What Does Loving Your Enemies Look Like To You?

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What does loving your enemies look like to you? Or, what does loving your enemy look like to you? It may be a single person, but the phone number is 866-3666. 34 TRUTH 866. 348-7884.

And I've got some Bible verses that I've got right here in front of me. This is what the Bible says. This isn't Michael's wick. This is the Bible. And this is Truth Talk Live.

But I say unto you: love your enemies. Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and and on the unjust alike. Here's another one in Mark 11:25 through 26. He says, And when you stand praying, forgive.

If you have anything against anyone, that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father forgive. which it is in heaven forgiving your trespasses. And here he is again. This is what he says.

I love it. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. Romans 12, 20. How about Proverbs 20, 22?

Say not thou, I will recompense evil for evil, but wait on the Lord. And he Shall save thee.

So, what does loving your enemies look like to you? And so, There's a guy who's been in the news recently by the name of Anthony Fauci for a lot of people in the United States.

Now, some people love him, but there's a lot of people who are very angry at Anthony Fauci. And there's a lot of people who are frustrated at what he's done. What does loving Anthony Fauci look like to you? There's many people out there today who are listening to this radio station, who are huge fans of President Donald Trump. What is loving Barack Hussein Obama.

What does that look like to you?

Some of you may hate President Trump. What does loving President Trump. Look like for you. And I can give you some examples in my own life where I have had to choose love. Overhate.

You know, I grew up in Winston-Salem here and all of that, had a good family, and this, that, and the other. But I'll never forget, I was in my mid-20s, and I was, I had become, you know, was starting to do well with insurance. And I left one insurance company. And I went to another company. And when I went to the other company, this is what happened.

They said, okay, we're going to give you a $15,000 commission that we owe you when you leave this company. And well, guys, that's been about 18 years, and I still haven't gotten the commission. And right now, you see, I'm able to laugh about it. But at the time I was furious. How could somebody do that to me?

It's not right. They stole from me. It wasn't right. But eventually, I came to the conclusion That if I'm not going to forgive them. Then I don't understand all that Jesus has done to me.

Jesus has done for me. We love him, the Bible says, because he first loved us. We forgive others. Because Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price on the cross for our sins. As a matter of fact, after Jesus, when Jesus was being crucified, when they had beaten him, they had stripped him naked, they had put a crown of thorns on our Lord and Savior's head.

One of the last things that he said was Father, forgive them. for they know not what they do. I tell you what, if we, I don't think we'll ever get there to where we can really forgive like Jesus Christ does. But I think we can start that process by forgiving that person who has done us wrong. And we've got a Carrie out of Dallas, Texas.

How are you doing today, Carrie? I'm doing fine, brother. How about yourself? Doing just fine. And so let me ask you this, Carrie.

What is loving your enemies? What does that look like to you?

Okay, first I think it's uh The mindset. And I think our foundation is, of course, Scripture. Um I believe if we just take the whole of Scripture, we realize there's really only two enemies. The first is our enemy, our mortal enemy, which is Satan Lucifer, And there are those who walk under his influence, because either there's only two groups of people: the believer and the unbeliever. And I think the second enemy is the person we look at the mirror in every day.

Because we only can control our own self, our own actions. We can't control what anybody else does. That's the mindset there. And then, also, for us as believers in living in an unbelieving world, we also need to take in Joel chapter 4. which I believe the one hundred twenty thousand when make a reference to the children.

Who don't know their right hand from their left hand. I think that's how we are to look at the believer, the unbeliever in this world who. No matter how convincing the argument. No matter how truth and logical, it's just common sense or morality. you know like as an abortion and uh stuff like that, that how people can come to s a different conclusion, but We just got to realize that those who walk under the influence of our enemy.

The God of this age, that's a little G. They're going to see it that way because it's the me, myself, and I. And really, if we just add ourselves into there, too, there's the war of two natures. The old man, the flesh. We still want to do what's right in our own eyes, and that's where the battle rages.

But For us as believers, I think that helps us in our mindset. It's not the wherewithal answer, but it helps us to. deal better have more patience, have more compassion when dealing with the unbeliever and This hatred growing in this world that we see around us. Yeah, let me ask you this: Do you have a personal example of where you had to forgive somebody yourself, Carrie?

