Why Pray For Our Enemies?

Why should we pray for those who persecute us, hurt us or mistreat us? Why should we pray for those who are intent on being an adversary? Paul tells us in Romans‬ ‭5:6‭-‬8‬,

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the UNGODLY. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. BUT God demonstrates his own LOVE for us in this: While we were STILL SINNERS, Christ died for US."

Christ loved us so much that he died for us while we were still separated from God by our sins. ‭If Christ could lay down his life for sinners, we must, at the very least, pray for our enemies and love our enemies as Jesus teaches us in ‭Luke‬ ‭6:27‭-‬28‬,

"But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."

We are to follow the footsteps of Jesus who gave us an example of mercy and compassion for all people. He even interceded for those persecuting him and slinging insults at him as he hung on the cross. Jesus said in Luke 23:34,

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Jesus not only prayed for them, but he asked his Father to ‘forgive them’!! It can be a challenging task to ask that an adversary be forgiven when they have hurt us so badly. But here’s a perspective which a pastor shared to get past that. He said, if a child, or loved one, has a disease, we hate the disease but love the person. We can’t love the disease or accept the disease if we love the individual.

What would we do for our loved ones if they were struggling with a disease? We pray for them, we care for their needs, and we have compassion. Yet, we would do nothing that would support the disease itself. That is exactly what we can do for those who mistreat us.

Jesus showed this compassion for those who persecuted him. He saw past their disease of hate and separated it from the individual. He saw the person and who they could become one day if they no longer had the influence of evil and chose to turn to him.

It can be challenging to follow the example of Jesus and pray for such people or have any compassion for them. But just imagine if our prayer is answered and that person, who walks contrary to God’s ways, repented and turned to God. How powerful of a testimony would that be of God’s greatness? What kind of an impact could that have on others as they witness the change in a person?

Apostle Paul shared in Romans 12:20-21,
“’If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 5:10 that we were once enemies of God. But God loved us, his enemies, and “gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” as we read in John 3:16. So let us not be overcome by any wrong-doing that was carried out on us. Instead let us OVERCOME THE WRONG-DOING with GOOD: with the goodness of prayer, forgiveness and asking God to forgive them… just as He has mercy & compassion for us and forgives us for each of our wrong-doings against him.
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