"Pray for Your Enemies."

Scripture  

Matthew 5:43-48

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (NRSV)

Devotion

How often do you take time to pray for your enemies?  If you are like most people, the answer is probably not very often  It's much easier to pray for ourselves and our friends than it is to get down on our knees on behalf of someone who wants to hurt or persecute us.  When such people do come up in our prayers, we are more likely to ask God to protect us from them or help us overcome them than we are to pray for their own good and protection.

The tendency to love our friends and hate our enemies is only natural.  After all the stronger "those people" become, the more power they have to harm us.  Jesus, though, asks us to do the unnatural and nonsensical thing...to pray for the people who hurt and persecute us.  

Jesus's argument hinges around the fact that the God who so lovingly created all of us in the divine image has placed us on this Earth together.  The sun shines on both the good and the evil.  The rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous.  And because we are in this life together, whatever happens to one of us impacts all of us...whether they are our friends or our enemies.  When we learn to pray for our enemies, we are doing more than just asking God to give them good things.  We are also opening ourselves to seeing the divine spark in them and seeking to transform our relationships with them in hopes that with God's help, we can grow to love and support each other as God intends.  We pray for the day when we are all known as children of God.

Praying for one's enemies takes discipline, and it can be hard to know what to say.   The thing to remember is that praying for someone's best is not necessarily the same as praying that they get exactly what they want.   So what might we ask God for as we pray for our enemies?  Well, here are a few things we can try:

• When we can tell that an enemy is hurting or in danger, we can pray for God's healing and protection so that they may reach a state of wholeness.
• When there seems like their no possible way that we will ever be on the same page with one another, we can pray for a spirit of wisdom and understanding to cover both our enemy and ourselves.
• When their words, actions, or inaction contradicts God's laws, we can ask the Holy Spirit to help them repent of their sins.  
• When they appear to be hate-filled, bigoted, or cruel, we can ask God to soften their hearts so that they may learn to truly love others as Christ loves them.
  
• When we have sinned against them, we can repent of our own deeds and ask God to fill them with a spirit of forgiveness so that we can move forward together.
• When we need to cut ties with someone in order to preserve our own physical, mental, or emotional well-being, we can ask God to continue working in their lives through other people and circumstances.

I often struggle to pray for those who hurt me or the people I love.  It's a real challenge to ask God to promote their well-being, and growth...and right now, that challenge seems greater than other.  That's why I plan to spend October trying to pray for my enemies at least once a day.  My hope is that:

1.  I will come to see God at work within them so that I can seek their well being and learn to challenge them with care; 
2. God will give them the healing and discernment they need in order to turn from the error of their ways; 
3. The Holy Spirit will work through each of us to make the world better reflect God's love. 
   

Will you join me in this challenge?  We cannot make everything right, but with the Spirit's help, we can ease some of the world's hatred and enmity.  May our prayers remind us that we are all children of the Living God--that the same sun rises and sets on all of us.  And may we learn to seek God's will together as we answer Christ's call to build a better world.

 

Prayer

Father of all, I confess that I do not love others nearly as well as you love me.  Teach me to love my enemies.  Help me hold them close to  heart and pray that your good may be accomplished in their lives.  I ask these things in the name of your son Jesus Christ whose perfect love was made known when he gazed down from the cross and said "Forgive them, Father.  They know not what they do."  Amen.