Okay, my life is an open book. If it can help other people, then so be it. The way I grew up as a kid was There's a lot of abuse, physical, um, emotional. Um as no compass, no direction, not a Christian home, no father. Uh the abuse came from the mother.

Um And growing up as a kid, I wanted no nothing more than to please her. And needless to say, I went in the service, got out of the service, came home. And in my twenties, I battled with this. I actually. In my early twenties I I I hate a big word, but I absolutely hated in the flesh.

But of course, I'm a young believer. my world view is completely different now as I've grown in Christ, but At that time it was, it was forgiveness. Being honest over the years, I've asked her to acknowledge. seek forgiveness, you know, having conversations and she she'll never do that.

So I've come to the reconciliation that I love my mother more than life, and she hasn't sought that. She's not a believer neither, but I pray for her salvation in that way. But also, growing up in that, that's allowed me to have more compassion for my fellow man, for those who are hurting, for those who are. shunned by those who are supposed to love and protect them the most.

So Yeah. Yeah, that was for me. That was good. And when you say that, by the way, the phone number, we'd love your calls. We've got 866-34TRUTH-866-348-7884.

This is Michael Zwick. I had to forgive. My dad, now my dad, really, while I was alive, he was a good dad, but before I was born, He had told my mother, he had encouraged my mother to have an abortion. He wanted her to get an abortion, wanted her to get rid of me. And so, growing up and as a young man, you know, you could start to face some resentment for that.

And so, what I came to grips with later on was that my dad was not a Christian and he saw things from a worldly point of view. And so, since he saw things that way, and even if he didn't, Even if he was just wrong for doing it and there was no excuse at all, I had to forgive my dad. And when I forgave my dad, Carrie, I myself received freedom. And so I want to thank you for the call, Carrie. We've got Emmanuel out of North Carolina.

I don't know if he's there yet, but there you go. How are you doing today, Manuel? I'm doing really good. Good. And I I know to I know it.

I just shared my personal story about how I had to forgive my dad for wanting my mom to get an abortion. But what is loving your enemies? What does that look like to you, Manuel? One of my enemies having an enemy has always been hard for me just to navigate whenever I read that in scripture of like. I've never had Someone that was sold out to destroy me.

And we want to hear your answer, but the music's coming on, which means we're going to a break, but we want to hear from Manuel Pittman when we get back. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. This is Michael Zwick. I'll be right back with Manuel Pittman. What does it look like to love your enemies?

What does that look like to you?

to forgive someone, to love somebody who's done you wrong. All right, guys, we are back. This is Michael Zwick. What does loving your enemies look like? What does that look like to you?

I've given a couple of examples that I've seen myself. And for some of you, it may be forgiving an ex-spouse. For some of you, it may be forgiving that spouse. Maybe you're still with them, but maybe they did something to you. They cheated on you or whatever, and you decided to stay with them, but you're having a tough time forgiving them.

But we're back with Manuel Pittman. Manuel is a, he is at Cross Exchange, CrossX Change. He works with Daniel Merrill, and they do a ministry where they reach out to people at the local university, at Elon University.

So if you want to follow them on Facebook, feel free. But, Manuel, you were sharing a story about what forgiveness looks like to you or what loving your enemies looks like to you. And maybe they're one and the same. Yeah, I I was thinking about this question, and at first it's just struggle to know if I've ever had an enemy. It's I've I don't know if I've ever experienced someone, or at least that this was honest to my face, it said, I hate you with a burning passion and want to destroy you.

But I guess when you read the scriptures, one of the things you 100% see immediately is that Satan and evil and the evil cosmic forces very much want to destroy you. And so, but the thing about it is, when you're a child that's adopted, Or even in just the foster care system, you don't understand those things yet. And for me, Um understanding what forgiveness was was hard for me because I was actually angry at, as I guess my kid brain would say, the universe, at my situation, and inevitably I was just angry at God. And I obviously, if people hear me say that I had to forgive God, that's a problem because God doesn't need forgiveness. He never did anything wrong.

But understanding what forgiveness looks like began with me understanding what a Heavenly Father has done for me and my need of forgiveness. But. Me being angry in my situation also showed how much anger I I was. actually showing towards myself. I was angry at all my own decisions that I'm incapable of doing anything.

