury that is deserved but that which is undeserved He wishes us to pray about.
The hardest part of dealing with undeserved, deliberate injury, for a Christian, is recognizing and accepting one’s personal innocence. We each know that we do not stand before God in innocence, except for Christ allowing us to hide in Him. Yet this is different. This is undeserved, unremitting harmful assault done to us out of sheer malevolence. This is the nature of terrorism. How do we respond to this kind of evil?
It is one thing to forgive those who have sought forgiveness. That is a simple matter. But what about those who revel in the terror they instill? Howe do we respond to them? Jesus is very specific about this. He asks us to pray for them, He admonishes us not to return evil for evil. He ask His Father to forgive them knowing that they can only be forgiven by God if they seek His forgiveness.
We respond as Christians to those who injure us by “eating the sin.” We pray not only for God to touch the aggravator, we also pray that He will lift us above the torment of our attacker and not allow us to torment in return. This means allowing the world to win in order for Christ to have the final victory. Martyrdom is made of this kind of stuff.
Sounds logical.
I don’t find that instruction Biblical.
God commands us to forgive all regardless of whether they ask for it, or not.
FORGIVE US OUR SINS, LORD,
!!!AS!!!!
WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US.
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Matthew 6:14
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
2.Matthew 6:14
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Matthew 6:13-15 (in Context) Matthew 6 (Whole Chapter)
3.Matthew 6:15
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 18:20-22 (New King James Version)
20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven
Matthew 18:35
“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
Mark 11:25
[ Forgiveness and Prayer ] “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
Luke 6:37
[ Do Not Judge ] “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Luke 7:47
Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
QUIX: IN MY EXPERIENCE, those who have the hardest time forgiving still have an unrealistic understanding of their own sinfulness, wretchedness.
Luke 11:4
And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”
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34.Luke 17:3
Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
Luke 17:4
And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
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37.John 20:23
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
2 Corinthians 2:2-4 (New King James Version)
2 For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?
Forgive the Offender
3 And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. 4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.
2 Corinthians 2:7
so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.
2 Corinthians 2:10
Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,