You want me to pray for WHO?

Jesus instructed us to pray for our enemies and for those who persecute us. Do you ever wonder why? I have.

I know the power of prayer is great and I believe that our prayers, in some ways, can perhaps soften the hearts of others, and help them change their ways.

I have also learned that praying for one's enemies and those who persecute us can also change the heart of the person doing the praying. It helps compassion build inside because we start to see our enemies the way Jesus sees them. Jesus loves all of us, even our enemies, just as much as he loves those of us who consider ourselves "good". It took me a long while to realize that.

Knowing that we are all God's children gives me more resolve to pray for my enemies or for the people that "give me grief".

I think being able to willingly pray for our enemies can be freeing. We are asking for these people to feel God's love and to experience a conversion and to desire more of Jesus. In doing so, if and when the person is open to receiving this, then perhaps they won't be our enemies or persecute us anymore. Wouldn't that be cool?

I think it is important to be honest when we pray and let God know that sometimes it is difficult to pray for an enemy, but we ask God to bless them anyway.

I once worked with someone who was ALWAYS on my case. And I mean, ALWAYS. He was a Catholic too, but he was an angry, hard soul to contend with. After some time, it came to my mind that he must need some sort of healing or conversion. I decided to start praying "big time" for him. Days went by, and that is exactly what I did. Of course, I didn't tell him I was praying for him. One day, at work, I was walking down the path between two buildings and he was walking towards me. A feeling of dread filled my heart because I just knew he would say something critical. Instead, he stopped me, smiled a big smile and said "Hey,do you know how much POWER our God has ?" I was dumbfounded and I hesitantly said "yes...a lot", thinking that this might be a trick question or something. He then proceeded to tell me that he had just gone on a weekend retreat and had a deep experience of God. He proceeded to talk non stop for several minutes about the retreat. After that day, he was very nice to me and was a different person in so many ways to everyone else at the job too.

I'm not saying that I was responsible for that happening, because I have no clue how many other people were praying for him, but I think my prayers must have had some effect on his tired and angry little soul.

That experienced convinced me that praying for one's enemies actually has some merit. So as usual, God is always right - we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.