And so That kind of realization was hard for me from ages, you could say, five to about 12 years old. and struggling with The I Would never say that I fully could comprehend just how far I emotionally struggled being an adopted kid or being in the foster care system and knowing my identity that I was. aside by my mother. Um But to say that I was ever that angry at my mother was kind of complicated because once I found Christ, once Christ, or should I say Christ, found me and brought me into a Christian home, What he taught about the Heavenly Father, what he talked about my own forgiveness and need of him. I guess in that moment without even thinking about it.

I was able to forgive my mother, and so much to a point that I wanted her to become a Christian. I wanted her to know Christ. Um, woman that I've never met and sadly will never meet. Um But nevertheless, God is sovereign. He is a heavenly father who forgives, and through that, he empowers me to forgive.

And so with that, I guess I've learned the most about forgivenesses in marriage, and every single day. I had to learn to apologize and repent. But I also learned forgiveness too because I married someone who is also a sinner, who also needs God's grace. And every day I learn to forgive in that way. But the enemy part, I guess, is always the complicated part, though.

Yeah, and when I hear you speaking, I'm reminded of Ezekiel 18. And it says in verse 20, it says, the soul that sins, it shall die. But in verse 21, it says, But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. It says that all of his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him.

And his righteousness that he has done, he shall live. And this is the verse that sticks with me, Manuel. It says, Have I any pleasure? at all that the wicked should die. Saith the Lord, and not that he should return from his ways and live.

And so. The Lord doesn't delight in people being lost. The Lord doesn't delight in people living in their sin and living in their wickedness. And the Lord delights to see people saved. Amen to that.

when it comes to our prayer life, that's something that we should always keep at the forefront of that, that for God to execute his justice in Judgment Day and stopping evil. But the most glorious way he does that is not by destroying his enemies. but by changing their hearts and making them his son. Yeah, amen.

Well, and you guys are from cross-exchange. And one of the cool things that I love about your story, Manuel, is that not only have you been adopted and you forgave your mother and I guess you forgave God if that's a thing or whatever, but now you're actually pro-life. And you and I have talked about this on several shows. Where, you know, if we think about it, anybody who is a child of God has been adopted into God's kingdom. And so, since we've been adopted and you've been adopted, that you believe that every unborn child has a right to live.

Is that right? Absolutely. Every single human being is created in the image of God. When conception happens, both a body and a soul are united together. And so to take that is to destroy life.

And adoption is an answer. Obviously, the perfect answer is for the. Child to be raised in the home in which it was given to in birth, in conception, and all of those things. But the answer that God has given for People to bring other people into his kingdom is adoption. And God gratefully, powerfully, majestically did that in my life.

Amen. And I think because, you know, my mom ended up choosing life.

Now you and I both promote this as well.

So I want to thank you guys for what you're doing over at CrossExchange, crossexchange.org. And you guys can donate to them if you go to their website. How can they make a donation to you, Manuel? Yes, crossexchange. org.

CrossExchange. org, as you said. We have a website up. It's been updated. It has a lot of new features on it, but you go to the Give section at the bottom of the homepage.

That's an option to be able to give, and we would love to tell you more about it if you want to get in contact with us. Our contact info is on that website, crossexchange.org. Thanks for coming on today, and we'll talk to you soon, Manuel. All right, I've got a Christie, Christie Real out of Meben, North Carolina. But if you're not from Mebben, they call it me Bane.

How you doing today? Oh, I'm doing so good. I'm so in I'm doing so good. That was so good. What?

that gentleman was just talking about. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And so let me ask you this: what does loving your enemies look like to you, Christy? I don't think you can love your enemy.

Okay, what do you mean? Uh Um, I don I don't think you can love your enemies unless God does something on the inside of you. Because It's like how can you can't give something that you don't have? And I was just sitting here thinking about loving our enemies and most of the world were conditioned to hate our enemies. We're conditioned to hate ourselves.

hate other people. full of pride, resentment, bitterness. rage, anger, unforgiveness, it's commonplace. And So how you exchange that Perfect. you know, for love for somebody that you hate.

