The other day I received a comment on my post How to Destroy Your Enemies. It was pointed and frustrating, and I soon found it stuck in my head. After wrestling with it for awhile I decided that instead of fighting it, I would embrace it. So, I’m now giving you powerful prayers to destroy your enemies.
The Devolving Comment
When I first saw the comment, I was intrigued. How to Destroy Your Enemies is one of our most popular posts, and with over a thousand visitors a month, I was not surprised it piqued someone’s attention.
The comment was a different approach to the post that, although I disagreed with it, was worth discussion. That soon changed. What started with logical arguments devolved into angry name calling.
Normally I would allow the comment, regardless of the position, but I don’t allow personal attacks on comments. Labels and negativity are not a wowful way to live and don’t belong here.
The thing that struck me with that commenter is that he actually was looking for a way to destroy his enemies. That’s frightening. He’s obviously never heard the saying “holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” In this case, it appears he’s trying to do both people in – himself and his enemy – in one fell swoop. Yikes! This is not a good way to live.
Still I decided not to fight it. For those wanting to destroy their enemies, I’m offering powerful prayers to destroy your enemies, but first, let’s discuss what enemies really are.
Enemies vs. Injustice
One of the points the commenter made was about Lincoln being willing to befriend the people who had killed and maimed and more in the Civil War. (If you haven’t read the original post, you will need to in order for the rest to make more sense).
Now I don’t know the timing of the quote from Lincoln – if it came before or after the war. I also don’t know the context. The truth is none of it is relevant.
Here’s the thing: there is a difference between an enemy and perpetrator of injustice. An enemy is a person sworn (metaphorically or otherwise) to do harm to you or someone you have sworn to harm. Although there may be those that wish to harm me, I wish to harm no one.
The True Enemy
However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t want injustice to stop. I do. I want injustice to stop. I want killing to stop. I want exploitation to stop. I want inflicted pain to stop. At the same time, the people who are doing these things are not my enemies. Stopping them does not mean that I wish them harm.
The problem is that drinking the bitter cup of anger to try to retaliate against them makes me my own worst enemy. Instead of focusing on how I can better myself, I am focused on them. My life has become less about my improvement and helping others, and more focused on my enemies.
What we focus on is what we get. When we focus on anger and enemies our lives becomes twisted into exactly what our enemies want for us. If instead we focus on ourselves and our own improvement, we thwart our enemies’ plans.
Still, there are those who want to destroy their enemies. For you, as promised, I offer these powerful prayers to destroy your enemies.
Powerful Prayers to Destroy Your Enemies
I would prefer that you focus on yourself and what you can do to make your life better, not make someone else’s life worse. After all, people who cause pain are those who have already experienced it.
But since you stuck with me this long, I offer you these powerful prayers to destroy your enemies. As I am a Christian, I will write them as a Christian prayer. Feel free to alter them however you best see fit.
Heavenly Father, I pray that you would destroy my enemies. I pray that you would break that pain that binds them to a toxic way of living and release them to a life of happiness where they can bless others and make the world better.
Heavenly Father, I pray that you would destroy my enemies. I pray that you would cause me to see them not as the actions they take out of anger and spite, but as a human being in pain, woefully unequipped to express it in any healthy way and desperately in need of love, healing, and true friendship.
Heavenly Father, I pray that you would destroy my enemies. I pray that you would soften my heart toward them. I pray that, like you say in Matthew 7:12, all your rules are based on treating other as we want to be treated. I pray that if I were so broken on the inside that I would hurt others that someone care enough to put me on a better path.
Heavenly Father, I pray that you would destroy my enemies. I pray that I would no longer see anyone as enemies. I pray that I would only see people. I pray that I would be focused on stamping out injustice instead of stomping on others. I pray that I would be focused on rebuilding lives instead of destroying people. I pray that I would spend my time making things better for many instead of wasting it making it worse for a few.
Heavenly Father, I pray that I would find how to love everyone, including my enemies, even as I wish to undo their terrible deeds. I pray that I would wish the best for everyone, which includes wishing that those that would try to harm others would find that helping others is a much better way to live. I pray that I would realize that for myself, and in doing so I would destroy all the enemies I have because all the enemies in my heart would be gone, and only people would be left.
I pray these powerful prayers to destroy your enemies find you well. I pray that all your enemies are thoroughly destroyed and in their place are left people just like you and me who can work to build a better and richer world.
