Have you ever prayed for your enemies? (POLL and question)
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Yes, I pray for my enemies, especially my son's father. In front of my son, I pray for God to guide and protect him. Privately: "Make him good or make him gone."
My mom gets really caught up in her prayers, especially those about her kids. My sister taught in an inner-city school and was threatened by her Jordanian student, to the point where she needed police escort entering and leaving the school building. My mother was praying about this and other concerns in her ladies prayer meeting at church. She was more focused on talking to God than on editing her words (which becomes more of a hilarious problem every year), until she noticed that the young woman beside her had fallen out of her chair from laughing so hard. My mom had prayed for God to neuter the Jordanian punk. Out loud. In a room full of little, old, pious, Baptist women.
My mom gets really caught up in her prayers, especially those about her kids. My sister taught in an inner-city school and was threatened by her Jordanian student, to the point where she needed police escort entering and leaving the school building. My mother was praying about this and other concerns in her ladies prayer meeting at church. She was more focused on talking to God than on editing her words (which becomes more of a hilarious problem every year), until she noticed that the young woman beside her had fallen out of her chair from laughing so hard. My mom had prayed for God to neuter the Jordanian punk. Out loud. In a room full of little, old, pious, Baptist women.
M
Nice topic, ZT!
I wouldn't say I have any enemies...I mean I'm a pretty simple girl who is quite shy. But I guess when I think of enemies two people come to mind.
The first one is a kid who went to school with me. I guess he's now a young man. Anyways, he made my elementary life hell. He would beat me up, throw me on the hot black top, and broke off one of my teeth once. Then he would call me names and tell the teachers I was up to no good when really I wasn't doing anything. That was hard. But I have prayed for him. I pray that he realizes his mistakes, breaks that chain of bullying, and if he has kids, that they don't bully others like he did to me. I also pray that he finds God.
I later found out this kid grew up in a very poor area of town and could barely afford to get by. Sometimes it helps to know their story, a little. It made sense that he was mean to me, his living situation wasn't anything easy to go through. I had God, a house, a car, food on the table, and a wonderful family to take care of me and love me. He didn't.
I looked him up on fb and I guess he's doing okay. He looks happy and has joined the military, so I suppose God has heard my prayers.
Another person would be this girl who is a couple of years older than me. Her mom is a family friend, so she would come by a lot. At 13, I was a self conscious teenager, and she was a popular 15 year old who all the boys were interested in. Honestly, I was a little jealous of her, but I also wanted to be her friend. She wasn't having it and after a while of just ignoring me, she started talking behind my back at school and told me ugly things.
Like my favorite color is pink and she would always say that it was an ugly color. She would also say I was too pale and fat. She also got some of the high school kids to bully me more. She would make fun of anything I did: playing clarinet, joining the pep squad, taking AP classes, reading Harry Potter. Just everything I did was wrong! I got to tired of it, I realized that I needed to avoid her. I felt so isolated, insecure, and wounded. I couldn't even talk to anyone because I became so anxious.
Two years later, at 17, she got pregnant and failed 11th grade. I hadn't seen her in a few months because of summer, but when I did (the first time I saw her pregnant), she smiled at me in a bittersweet way. Then she looked down at the ground and walked away. I could tell that she was embarrassed for me to see her pregnant. It took me a while to realize that everything she did was because of jealously. It's not that I was a weird person, it was her own insecurities. When someone bullies you, it says more about them than it does about you.
This girl had a drug dealing father and her mother was not equipped to deal with all that. I later found out that she went through a lot growing up....emotionally and physically.
So now I pray for her. And she's doing all right: married the baby's father and eventually did graduate high school. So it's all good.
I don't talk to either of these people, but fb has a way of showing us what everyone is up to.
Sometimes we get caught up with the enemy and we want to take revenge. There were many times where I wanted to gossip about this girl at school and tell everyone she was pregnant, but I didn't. It's best not to let the enemy win. When someone is mean to you, stop to consider what their life is like. Maybe your life is amazingly blessed compared to theirs. You just never know.
I wouldn't say I have any enemies...I mean I'm a pretty simple girl who is quite shy. But I guess when I think of enemies two people come to mind.
The first one is a kid who went to school with me. I guess he's now a young man. Anyways, he made my elementary life hell. He would beat me up, throw me on the hot black top, and broke off one of my teeth once. Then he would call me names and tell the teachers I was up to no good when really I wasn't doing anything. That was hard. But I have prayed for him. I pray that he realizes his mistakes, breaks that chain of bullying, and if he has kids, that they don't bully others like he did to me. I also pray that he finds God.
