You Mean I Have to Pray for HER?!?

Have you ever felt like taking a gun and shooting someone? 

WHAT? I gulped and snuck a peek from under the hair hanging over my face. My husband elbowed me furiously. Had the pastor read my mind? Did he really ask that question?? 

To be honest, Yes. Yes, I felt like that yesterday. How did the pastor know? I’d only shared the story with one or two very close friends. I dared not look at them now!

I opened the bulletin, hoping to hide behind it, and there it was. The title of the sermon: Loving Your Enemy. Oh, no. It was going to be a long Sunday morning…

My mind drifted back to the hurtful words and actions of the person I called my enemy. Time after time, she wounded me. Must I love her?

Luke 6:27-28 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you”

The sermon touched on practical ways of loving your enemy (Could I love her?):

-Do good to them (uh, no, I’m not there yet…)

-Bless those who curse you (strike two, I just can’t even…)

-Pray for those who mistreat you (Pray? I can do this, can’t I?)

I was afraid that in loving this person, we would have to become friends. I’d have to invite her to dinner, go shopping with her, blah, blah, blah.  But, while God calls us to love all people, we are not called to be friends with them all. There has to be a level of trust in friendship. 

That’s when I committed to pray for this woman, my enemy. But not tomorrow. Tomorrow is when I pray for family. It would have to wait until – when? I don’t have many enemies, and I certainly don’t have a regular day to pray for them! {Sigh} She’ll have to be on Wednesday, when I pray for my sweet friends. I added a page to my prayer journal that said Wednesday: Friends/Other. She was the other.

When Wednesday rolled around, I saw first hand God’s sense of humor.  My reading that morning was from the “love” chapter of 1 Corinthians (1 Corinthians 13:1-13). Come on, you know it, say it with me: Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous…love is not provoked, DOES NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT A WRONG SUFFERED.

Ouch. OUCH! I not only took the wrongs into account, I kept track of them religiously!

I persevered in praying for my enemy for almost two years.  Did my prayers change her? No, not that I could see. So what changed? Me. My heart.

[tweetthis]Praying for my enemy changed me, not her.[/tweetthis]

How? I was able to see the good in her. It was the good that I had previously ignored. I also started to look for more good in her, more reasons to praise God for this woman. She was nothing like me, but I learned to appreciate who she was like: our Creator God. He creates us in His image. All of us, friends and enemies alike.

I began to see her as God saw her – His child, whom He dearly loves.  Jesus died on the cross for her as well as for me. I know I’m a long way from loving her in a Christ-like manner. But Jesus washed the feet of Judas, His betrayer (John 13:1-11). In light of that, and with His strength, I should be able to pray for my enemy.

Heavenly Father, I confess I don’t always see people the way You do. Forgive my limited sight. Lord, give me a heart to love like You do. God, soften my heart of stone. In Jesus name, Amen