Daily Devotion

Gain Peace by Praying for Your Enemies

 

"But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you;"  Matthew 5:44

 

 It took me praying for someone else for 7 days and I finally somewhat understood what this meant.  As you can recall, I encountered some difficulties last week.  But this morning my linesister sent out a scripture from Psalm on giving God the praise.  My own devotion said to shout praises to God, then the song I was listening to was saying to praise God.  So I shouted in my car, "Thank you God because I have the victory!"  See this morning, my supervisor returned to work and I had not yet spoken to him.  I prayed before getting out of my car that I had the victory and peace.  I sat at my desk and even as one of the maintenance staff walked in on me, I was praying that I had peace and that everything would work out; I said a special prayer for my supervisor.  About 5 minutes later, my phone rang for me to come over to his office.  So my anxiety increased, I started busying myself and had to calm down.  I called for prayer, prayed and I still had to calm down some more.  But I remembered my proclamation from earlier, that I already had the victory.  So I waited 2 hours later to go and talk to my supervisor.  And then God gave me some insight.  Through praying for my supervisor, I allowed myself to feel compassion as he told me things about his own family.  How his mother passed away with complications due to Parkinson's disease and how much she meant to him.  He told me of how his physically abusive father caused him to draw closer to her and his grandmother, who passed from colon cancer.  Then I knew why I had such difficulty to begin with, in relation to my getting permission to work from home to spend time with my father; indirectly, his own indifference to his father caused him to transfer those feelings--because every time I said something in relation to my father I would get a no.  It seemed like nothing I could say would change his mind.  But because God still reigns, I see the blessing God gave me in allowing me to spend time with my father; I was able to value every moment I had because of my supervisor's refusal to help me.  Now I won't have ill feelings towards him.  I was given a chance to get to know my dad with intentional focused attention and truly understand why he was the way he was; and in turn, love him more.  I was able to peel back the layers and the walls built over the years and truly draw close to my dad and in that one moment, realize that the time I had with him was precious and is something I will never forget; something my supervisor has not been able to have.

 

Praying for those that wrong you has a weird (DIVINE INTERVENTION) way of helping both parties.  In most cases, you may not get a swift action like that.  But truth be told, I had prayed for my supervisor before, just not consistently.  You have to consistently pray--1 Thessalonians 5:17 says NEVER stop praying--and make your requests known to God. (Ephesians 6:18, Philippians 4:6).  Even when the road seems dim and bleak, don't stop praying until God has brought His will to pass.  I allowed that anxiety to affect my sleep last Friday because I simply did not understand why my supervisor was being that way to me.  I had never wronged him, been offensive or anything.  Now, because I understand why he was the way he was to me, although it doesn't excuse the way he said things, I forgive him.  After our conversation, I left with peace because in spite of all of that, I knew that God had made me victorious by revealing what I had in my dad.  I would not have even gone into his office had it not been for God making it alright.

 

So folks, get that peace and get down on your knees and pray for that road block of a person in your life.  You never know how God may use you in that person's life or how that person may inadvertently help you.

 

"Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep."  Acts 7:60

"BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD."   Romans 12:20