I later found out this kid grew up in a very poor area of town and could barely afford to get by. Sometimes it helps to know their story, a little. It made sense that he was mean to me, his living situation wasn't anything easy to go through. I had God, a house, a car, food on the table, and a wonderful family to take care of me and love me. He didn't.
I looked him up on fb and I guess he's doing okay. He looks happy and has joined the military, so I suppose God has heard my prayers.
Another person would be this girl who is a couple of years older than me. Her mom is a family friend, so she would come by a lot. At 13, I was a self conscious teenager, and she was a popular 15 year old who all the boys were interested in. Honestly, I was a little jealous of her, but I also wanted to be her friend. She wasn't having it and after a while of just ignoring me, she started talking behind my back at school and told me ugly things.
Like my favorite color is pink and she would always say that it was an ugly color. She would also say I was too pale and fat. She also got some of the high school kids to bully me more. She would make fun of anything I did: playing clarinet, joining the pep squad, taking AP classes, reading Harry Potter. Just everything I did was wrong! I got to tired of it, I realized that I needed to avoid her. I felt so isolated, insecure, and wounded. I couldn't even talk to anyone because I became so anxious.
Two years later, at 17, she got pregnant and failed 11th grade. I hadn't seen her in a few months because of summer, but when I did (the first time I saw her pregnant), she smiled at me in a bittersweet way. Then she looked down at the ground and walked away. I could tell that she was embarrassed for me to see her pregnant. It took me a while to realize that everything she did was because of jealously. It's not that I was a weird person, it was her own insecurities. When someone bullies you, it says more about them than it does about you.
This girl had a drug dealing father and her mother was not equipped to deal with all that. I later found out that she went through a lot growing up....emotionally and physically.
So now I pray for her. And she's doing all right: married the baby's father and eventually did graduate high school. So it's all good.
I don't talk to either of these people, but fb has a way of showing us what everyone is up to.
Sometimes we get caught up with the enemy and we want to take revenge. There were many times where I wanted to gossip about this girl at school and tell everyone she was pregnant, but I didn't. It's best not to let the enemy win. When someone is mean to you, stop to consider what their life is like. Maybe your life is amazingly blessed compared to theirs. You just never know.
I find it very easy to pray for an enemy.. Its important to understand that when a child of God prays for their enemy, that the result may not necessarily be a pleasant thing for your enemy. Jesus said, "It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones" (Luke17:2). And Paul said, "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head" (Romans 12:20).
I once had an angry ex-employee who was trying to destroy my business. I asked God to soften her heart so she would stop attacking my business. Long story short, over the next month she ended up losing $5000, got into a ton of trouble, moved into a different county, and I never heard from her again.
I guess my point is that praying for your enemy isn't wishing them good fortune, prosperity, and blessings per se, but praying to God about your enemies could be construed as a plea to God to straighten-out a wrongdoer that's been troubling you. Loving your enemy entails an effort to correct them, and we do that by asking God for help. "For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth" (Proverbs 3:12). Its considered loving to ask God to correct your enemies, because the ultimate alternative is; "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19). jmo
I pray for my enemies all the time. I guess why it may seem hard for some as it was for me at first is that it may seem that they may get away with hurting us some how. God' s unseen power to protect us is just as powerful as it would be if we could see it if not more so. Only good defeats evil so it comes down to one thing. Do we want to defeat evil or do we care what others think about us more and never forgive our enemies for the nerve they have for disrespecting us? The last part of the last sentences is to show us what petty much stops us from forgiving our enemies to some extent. Sorry to bring it so direct.
C
For the manager who treated me like dirt yes. I actually love him now and he treats me good now, because I have a man who helps me and he has to. My collegue didn't understand it. I had a dream where he wanted to put his hand on me in an occult way and I said hey let me pray for you and I layed hands on him. I did hope that he would leave but then he stayed and I thought: okay, God wants you here, now I'm gonna bring you to Jesus. For the others that took my kids from me I forgave them, I guess I prayed after that lol because you can't pray if you hate someone. I wasn't saved anymore when I hated them anyway.
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To be honest I don't really feel like I've had any people I'd classify as "enemies" since I was regenerated. I have prayed for unbelieving people I've disagreed with and a few things like that, but I don't feel I have even had any "enemies" since I've been saved (about 28 months). I will try if I ever get any though, and hopefully through His power I can.