Pray for your Enemies

"The Bible tells us to pray for our enemies." I put this in quotations, because these are the last words my little brother spoke before he died at age 19. At least the coherent ones. He did that a few times. Once, when he was on his way to the hospital and was losing consciousness....didn't even know his own name.....he quoted Joshua 1:9 with my mom. He was 9 when he did that. It seems that at the times that he was near death, God spoke directly to him, and through him. God spoke through his life as well, but that's another post. Or a few.

But when I recall his last words, to me it is a direct message from God. Those close to me know that this is something that I have a hard time with. I would rather put distance between me and the person or people who are causing me pain, and not even think about them. I would rather sit back and let them reap the consequences of their own vices. Not for vengence, but because I would rather let things happen in a natural course of time than confront bad behavior.

I still struggle with when to just pray for someone and when to address an issue. That's a tough balance. At what point do I let someone speak mistruths and misrepresentations about me or the ones I love, to the point of giving others a false view or impression, and when do I confront and hold them accountable for their words and misrepresentations? Or how far do we keep with an issue in order to make someone accountable? I do believe that at some point lies need to be answered.

However, what I know now is that I am to pray for my enemies. The good thing is that it gives me God's point of view about them. It enables me to see them as people who are in need of prayer and have their own issues to deal with. I can stand back, step out of myself and my own hurt and see their need. So when I see them, and they play their games, or act in an insincere manner for appearance sake, I know that He is in control, and I can pray. And the games don't matter. Neither do appearances. Only that I am obedient to what God has so clearly spoken to me: "I pray for my enemies." And maybe, when it is time to confront, I can do so through God's eyes, and without hurt, so that the enemies will see the deed or deeds and be repentant, not defensive or arrogant. And healing can begin.