It's impossible. unless you know love him failed. And if you know Love Himself, then then he does something on the inside of you that empowers you to become loved. And then it's not something that you do, it's who you are. It's a fragrance, it's a fruit.

of who you are before God. That makes sense. And do you have a personal example of where you have had to forgive somebody who has done you wrong, Christy? Yeah. I have so many examples and and most of it I've had to die.

Um And, you know, I know That no Ah.

So My story is I had I I have a past that's chock full of abuse and all these other things, but there's one That God has really used over and over and over again. And to me, this person was an enemy. And he actually used to be somebody that I used to love deeply. And Christy, we're going to the break.

So I want you to finish telling the story when you get back. 866-348-7884. And we've got a Rick Pearson coming up next from Canada. But what is loving your enemies? What does that look like to you?

We want your calls. 866-34TRUTH. This is Michael Zwick. We'll be right back with Christy Real. To the time.

All right, guys, we are back with Christy Real, and then we've got Rick Pearson coming up. But, you know, as we were going over this, and the question is: this: What does loving your enemies look like to you? What does loving your enemies look like to you? I was reminded of Psalm 103, and I was in Hawaii one time, and I was getting an allergic reaction, and I feel like I was about to die. And all of a sudden, the Lord told me to speak this psalm to another Christian guy who was at the pool.

We were on a trip with Liberty Bankers Insurance Group. But this is what I read: I said, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all of his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed. Like the eagles.

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. And then I love what it says in verse 12. It says, as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. And so, you know what? I want to praise you, Lord, and I want to thank you.

And one of the ways that I can do that is to forgive somebody who has done me wrong. And Christy, you said the person that you had to forgive was somebody you once loved. Is that right? That's exactly right. And I think the problem with loving our enemies is that we think love is an emotion.

And love is not just an emotion. Love is a choice. It's patient. It's kind. It's seeing the best in people.

It's not just a ooe gooey, I have a feeling towards you. And there and there was a season uh there was decades actually. It wasn't just one time I had decades of Walking out loving this person because we were connected by a family. And So there was a lot of opportunities that Um I don't really want to share the personal nitty-gritty of the story, but there was a lot of times where. Um It was The rawest, most painful, Things that could happen did happen.

And in those instances, there's an invitation where I can either lash out. Act a nut. cuss somebody out, retaliate, Be filled with bitterness or unforgiveness or rage or anger or whatever. And in those moments, I hit my face. and pleaded before God for their soul.

And I just prayed for their salvation and I I prayed for God to have mercy on them because if they knew who they were as a son, they wouldn't do the things that they were doing that were causing so much harm to people. And And I think we always associate love with emotions And it doesn't mean that you always have to reconcile with people But sometimes it's actually being able to see something that you can't see in the natural, that you see that there's a redeemable quality in every human soul. And then the rawest part of our pain is when we forgive, when we pray for salvation. It says to pray for your enemies, pray for those who curse you, or bless those who curse you. Yeah, and so when I hear you saying that, Christy, I hear you that what I hear is that it's hard to hate somebody that you're praying for.

Yes, and it's hard to hate somebody when you have become loved like your father. Yeah Yeah, and a lot of times it doesn't even happen. It doesn't happen overnight.

Sometimes it can take a while, but I think you said you actually knocked on this person's door one day and they were surprised. Is that right? There's been so many people that that the Lord sent me back to to make amends with, to pray for. There was a person that there was several people, there was three actually that God sent me back to to face to face apologize. And there was also people that That Would we had a very estranged relationship.

And there was a lot of t there was times, there was a whole summer of accountability that God walked me through, a whole summer. Do you know how long a summer is when every day you're dealing with your own accountability and how you make other people feel? It is a very long summer. And that whole summer, the Lord Had me He was just teaching me accountability, and I had to be accountable for how I made other people feel, even when I wasn't wrong. And And sometimes We just have to learn how to love.

And when you start to learn how to love people and love yourself and be loved by God, it's easier to love people that hate you and curse you and persecute you. You can't love somebody that you hate or that. persecuting you if you don't know how to love people in general. And most of us don't know how to love in general. And it's definitely a process.

And the Bible says that love covers a multitude of sins. And we got Rick Pearson here as well. Are you there, Rick? How are you, Mike? Doing great, buddy.

