Learning to Pray for Difficult People

“Difficult” here doesn’t mean people who are in trouble, but those whom we find it hard or burdensome to pray for. Who are they?

Well, it could be anyone. Maybe people who misunderstand us, who badmouth us, or those who like to attack our group. We probably have our own list of such people.

We are tempted to respond the same way.
It’s true—we’re much quicker to pronounce judgment (though we like to call it “holy correction”) than we are to pray for them, let alone buy them a book so they might be better equipped to be used by God.

In the end, people who really aren’t meant to be our enemies become our enemies.
We end up wasting our energy fighting the wrong battle, while, as Paul says, our true enemy is not flesh and blood.

That means, really, there’s no human who should be made an enemy—not people of other faiths, and certainly not fellow believers.

Loving others is indeed difficult.
But according to Jesus, the mark of His disciples is that we love one another (John 13:35).

Sure, there are plenty of people in this world who are difficult to love—but the truth is, we ourselves are difficult people whom God has loved and prayed for.

Let’s learn to love deeper 🤲