Why You Must Not Pray Against Your Enemies

''...I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and adversary unto thine adversaries''. Exodus 23:22

Every human being is an enemy to someone somewhere, and this truth should be known by every person under the sun. God has said He will be an enemy to your enemy. If your enemy is God’s enemy, then you don’t have to tell God who is all-known to kill your enemies. This is the third and concluding part of our discourse on ‘How to present your requests in prayer to God’. Recall that our focus is King Solomon, the son of King David who succeeded his father as King of Israel. My first article was titled: Why You Should Not Ask for Riches, and the second one was titled: Why You Should Not Ask for Long Life. Both articles were published in this Blog on 3rd June and 5th June respectively.

God says He knows all our desires even before we go to Him in prayer to present our requests. When God says we should ask and it will be given to us, God has exempted asking for riches, long life and the life of our enemies. On this I advise you to take your time to search the scriptures.

And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgement;

Behold I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart: so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. 1 kings 3:11-13

God gave Solomon what he did not ask for. If Solomon had asked for the lives of his enemies or the enemies of Israel, he would have fought more battles than his father David did. Solomon was very rich, famous and enjoyed peace which he didn’t ask for. No king or person before Solomon and after him, even up till today is as rich as Solomon. Not even the richest man in our contemporary world is as rich as Solomon, because there is no man whose riches will be able to cater for seven hundred wives, three hundred concubines, numerous domestic staff and slaves that Solomon had without collapsing. Even Bill Gates with one wife and few children is planning to end his marriage with Melinda.

There are enemies, but you should understand that, you praying that your enemies should die, you too have offended some people and they are not happy with you. Solomon had no enemy to fight because he didn’t ask for their lives. God made sure kings of other nations did not make trouble with Israel during the reign of Solomon. Israel enjoyed good diplomatic relations with all nations during the reign of King Solomon. Israel’s economy was good.

We should not mind the existence of enemies. It is true there are evil doers, but God says our duty is to remain righteous and abide in His words. You can pray to God for protection from enemies, and not to ask that ‘they should fall down and die in Jesus name’. To pray that your enemies must die in Jesus name or send evil arrow to your enemies in Jesus name is asking God to commit murder. God who warns us not to kill cannot be expected to kill for you.

Jesus even on the cross prayed to the Father to forgive His killers, and He wants us to emulate Him. Jesus has never promised that it will be an easy life for His followers. Jesus says the world will hate His followers, and forewarned that we should not be surprised because the world first hated Him.

Jesus words concerning how we should treat our enemies and persecutors:

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you,  and persecute you. Matthew 5:43-44

Jesus says, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. According to His words, we are to love our enemies. Those who curse us even to our hearing, we should pronounce blessings upon them.  We should do good to those who hate us. We should treat people who make life unbearable for us and use us like slaves with dignity, praying for them and say no evil against them. Aghast, this is a Hard Saying or Command by Jesus, abi!

Permit me to draw your attention to what Apostle Paul in obedience and despite what he suffered in the hands of enemies of the Cross has said:

Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Romans 12:14

You are yet to experience persecution for righteousness sake, and you believe enemies are behind your problems. You are not a Christian to fight enemies, become rich and enjoy long life, but you are called to repentance so that when you leave this earthly journey in death, you may go to heaven to be where Jesus Christ is.

Now that you a Christian, you are not expected to love the world. A person who is a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

James 4:4 ‘…know ye not that the friendship of the world is enemy with God? whosever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God’.

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