Praying for Our Enemies

There are statements by Jesus Christ that are known as His “hard sayings.”  They are not hard because they are hard to comprehend.  They are hard because they are hard to do.  They are counter to our fleshly desires.  They are strongly counter to our fleshly desires.  We are naturally resistant to doing what He says.

But we are supernaturally equipped through salvation, the gift of the Spirit of God, and the wisdom and power of the Word of God to do what Christ says in those hard sayings. 

One of those sayings is, “pray for those who mistreat you” (Lk. 6:28).  It is actually part of a grouping of sayings around the theme of loving our enemies — those who seek our demise and are even violently opposed to us because of our love for Christ. 

Jesus’ words teach us that one of the ways we love our enemies  is to pray for them.  We know that He is not advocating imprecatory prayers against them (e.g., Ps. 109:6-20).  What then shall we pray that would be a blessing to them and a demonstration of our love for them?  The prayers and admonitions of Scripture guide us; here are a few items we might pray:

• Pray that they would come to hallow and worship God as holy (Mt. 6:9).
• Pray that God’s kingdom purposes would be experienced in their lives (Mt. 6:10).
• Pray that they would come to the knowledge of the truth of salvation and the delight of God who desires to save them (1 Tim. 2:4).
• Pray that they would be delivered from the temptations of sin that bind them (Mt. 6:13).
• Pray that their dark and blind eyes would be opened to the truth of Christ’s gospel and that the deluding influence of Satan and his world system would be diminished in their lives (2 Cor. 4:4, 6).  
• Pray that they would come to know God’s forgiveness of them and to forgive others for the sins against them, for even while they sin against us, they have also been sinned against (Mt. 6:14).
• Pray for God’s blessing in their lives, particularly the spiritual blessing of salvation (Rom. 12:14).
• Pray that we would not be angry with our enemies but that we would know what to do that would be good for them and that we would trust God to act righteously toward them (either by judging their sin, or in judging Christ for their sin) (Rom. 12:17, 19-21).
• Pray that we would have clarity about what to speak to our enemies and that we would live our lives with wisdom as they observe us (Col. 4:3-4).
• Pray that we would persist in praying for our enemies so that we would be able to lead lives in tranquility and godliness (1 Tim. 2:2).

Vincent van Gogh, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.