Love Your Enemies: The Higher Life in Christ 

You have heard that it has been said you shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who shall spitefully use you, and persecute you, that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven. For He makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5 :43 -45.

Jesus Christ and what He has to say must be our standard of living out the newness of life that the Father pours into our spirits when we are born again by the Word of God. Experiencing the new birth is of vital importance to be equipped to fulfil the purposes of the Father in and through our lives, as we yield our lives unto the Lord, the power and presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God will enable us to walk in this newness of life.

Jesus Christ has given us a mandate on how to treat anyone who is against us in this world. Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them who shall spitefully use you, pray for them that persecute you.

It is of enormous importance that every believer lays hold of the admonitions of the Lord. As believers, we need to receive the seriousness of these commands. What is of utmost importance is to gain the understanding that an admonition is given as a dictate issuing a solemn instruction, its emphasis is the declaring of a serious warning, and an authoritative command that demands obedience.

When Jesus Christ speaks, Heaven speaks.  His words reveal the will, nature, and heart of the Father, and every disciple is called to hear them with reverence, humility, and trembling sincerity. Jesus declared:

• Love your enemies!
• Bless those who curse you!
• Do good to whoever may hate you!
• Pray for those who spitefully use you.
• Pray for your persecutors!

Let’s be honest with ourselves. Every believer must admit that Jesus Christ sets an extraordinarily high standard for living in the Kingdom of God. But we must understand that Jesus Christ never gives us suggestions that are left for us to consider.

These words delivered through the lips of Jesus Christ are the commands that cut across human nature. They are the words that challenge the pride of natural men:they are commands that go against our sense of self-preservation, of our self-justice, revenge, bitterness, and retaliation

We all have to admit that Jesus Christ sets a high standard for the life of a believer.  But here is the crux, Jesus Christ must be our standard for our living out of the will and purposes of the Father. Scripture declares: Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The entire ministry of Jesus Christ was the outworking of the love of the Father towards the lives of the fallen race of mankind, to bring redemption, salvation and total restoration in the lives of all who were held in bondage due to the fall of Adam.

The unmistakable revelation that every believer must understand is that the ways of the Lord are so alien to the ways of this world system, and the message is crystal clear: that of our living a fruitful life as a believer will take more than just words spoken; it will make a demand upon our lives to put action to our confession.

I am reminded of an admonishment given by the Holy Spirit that as believers in Christ: we are never to love just in word only, but by putting the love of the Father into visible and tangible manifestation.

Many years ago, the Lord gave me a revelation concerning the aspect of love. Unfortunately, we have lost the true meaning of love. The Lord opened my eyes to behold the Hebrew equivalent of the word love. This is HASSEED, which means having or possessing an overwhelming desire to benefit someone else, no matter the cost to oneself.

This is the clear and unmistakable revelation of how Jesus Christ walked on the earth.  Jesus Christ was love personified. Everything that Jesus demonstrated throughout His redemptive ministry was the open display of living and loving without any limitations, without any partialities. Every believer will have to undergo a radical change in their lives to come anywhere near to adapting our lives to the Father’s will revealed through the mouth of Jesus Christ.

If we are honest with ourselves, in our natural comprehension of life, these aspects that Jesus Christ lays at our feet cut deep into our lives; very often they run crosswise to our human natures, even when we profess to being born again, and spirit-led.

Therefore it’s no wonder Jesus declared that without Him we can do nothing. But somewhere in my spirit, I heard the Spirit of the Lord say: The Father never expects more from your life than He did from Jesus Christ.

Jesus operated as the Son of Man, and in so doing, He was never given any special privileges. His walk had to be a walk of obedience to the Father’s will and dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit. Herein lies the crucial requirement in our lives: we cannot live the life of the Father in our own human ability; we desperately need the empowering of both Jesus’s word and His Holy Spirit to be established in our lives.

It must become a reality in our lives that it will never be through our might, or our power, but by the Spirit of the Lord that the supreme will of the Father be openly manifested through our lives.

• Love our enemies!
• Bless those who curse us!
• Do good to whoever may hate us!
• Pray for those who spitefully use us.
• Pray for our persecutors!

We must not kid ourselves; this cannot be done in the natural realm of our flesh, it can never be accomplished through our dependence on anything of ourselves. But it should be the natural result of our lives no longer being controlled or limited by our good intentions, but wrought as we yield up our lives to the power and government of the Holy Spirit in our regenerated human spirits.

You have heard that it has been said you shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Most people would avoid killing their enemies, but they would, at best, only be able to tolerate their enemies by distancing themselves away from any hostilities.

Love one’s enemy? The Father turns the world on its head. At first, every believer could legitimately say, how can I do what seems impossible to be done? The Father would say, if I tell you to love your enemies, then you can.

The Lord reminded me of a similar thought when He declared: Let your confession be in line with My word. Do not say you can not do that which My word tells you, for I will say to you, you are a liar. My word is truth, and anything that you say that is not in line with My truth, I will say, you are a liar.

The Father does not mince His words. The Father makes no excuses concerning His instruction. Any failings are ours. Jesus declared something that had long seemed beyond my understanding, yet while reading the Scriptures more recently, its meaning began to emphasise even greater significance.

These are the words that spoke deeply to the heart: “Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who shall spitefully use you, and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:44–45

This understanding arose from those words: By obeying these commands of Jesus Christ through blessing those who curse us, by doing good to those who hate us, and praying for those who persecute us, as believers we openly demonstrate and reveal to all people that we truly are children of the Heavenly Father.

Jesus gave further instructions to His disciples that are still valid for believers in Christ today. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back.

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Luke 6:29-36.

Here again, Jesus Christ places specific importance on our lives as being true representatives of the Father while conducting our lives in the midst of people.

These commands are not merely instructions about outward behaviour; they are evidence of the Father’s nature being formed within the life of His children. Anyone can love those who love them in return, but Jesus revealed a higher way, which is the living out of the life of the Father, therefore exhibiting the way of the Father Himself.

When believers respond to hatred with goodness, to cursing with blessing, and to persecution with prayer, they display the character of the Father before the world. In this, the reality of sonship is made visible.