Monday, July 06, 2015

Praying for my enemies

We started doing a Bible Study with some friends last night. It was nice. We are using the Discovery method. We thought the book of Philippians would be a good place to begin - because it's about joy and stuff.

Right away I was struck by verses 3-5:
I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

It made me think about how - here was Paul, in prison, going through all these hardships, and yet he could pray with joy for others. For some reason I started thinking of the places where Jesus says we are to 'love our enemies and pray for those who mistreat us'... Gah!

Oh, I think it is right on. Jesus is correct. He is The Way, after all. So, when I woke up around 4:30 this morning I decided I was going to try praying for my enemies. I can remember preaching about how this was one of the best ways to get over being mad at someone. I tried... I did. But the truth is... I just couldn't do it. Ugh. My heart is hard, and I am still so bitter.

My prayer today will be asking God to do for me as he said in Ezekiel 36:26:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Help me, Lord.