Pray for your Enemies
By: Joy Ortiz
Recently I was invited to lead a small group event at my church. I was a bit surprised when Pamela asked me to lead one of these prayer sessions, because I don’t consider myself to be much of a teacher. I’m lucky if I know what day it is or where I left my shoes. I have more questions than answers when it comes to the important things in life.
As I was preparing to talk, I asked God what in the world I should say. What do I know about prayer? These days, most of my prayers go something like, “God, my neck still hurts,” “God, please let that be chocolate on my child’s face and not poop,” or “God, thank you for these two beautiful girls, and please let bedtime come soon.”
These aren’t bad prayers, but I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired to teach anyone about how to pray them. I think everyone prays these kinds of prayers throughout the day: spontaneous words that spring to our lips when we feel a sensation: joy, pain, fear, sorrow, etc. “God,” I prayed, “Please give me something worthwhile to teach your people. Something you want them to hear.” Immediately this story sprang to mind, so here is the lesson I prepared.
After supper one evening I received a text message from one of my girlfriends. “Hey, are you available to talk in person for like, 20 minutes?” “Sure!” I replied, and I pulled the covers off of my comfy porch chairs, parked myself, and waited for my friend to arrive. It wasn’t long before her car pulled up. I greeted her with a hug, and we sat down to one of the best things about friendship: a safe place to talk about life.
After we caught up on how-was-your-day kind of chit-chat, we got to the heart of her visit. It turns out that a married man was sending my friend uncomfortably friendly text messages. She was unsure about how to take it; on the surface the messages were fairly innocent. However, her gut feeling screamed, “This isn’t right!” She wasn’t sure what to do about it. Thankfully, I knew the man well enough to tell her, “You are absolutely right. These are not innocent messages, and you should steer clear.” She breathed a huge sigh of relief and cried, “I knew it! I knew it! Now I’m gonna go home and tell my husband.” We talked a little bit more, and then she went home.
The encounter left me more than a little bit disturbed. It sickened me to hear that my dear friend was prey to someone’s selfish and inappropriate attentions. I found myself welling up with anger and disgust. My mind played over every detail of the many hurtful, degrading, selfish acts that man had committed. I hated that the list was growing longer. That man was definitely the enemy, on so many levels. How many of my friends would suffer because of him?
The word “enemy,” as though I had typed it into a search engine, pulled a Bible verse to the front of my mind.
“Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)
I knew God’s voice well enough to realize that He was speaking to me, lovingly correcting my attitude. “No, Joy. Not hate. Love. Always love. And pray for him.” I was a bit ashamed that my heart was still so quick to hate instead of love. I mean, I’ve been a Christian my whole life. You would think I would look a little bit more like Christ by now. Grudgingly at first, then more sincerely, I began to pray for my enemy.
It’s funny how something as simple as saying a prayer can change a person. By praying for that man, I wasn’t changing him. In that moment I was changing myself. My tension and anger began to melt away as I brought my enemy before the Lord and asked God to help him. I began to see him as a person again, a person like me: capable of both good and evil. Instead of a selfish scum-ball, I saw him as a broken and lost human, and I began to wish for his redemption instead of his eradication. Hope replaced hate in my heart, and I took the first small step toward loving my enemy.
Today I invite you to practice praying for your enemies. I read an article in Relevant Magazine recently that talked about loving our enemies, and I’d like to share part of it with you. Addressing prayer for enemies, Thomas Christianson wrote, “I’m not talking about ‘please give that person what they have coming to them’ prayers. But I also don’t mean that you need to spend an hour each night asking God to pour blessings upon them. There’s a way to pray both for justice and for the hearts of those committing injustices.
If you have hate in your heart for somebody, maybe it starts with ‘God, I hate that person, and I don’t want to.’
As C.S. Lewis has said, ‘[Prayer] doesn’t change God—it changes me.’
Praying for your enemies opens you up to the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart.
Martin Luther King Jr. in Strength to Loveposits that forgiveness is the decisive factor in how much you can love your enemy. I fully agree.
When Jesus looks at His executioners from the cross and offers forgiveness, can there be any doubt of His love for them?
When relatives of the victims in the South Carolina church shooting offered forgiveness to the young man who murdered their loved ones, could anyone doubt that they were seeking to take Jesus’ words and example seriously?
Loving your enemy does not mean you have to add them to your Christmas list, or make them your best friend. It doesn’t mean you excuse their actions. It means you forgive them, with the knowledge that God is both merciful and just.
Jesus faced grave injustice with sacrifice. Through prayer and forgiveness in our hearts, let us go forth to conquer injustice in our time by the courage not to demand retribution, but rather to repay injury with blessing and hate with love.” (http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/worldview/what-it-actually-means-love-your-enemies) That was from the Relevant Magazine article “What It Actually Means to Love Your Enemies.”
When Christ taught us to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors, he wasn’t trying to frustrate us. He wasn’t trying to deny us our just measure of anger. He wasn’t trying to tell us to stuff our real feelings down deep inside and cover them with a false, smiling face and nice words. He was inviting us to the freedom and healing that can only be experienced in truly forgiving someone and releasing their sins to God’s justice. Jesus was giving us a gift: peace and joy that takes the place of anger and hate. When we bring our enemies to God in prayer, we cast down the burden of their sins against us at God’s feet. We say, “This person did this to me, and I hate him for it, but I know you don’t want me to hang onto that hate. So I am giving it to you. Please release me from this burden, and please help me to love my enemy.” When we leave that burden in God’s care, we don’t have to carry that negative weight around anymore. All responsibility for justice and vengeance transfers to God.
In Romans 12:9-21 the Apostle Paul teaches us:
“Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.
Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.”
Romans 12:9-21 (MSG) As we prepare our hearts for prayer, I would like us to sing At the Foot of the Cross. As we lay every burden down at the foot of the cross, may we also pray that Christ will teach us to be more like him, extending mercy, love, and hope for a new life to every human being, beginning with our enemies.