I wanted to ask you the question, and I know you've had to deal with this as well. But what does it look like to Rick Pearson? to f uh to love your enemy. I think, beloved, has anyone mentioned Matthew 18 that God gives you under the tormentors? Not yet.

Okay. When you when you forgive your enemies. You release something. in the heavenlies. And God releases you.

But if you will not forgive. In Matthew chapter 19. It talks about a a man had a debt. And he went to the Lord, and the Lord forgave him the debt. And then somebody owed that man a debt, and that man would not forgive his brother the debt.

And the Lord heard about it. And the Lord was wroth with them. He said, I forgive you your debt, but you won't forgive him. And then it says, His Lord was wroth with him and delivered him to the tormentors. till he should pay all that was due him.

So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if you from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses against you.

So Mike, it's not an option. If you have bitterness inside of you and anger and unforgiveness, those tormentors will eat you alive. They will give you ulcers. They will give you a heart condition. They will give you anxiety.

They will get it says that anger rests in the bosom of a fool. That thing will dog you unless you release those people, your enemies. and hand them over to the Lord, And say, God, I forgive them. I'm still hurting over it, but I forgive them and I let them go. And there's another verse.

In James five sixteen And let me just get that. I thought I had it here. Apparently I don't. James 5, 16 says Confess your faults one to another and pray ye one for another. That you might be healed.

Not that they might be healed. but that you might be healed. And when you walk. In instant forgiveness against your enemies, you realize that demonic spirits work through people and they come against you through people. When you release that person, You also release yourself, and you are the one that walks in victory and healing.

The other person who did you wrong may not. They might suffer the results of sinning against you, but that's between them and Jesus. And your covenant with God, to stay in perfect covenant with Him, means you walk in instant forgiveness. And then, when you fault somebody, you go to them. And you say, listen, I'm sorry I said that.

I'm asking you for you humble yourself. And in that keeps your relationship with God. Totally open. You can hear his voice. You walk in his peace.

You walk in his victory. And the life of Christ is manifest in you. all the time. But you must walk in forgiveness against your enemies, and we will all have enemies. Come against us no matter what we do.

And I don't care how big you are. I don't care how small you are. There's always going to be somebody. And here's the verse: it's James 5:16. It says, Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

It says, The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And so, yes, sometimes there is public confession. And Rick, I've studied revivals and I'm sure you have too, but many of these revivals start off with repentance and a public confession of sin. And, Rick, let me ask you this: Has there been a time where you've had to really forgive somebody and it may have been really hard? Big time.

30.

Now, this is a long story, but how much time do we have? Go ahead. We've got four minutes. Go ahead. Okay.

Uh Thirty years ago, I come home and found a note my wife had left me. She ran off with another man. And She was confused. She still loved And she still loved me. She was young and confused.

And anyway, this guy called me up. She was thinking of coming back to me. And she went with him, and then she wants to come back to me. And he calls me up and he says, Rick, I want to talk to you about. this thing between me, you and your wife.

And I just blew up. I said, how dare you call me? You slept with my wife, and you want to talk about this thing? And I said, I'll meet you anywhere, anytime, buddy. And we'll talk about this.

Now I was totally outraged, Mike. And rightfully so. Rightfully so. My anger yeah, my anger level went right off the chart. And this guy says to me, now, Rick, you know.

And I know that you're not man enough to back that. And I said, well, we'll see. And I hung up. And I was laying in bed that night. And this was my plan, Mike.

I'm going to go to that city where that guy lives. And he's a lot bigger than me. I couldn't take him out. But he's a lot bigger than me.

So I'm going to get a baseball bat. And I'm going to wait for him to come to his house with my wife walking into their house. I'm going to come up behind him. I'm going to break both his legs and both his arms. This is outrageous anger.

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm laying there and I'm playing and I'm and I'm I'm shaking in bed. I'm so mad. And the the Holy Ghost whispers to me and says, Pray for him, Reck.

Pray for him. And I said, no. Why should I pray for him? And the Holy Spirit said, He's going to spend eternity in hell if he doesn't repent of adultery. And I literally said this, Mike.

I said, well, when he gets there, he'll be the guy with the two broken arms and the two broken legs. And then the Holy Spirit said something to me. That is Part of spiritual, deep spiritual warfare, having your senses exercised to discern between good and evil. The Holy Spirit said, Rick. If you don't pray for him right now, They will enter you.

