You should not be praying against your neighbor out of hatred for them. It would be easy for our anger to become unrighteous and to cause us to sin. This is why the apostle Paul tells us to “Be angry and do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). However, in the situation in which we can pray against our enemies, we should make sure that our hearts are in a godly place.Įven when someone else has sinned against us, we can still be sinful in our response. This should be the rule for our prayer life. He told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). Remember the words of Jesus in this situation because they are very important. It is not our responsibility to take vengeance on our enemies (Romans 12:19). The Christian life should be marked by love and grace. The fruit includes love, patience, and kindness. This is evident in the “fruit of the Spirit” that you see in Galatians 5:22-23. Because of the mercy and grace and God toward us, it should be easy for our first response to also be mercy and grace toward others. So, what should our first response be? Grace. Our first response should not usually be anger or wishing destruction. For this reason alone, these prayers should not be very common in our prayer life.
Outside of this, there are few situations that I can find in scripture where imprecatory prayers are prayed. He even says that he warned them for 2 years with tears (Acts 20:31). Scripture constantly points to the importance of the gospel and holding to the message that has been passed down.įor example, Paul’s address to the elders that the Ephesian church includes him begging them not to fall victim to savage wolves who would come and lure the disciples away. The gospel is very important and many people will attempt to change it to meet their own needs and desires. We know that the gospel is of first importance and is the power of God to save (1 Corinthians 14, Romans 1:6).
We also see Paul pray against and curse those who threaten the gospel of Christ. Especially remembering that David was the King of Israel who were the people of God. We see David frequently praying imprecatory prayers when his life is being threatened or the people of God were being threatened. It would be wise for us to not go beyond those situations because of the difficulty of this subject. There are only some times in scripture when people pray against their enemies. The question that needs to be asked next is what times are appropriate to pray against our enemies? When should I pray against my enemies? It is not necessarily wrong are asking God that he would bring judgment or wrath. So, we do see that there are times when we should (or at least can) pray against our enemies. For example, he asks God to “pour out your wrath on nations that don’t acknowledge you” (Psalm 79:6). The great King David wrote many imprecatory prayers which are canonized in the Psalms. For example, the apostle Paul says of anyone who preaches a distorted gospel, “a curse be on them!” (Galatians 1:9). For God to judge them is not an injustice.įor this reason, there are times when our heroes of the faith would pray against their enemies. It’s important to recognize that when we are asking for the Lord to judge our enemies, we are not asking God to be unjust. There are times when we should pray against our enemies or even to wish that justice would be done. So, when should I pray against my enemies? What are the appropriate times and ways to do that? And what prayer examples do we have from the Bible? These are a few questions I want to find answers to here. He was telling us to pray for their deliverance. When Jesus told us to “pray for your enemies”, he seemingly did not mean that we should pray for their destruction (Matthew 5:44). We do have to also consider the Bible’s teaching on love and patience toward our enemies. Imprecatory prayers are prayers for divine justice or punishment to come for someone who is practicing evil. We do see numerous biblical examples of what are called ‘imprecatory’ prayers. You cannot pray against your enemies out of hatred. This type of prayer should not be common and should always be prayed with godly intentions and a godly heart. That’s what I want to look into today.Ĭan I pray against my enemies? The Bible does allow prayers against our enemies but only at very specific times. While we might really want to pray for their destruction, we wonder exactly what the Bible says about that. There are people who are clear enemies of the church and of righteousness.
In a broken and sinful world, we are bound to be wronged.
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