If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.(Matthew 6 : 14)

One Sunday after I had preached in the fourth service, a man knocked on the door of my office. When I opened the door, he walked in staggering. I thought he was drunk. He sat down and pulled something from his pocket. It was a sharp dagger and I was frightened. I thought, "What are these secretaries doing, letting this man in here? Here he is with a dagger and they let him in without knowing it was in his possession." I was really frightened, and as he handled the dagger I prepared to defend myself. Then I said, "Don't use that knife. Tell me why you came."

He replied, "Sir, I am going to commit suicide. But first I am going to kill my wife, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law and everybody around me. My friend advised me to come and attend one of your services before I do all these things, so I attended the fourth service. I listened intently but I couldn't understand one word because you were preaching with such a strong southern provincial accent. Since I could not understand you, I am going to go now and carry out all my plans. I am constantly coughing. I am a dying man. I have tuberculosis." "Calm down," I urged him. "Sit here and tell me about yourself." "Well," he started, "during the last stage of the Vietnamese War, I went out as a technician and bulldozer operator. I worked on the front lines making bunkers and roads, risking my life in order to make more money. I had sent almost all the money to my wife. When the war was over, I scarcely had enough funds to leave Vietnam.

"I sent her a telegram from Hong Kong that I was coming home. But when I arrived at Seoul Airport expecting to see her with my daughter, I couldn't find even a shadow of them. I thought perhaps they had not received my telegram so I rushed home and to my surprise, I found strangers living there I found out that my wife had left me and she had run away with a younger man. She took all of my savings and had moved to another part of town. I went to her and begged her to come back to me but she told me adamantly that she would not return."

"I went to my wife's parents' home and protested. They gave me 40 dollars and insisted that I leave their premises. In less than a week I had a burning hatred in my heart and I began to vomit blood. Now tuberculosis is fast eating away my life and there is no hope for me. I am going to kill myself but first I'm going to destroy everyone of them." "Sir," I said to him, "This is not the way to carry out your revenge. The best way to get yourself healed is to find a new job, make a better and more beautiful home, and show yourself off to them. In this way you can really carry out revenge; but if you kill all of them and yourself, it would not bring any satisfaction." "I hate them," he cried. "As long as you hate them you are going to destroy yourself," I said. "When you hate, you destroy yourself more than you destroy others. Why don't you try to believe in Jesus?" I asked. "When Jesus comes into your heart, all of the power of God comes and dwells within you and will flow through you. God will touch you, heal you and restore your life. He will help you to reconstruct your life and that would be real revenge against your enemies."

I sent him to Prayer Mountain. There he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. But he still could not totally forgive his wife. I asked him to bless his wife. "The best way of forgiving your wife is to bless her, bless her spirit, soul and body. Pray to God that He will open the door of heaven with every blessing for her."

"I can't bless her!" he exclaimed. "I will not curse her, but I cannot bless her." I answered, "If you don't bless her, you will not be healed. When you bless, the blessings start from you and go out. You are going to be more blessed by your words of blessing than she is. In Korea, there is an old saying, 'if you want to smear the face of others with mire, you will have to smear your hand first.' If you curse your wife, the curse will flow out of your mouth first. But if you bless your wife, the words of blessing bubble up from your heart, first going through your mouth to bless you. Go ahead and bless her."

He had been standing up. Now he sat down and began to bless her, grinding his teeth. He prayed, "Oh Lord, I bless...my wife. Bless...her. And...give her salvation. Oh God, give her...a blessing." He kept on blessing her and in less than one month, he was completely healed from tuberculosis and he became a changed person. The power of God began flowing out of him and his face shone.

When I met him a month later, he excitedly said, "Oh Pastor Cho, I rejoice in the Lord! I praise God that I can say I have a real appreciation for my wife. It was because she had left me that I found Jesus! I pray for her everyday. I have renewed my license as a bulldozer operator and now I have a new job. I am making a new home and I'm waiting for my wife to come back."

This man was praising the Lord. His life was being restored through the power of God as it flowed out of him because he had been healed in spirit and body. Unfortunately, his wife never returned to him. Some time later he got married again and he and his new family continue to live victoriously as they attend our church. Without getting rid of hatred, you cannot really get in touch with the Lord. In your ministry for the Lord, you must help people realize this.