Oh wow.

So it's kind of like somebody who, and we're going to a break. I want you to finish when we come back, but it's kind of like somebody who says, I'm going to take some poison so it's going to hurt the person that I'm mad at. No, it ends up killing you. 8-6. He was talking about the tormentors.

Rick Pearson will be right back. All right, what is loving your enemies look like to you? And I've got Proverbs 25 starting in verse 21, and it says, If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat. And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. For you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

The north wind brings forth rain and a backbiting tongue angry looks. It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. And Rick, I'm sure it was not only tough to have to deal with that guy. It was probably tough dealing with your wife at that time as well.

Well, I'll tell you what, Mike, I had tremendous learning from that experience. I fell asleep that night. praying for the man who was sleeping with my wife. And I also had to forgive her. And unfortunately, that marriage did not work out.

But you know, the devil wanted to kill, steal, and destroy my life. He wanted me to go and do an act of violence. I'm from Canada. He wanted me to go down in the States and do a federal offense. And I would have probably done jail time.

I would have had a record. But instead, God intervened. The Holy Spirit spoke. He told me how to handle the situation. I handed him the rage.

I handed him the anger. And everything worked out. I fell asleep praying for my. And that marriage, unfortunately, didn't work out, but God is a God of second chances. And I remarried.

I've got a great marriage now. And I wish nothing but good for my former wife. and her new husband. But but but let me ask you this. Let me ask you this.

That guy is that her is that her husband now? No, that relationship didn't work out. She went with another I don't want to get into it because people might know who I'm talking about. But I believe that she found another person and God directed her. And God's forgiven her.

God forgave me. The marriage didn't work. But it's part and parcel of spiritual warfare. And if there's anybody out there. And you have a spouse.

That's run around on you. Or they are doing that. You need to release them spiritually, forgive them, and you have a choice. to stay with them or to depart. If let no man put away his wife, except it be for fornication or adultery or vice versa.

You don't have to live under that tremendous pain But you c you must forgive And then move on. And the whole thing. is about forgiveness, Mike. Jesus, forgive us for the worst sins we ever created. We must initiate His example in our life and release everyone.

We must have a mistake. Instant forgiveness. We must forgive them. And if people want to find out more about Rick Pearson, you can just look up Rick Pearson on YouTube or Prophecy USA. He's on how many television stations is your show on?

We're on over 250 TV stations now with America's Role in Bible Prophecy, over a dozen satellites, and we're in 180 nations with a potential of 2.2 billion people that can hear our show now on Daystar, Roku, and all the different formats. We're on all social media, but our big thing is on the 250 TV stations that we broadcast weekly. And we're on 10:30 every. Saturday night on Daystar, right after Charles Stanley and right before Perry Stone. There you go, man.

That's a good crowd to keep. But definitely check that out. And Rick, I want to thank you for the call. You call in a lot and people love your calls. I've got a Jackie out of South Carolina.

Are you there, Jackie? You've been waiting a while. Yeah. I have, but it's okay. I enjoyed it.

Okay. Well, let me ask you this: what does loving your enemy look like to you, Jackie? Oh, wow. I've been there more than once. And if I understand what the young lady was saying, man, if you don't know Christ, you don't know how to forgive.

Because we like she said, we're conditioned. If you do something to me, I want to do something back to you. You know, or you you just don't know how to do it. But I've just recently rededicated my life to Christ. Thank you, Jesus.

And I was I don't mind telling I was uh sexually abused, you know, coming to growing up by a family member. And I grew. Hate. I mean, I didn't even care about forgiving. That was the last thing on my mind.

And and and every time a year went by, the the hate got darker and deeper. And for it before I knew it, I was in this black hole. And it was like I didn't know how to get out. Like it's like I couldn't even reach God. Or or he couldn't reach me.

I felt that way. But this was the amazing thing about God's love. His love reached in that black hole and pulled me out because in my heart, I didn't want to hate him, but I didn't know how to do nothing but hate him. And it took his Jesus love to deliver me, to teach me how to forgive. And I was able to forget.

