We should pray for our enemies….you’ve heard that right?  Most of us hear that and we feel like we’re off the hook. Because let’s get real, how many of us really have enemies? I mean, we have people who bug us, and people we don’t respect and people that aren’t like us…but enemies? An enemy is a person who is actively opposed or hostile to us. Globally we’ve got enemies, that’s for sure,  but honestly,  I can’t think of a one enemy in my sphere of influence.

So when it came to that command about praying for your enemies, (Matthew 5:44) I felt like I didn’t have much work to do…until of course I was challenged to think about it differently.

Six months ago I was listening to a pod cast while on my daily walk. It was actually one of Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations. She was interviewing Marianne Williamson, Author of Return To Love. They were discussing a time when Oprah was going through a very difficult season experiencing rejection and betrayal. Oprah had called on Marianne for some encouragement because she just couldn’t let go of her hurt and her pain regarding the person who betrayed her. Marianne’s advise; “Pray for them for 30 days.”

Oprah said “Oh, no way, I’m not doing that! I can’t do that!” And then said “O.K., I’ll do it, if it will help me let go and move forward.”

And so she did. The results were miraculous…of course they were!

So it got me thinking about who I could pray for for 30 days in a row? I guess a better question would have been, who do I start with?

We’ve all been there. We’ve been rejected, betrayed, and hurt by others. People that we love and people who we do life with offend us. We work to let go of offenses and do an okay job of it sometimes, but other times we need a little more help…divine help.

Because I have been practicing “morning pages” (three pages of long hand journaling every morning) for the last 7 months, I decided to start my 30 day “pray for my enemies” as part of my morning pages. I chose someone that is important to me but that I’ve been struggling with lately, to pray for. I even numbered the prayers to make sure I prayed all 30 days.

The first few days were easy. You know those wide sweeping prayers? “Be with her.” “Keep her safe.” “Your will be done in her life.” But 30 days of this meant I was going to have to get a little more real. I wasn’t doing this exercise to prove it wrong or to check the box. I was doing it with a belief that if I was commanded to pray for those who have hurt me, I’d see healing and change come out of it.

So imagine what happened to MY HEART when I kept praying for her heart? You guessed it. I started to change. My tender heart continued to focus on love instead of hate. Humility instead of pride. Forgiveness instead of blame. Prayer, it changes things…It changed ME.

On day 30 when I wrote my last prayer, I realized that I was not the same person I’d been 30 days ago. I also realized that if 30 days of prayer for one person could change me that much, what would happen if I just kept going.

So I decided that day, to choose a new person to pray for and I turned the page and wrote #1 at the top. I’ve been doing the 30 day prayer thing ever since and honesty believe that it will be a practice of mine for the rest of my life. My concern won’t be running out of people to pray for, it will only be to choose “who’s next.”

I wrote this blog for you. I wrote it to encourage you to try this. See if you too, find the miraculous in this practice. I know it would be easy to just speak the prayers silently or even out loud for 30 days, but there was something amazing about numbering them and writing them out. It’s as if it felt like I was being completely faithful to my heart and my desire to love by writing them out and not missing a one.

I can’t help but say a little prayer as I close out this blog. One of my favorites that I know will ALWAYS be included in my 30 days of prayer no matter who I’m praying for. This time, it’s for you.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. And I pray, that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Jesus Christ throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:14-21

Humbly, Letha