As I sit and have my cup of coffee with Jesus, I was thinking about the importance of PRAYING FOR OTHERS. I find it easy to pray for my own personal needs, asking God for help in my own life. And it’s easy for me to pray for people who’ve asked for my prayers, or for my family, or for my Church, or for the sick, and for those who have died. I also like to expand my prayer to universal prayer, praying for the world, for peace and unity. The one I struggle with is praying for those who have hurt me or who have attacked me…basically, praying for my enemies. That I find difficult.
But Jesus calls us to PRAY for our enemies. I don’t have a lot of them, maybe just a handful of people, but it is still not easy to pray for them. Matthew 5:44 says, “But I say to you, love your enemies and PRAY for those who persecute you.” Easier said than done. Following Jesus is not always the easiest thing to do so, today I am going to pray for those who persecute me. I’m going to ask the Lord to remove the bitterness, the anger, and the hurt I feel, and turn it into love, mercy, and forgiveness.
But I know myself. I’m probably going to have to read these words three or four times today to remind myself of what I have promised. If I am going to claim Jesus as my Lord, I must follow HIM and HIS WORD.
Have a wonderful day. And don’t forget to pray for others.
2 comments
Good Morning Monsignor
Boy that is a difficult one, there are days I can say I genuinely pray for those who’ve intentionally caused me harm, heartache and suffering. I know those who attack, do so for mainly 2 reasons, they themselves are deeply hurt & are suffering, they lash out and attack others trying to make themselves feel better. The latter are either jealous or full of spite, they become jealous of others loving you or following you.
God calls on us to forgive, 70 x 7, we too must try to forgive and find it in our hearts to pray for them. When I can not, as there are days I vividly remember what was done to me, I ask our Father to soften my heart. I’m not perfect, I’ll confess, I silently hope, they have it coming…God has watched them, HE knows what they’ve done, HE will be their final judge and prosecution.
The scripture you quoted, Matthew 5:44 says, “But I say to you, love your enemies and PRAY for those who persecute you” does help me.
I too need this reminder, “to remove the bitterness, the anger, and the hurt I feel, and turn it into love, mercy, and forgiveness.”
Thank you for reminding us to forgive our enemies.
God Bless you
Good Morning Father Craig , thank you for the message today . Your right that’s not an easy task . But Please pray for my son Nick Hernanfez even though he’s not in the list you just mentioned . Have a Blessed Day .♥️🙏🙏🙏