And when I actually learned to forgive, it was like a whole like scales went off my eyes and off my heart. And and I know, oh, I'm trying not to cry. I know what it's like. to to to really hate somebody. I I mean and I mean hate.

Because I I was so dark Nobody could reach me. And and and until I said Jesus I can't do this. I can't live anymore without you with this darkness over me. I just couldn't function. And when he delivered me.

I've learned, I've been in another situation where I really had a bad oof. But because of his love He had the Holy Spirit. All right, now you said. You love me. You said that that you gave your life back to me.

So if you love me, I am loved. And so I had to get that. And he had to remind me, though, because you're flesh, you're flesh. Oh, my God. That's the biggest battle ever.

You know, but but because of his love in me, I was able to forgive.

So, yes, I think I what it means to me is. Without Christ, you cannot. You could truly love without him because he is. The epitome, he is love. And without him, I don't I don't see anybody being able to do that.

Well, let me ask you what part of South Carolina are you from? Greenville. Greenville, South Carolina. I know we have a station down there.

So thanks for listening down there. But what did it feel like when you finally forgave that person? Oh my god. It's like. Three thousand.

That's the best word I can use: rebirth. It's like you're just reborn. You're born all rebirth. That's the only word that can fit to what happens to me. It was like a whole new me.

And the love, the pouring of love. I didn't even know that I could love like that.

So, so, you know, it was like a rebirth to me, and it opened my eyes to even people that just not necessarily. hurt you really bad, but did something to hurt your feelings or something. Even with those things now, I It's so great. It is so easy when at at one point I didn't think I would ever know how to forgive. Because I was so deep into it.

Okay. It's it's a terrible spirit and it will engulf you if you're not careful. you know, you you'll be lost forever if you don't find Christ. because it'll it it it overwhelms you, it overtakes you. And I want to thank you for the call, but I think a lot of people think when they're holding a grudge against somebody else or when they're angry at somebody else that it's hurting the other person, but the person that you're really hurting is yourself.

The other person, they don't even know you're angry a lot of times. And so we've got a mic out of Dayton, Ohio. What does loving your enemies look like to you, Mike?

Well, it's a choice. I keep hearing that over and over again throughout the whole broadcast. The fruit of the spirits is love, joy, peace. you know, in Galatians, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness. Those are all choices.

And the more we choose to do those things, The more we feed a godly person, the more we feed that part of us. if we choose not to do those things, we're feeding the old man, you know. And the more we feed the good man, that you know, choosing the right things, the more that becomes life for us instead of the old man life. we become a good we renew our mind, we renew our our thoughts, we renew ourselves, and then when we renew ourselves, we we become more like God because we're choosing the things that God and the Word of God is telling us. And that that is the hard part.

is to stop and choose the right direction. When someone cuts you off, in in a p in in a parking lot or you know loving loving on them is not easy but because the old man wants to say don't do that but the the new man because we know what's right and the what's in our hearts and within our spirit We go we go that direction because we're choosing Godly love, you know? Do you have an example of where you had to forgive somebody, Mike? Um Yes, there was a person that I used to work for, and I worked my tail off for him, and he kept promising me over and over again that was going to be part of his business. And that never happened.

And it took a long time for me to c forgive that person. And by the time I did forgive that person, it renewed my spirit in my workplace. It renewed my spirit with my wife. It renewed all that because I finally said, okay, God, I'm going to give this up. You know, when you ask for patience, God will show you how to give you patience when you ask, you know, how to forgive people.

He will show you how to forgive people. And yeah, I forgave that man. And it's a struggle even still today. You know, I said, what if? He would have made me partners.

What if? You know what I mean? And. You know, what would my life been? But I know God directs my life, and I know that it's.

it's touching. You know, I mean, God wants to touch our hearts. And he wants us to seek after him and lean on his understanding, not our own. He does. And the Bible says that we love him because he first loved us.

Thank you for the call, Mike. This is Michael Zwick. My show will be on tomorrow at noon. If not for God with Mike Zwick, we'll be discussing Islam right here on the Truth Network. You can follow me, Michael Zwick, on Facebook, 16,000 followers.

There's several Michael Zwicks.

So that's how you can find me. Or Michael Zwick 4007 on TikTok. But I want to thank you guys for listening. Forgive your enemies. God bless you.