A Prayer for My Enemies

Lord, You told me to pray for my enemies. I want to be honest with You: I don't want to.

There are names in my heart right now — people who hurt me, people who lied about me, people who took something from me and never looked back. My instinct is to rehearse the wrong, not to pray for the one who did it.

But You said: love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Pray for them which despitefully use you. You didn't say it from a safe distance, either. You said it, and then You prayed for the men holding the nails.

So here I am, doing the hardest kind of obedience.

Bless them, Lord. I say it through gritted teeth today; maybe someday I'll mean it more. Meet them where they are. Deal with them — not as I would, but as You dealt with me: with truth, and with mercy. If there is wrong in them, turn them from it. If there is pain behind their cruelty, heal it.

And work on me while You're at it. Take this bitterness before it takes me. I'm not asking You to call what happened okay — You never do. I'm asking You to carry the debt so I can put it down.

Keep me praying for them until the prayer changes me.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

When to Pray This

Pray this whenever the old anger flares — after the memory surfaces, or before you'll be in the same room as them. It rarely feels natural the first time, or the tenth. Pray it anyway; this is one of those prayers that obeys first and feels later.

A Verse to Hold On To

"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 (KJV)