Spiritual Empathy: Praying for the "Friends" Who Hurt You

"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, and persecute you;" - Matthew 5:44

If there's one thing to sum up Jesus's ministry, it would be Love. He didn't only preach about love for those who love us, but love also for those who hate us, and this is one of the hardest things to do as a Christian—loving someone who clearly hates us. We all desire to be like Jesus who, despite being in pain and agony on the cross, looked to the Father and pleaded for their cause, but our flesh still struggles with the spirit.

There's one thing I realized about forgiveness for those who hurt us—with it comes the power of breakthrough. Each time we pray for those who hurt us or forgive those who wrong us, we become victors. In our Lord's Prayer, it shows how forgiveness is a crucial point to our own forgiveness. It says, "Father, forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us." Our measure of forgiveness here becomes the factor to gauge how we should be forgiving. Jesus also, preaching to the people, told them to leave their offerings and go seek forgiveness first whenever one remembers that he has offended his brother and still carries the pain in his heart.

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In our pilgrim journey, spiritual empathy is an important factor. Jesus desires that our mind is renewed until forgiveness becomes a part of our renewed life. Before Jesus gave up the ghost while on the cross, he first prepared his victory by forgiving those who had offended him. No one is saying it's going to be easy; while we desire spiritual things, we are still human. But our Christian journey demands that we grow in love, empathy, and mercy. We should pray for the friends who hurt us. While we consider people to be an enemy, Jesus still sees them as friends.

Spiritual empathy and victory is seen in the life of Job in Job 42. Job's turning point came when he prayed for his friends who falsely accused him.

Job 42:10 KJV
[10] And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Sometimes our blessings rest in our ability to forgive and pray for those who hurt us. While we seek spiritual gifts, we should also desire spiritual empathy.