Love and Prayer  – The Keys to Victory Over Enemies

bet there are many times when somebody has either done or said something hurtful or nasty to you and you feel like doing what Elijah did. You want to escape or crawl into a little hole and forget about the big, bad, ugly world out there and all it’s pressures and pain. Know what I’m talking about? I’m sure you do.

I understand your predicament. Hey, I’ve been there over and over and over again. At one time I began to wonder if I was destined to have it for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Jesus said we would have tribulation, trouble and problems. The good news, though, is that you don’t have to be sunk by it. There is a way to overcome it, and it’s powerful – and pretty easy, too!

If you are facing this type of situation right now, I want to share with you a few ways to turn the negative feelings and emotions around quickly and effectively and get victory in your life. So be encouraged. You will start to look up soon!

Okay. Firstly, the most important thing when you’re dealing with something like this, is to forgive the offender. I know this is really hard sometimes, and if you’re mad enough or hurt enough about the incident you’d rather ask the Lord to take him or her home early, right? (;>) Seriously, though, this is your personal key to success in this area, and it can be done simply by an act of your will.

When Jesus walked on this earth and He taught us the Lord’s prayer He said, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Forgiving others and asking for our own forgiveness go hand in hand. They are both very important. You see, forgiving others helps your relationship with fellow human beings to keep clear, and asking for forgiveness for your own sins keeps your relationship with the Lord clear. You usually have to ask for forgiveness for yourself if you’re fuming and foaming at the mouth and feeling quite defensive. (;>)

When I was younger I suffered very badly from rejection by others and I battled so much with forgiving people who hurt me. I felt bruised and battered for days and felt like it would never heal. Then the Lord revealed something to me. He showed me that He suffered the ultimate hurt from people when He, who was sinless, was made to pay the price for the sins of the whole world. He would have been quite justified to be hopping mad, and tell them how awful they were to Him. But what did He do? He remained as quiet as a lamb and spoke forgiveness to them.

When I realized this, I began to see that our hurts and injustices are really quite puny compared to what the Lord faced and overcame by forgiving. This really released me and helped me to be able to do it myself. Could anything that was done to me be as bad as having the sins of the whole world loaded unfairly on me? Also, He came to show us how to live, what to do, and what our attitude should be. I saw that I needed to follow His leading in all things.

Once you’ve made the choice to forgive, do so out loud. It helps to set you free, and Satan can’t come and plague you with negative feelings anymore because he’s heard it with his own ears. Words spoken out loud are vitally important because they carry power with them. Simply thinking forgiveness is no good. It must be uttered into the earth. Say something like, "Lord, I forgive (so and so) for upsetting me today. She’s got so many problems, Lord. I guess she’s just spewing. I put it to sleep now."

Next you need to ask the Lord to forgive you for any negative feelings or emotions. If you’re bitter or angry say to the Lord, "Lord, please forgive me for reacting like I did. I give it to you. Please wash me clean." The Lord removes it instantly and restores the relationship with you.

The final thing you need to do is tell Satan to get his hands off you. Even if you reacted negatively and asked the Lord to wash you clean, Satan will often come to you and accuse you of failing and try and bring the whole ugly situation up again. He’s the accuser of the brethren. He’s the one who tries to make you feel so awful because of what has happened that you don’t want to even raise your head. This is one of his neatest weapons. Watch out for it and when you identify it tell him to get lost because he has no right to do it. You’re forgiven and your sins are forgotten.

One thing that is important to remember is that you have to make the choice to forgive and do it, despite the hurt you’re feeling and the other negative emotions that go with it. You can’t control your emotions, but you can decide to do something by an act of your will.

When you’ve spoken forgiveness and restored the relationships with the offender and the Lord, then He will move in and remove the hurt that you are feeling. He does it quickly when you ask him and He reaches deep inside you and pours His healing balm on you. You may suddenly find the pain gone, and any feelings of animosity, anger or resentment simply fizzle out.

I want to just mention here that often when a person hurts you, and you find you have a continual battle gaining victory over it, it could be that you were hurt before you were even born (the baby feels stress in the womb from it’s parents), during your early years, or in adolescence. These are the times when all hurts take place which leave a mark on the person's character. Each time a similar situation presents itself in later life, you feel the same hurt even as an adult and you think you’re being quite neurotic because you can’t get a handle on it.

This is a vast subject and I cannot cover the ins and outs of it here, but if you are aware of something that could be an early hurt surfacing, it is wise to ask someone to pray with you. It should be someone who can hear the voice of the Lord and can let the Lord show him or her where the problem originated from. Then, when the first hurtful event is exposed you can ask the Lord to remove it and take away the painful sting associated with it. This is what inner healing is all about.

Once this aspect is taken care of, here are some other good ways to get victory (and the upper hand sometimes too). (;>) When God first called Abraham away from his home and told him he would produce a great nation from him, He said, "I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you." This is a powerful scripture. If you speak blessing on others, not just the good, but the bad and the ugly too, you not only release the Lord’s power on them for change, but it comes back to you too. So, the more you bless others, the more you will be blessed yourself.

Romans 12:14 says, "Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse." Blessing people must be important if Paul repeats it twice and emphasizes it. If people only realized what a powerful, positive influence you can be in the lives of others and did it more often, the world would begin to change for the better. But the world is so subjected to negative influences and speech that positive, uplifting talk is something totally foreign to most people.

I have made it a habit, that no matter where I am, I am continually praying blessing on people. If you’re waiting in a queue at a grocery checkout point, or waiting to catch a bus and you’re getting bored, give it a try. Just mutter softly under your breath if you can.

This is the sort of thing I do. I may see a pregnant woman and I say, "Lord, I bless this lady. Let her pregnancy go smoothly. I bless her baby now too." I see an old lady and say, "Lord I bless this lady. Thank you that you meet all her needs now." I see a little girl. I say, "Lord, I bless this gorgeous little child now. Thank you for helping her to know you as her savior." And so you can go on.

You will be amazed at how your spirit begins to soar because you’re giving out to others in love and taking your eyes off yourself and your own needs and problems. When Les and I first began doing this we suddenly became aware of how people began smiling at us or doing little things that were a blessing. They were total strangers to us, too. Then the Lord reminded me that we had been sowing and therefore we were reaping now too. So, if someone has been hurtful to you, release the Lord’s power into their lives by speaking blessing on them and get a blessing in return.

The final thing I want to share in this article is the concept of not just speaking good things, but doing them too. Jesus talked about giving food to your enemy if he is hungry or a drink if he is thirsty, for it heaps coals of fire on their head. What can be more irritating or humiliating than if someone has been deliberately nasty to you, and there you go and do something good for him instead of spewing vengeance in his direction?

Here’s an example of how you can do it. If you and your partner say have had an argument in the evening before going to bed, why not heap coals of fire on his or her head by taking your spouse breakfast in bed the next morning? You may think this is a bit overdone, but the point is that even little acts of kindness to someone who is troubling you can, like speaking blessing, do a tremendous amount to ease stress and restore strained relationships. Who wouldn’t have to be good to someone who’s good to them? You just can’t help it.

So now, here are 3 valuable ways to make problems and hurtful situations turn around and be easily removed. If you keep using them they will become easier to do and your life will go from defeat and failure to victory and blessing!