Tag: Enemies

Love Your Enemies Pray For Those Who Persecute You!


In August 1983, Russell Stendal was taken hostage into the jungle of Columbia, by a band of guerrilla soldiers. For nearly 5 months he learned what it really means to love one’s enemies.

He wrote a letter home, saying, “I am in danger only of losing my life; they are in danger of losing their souls.”

Through kindness, Russell befriended his guards. One day the commander told him, “We can’t kill you face to face; we like you. So we will have to kill you in your sleep.”

God enabled Russell to forgive, but for the next 10 days and nights he couldn’t sleep. A submachine gun was repeatedly thrust in his face under his mosquito net, but the guards couldn’t bring themselves to pull the trigger.

On January 3, 1984, Russell was released. When he said goodbye, tears fill the eyes of some of his captors.

You can love as God, not in quantity, but in quality, because God’s own nature has been begotten in you, and awaits the opportunity of approving itself before men and angels.