Prayer of the Day

Lord, You told me to pray for my enemies. I want to be honest with You: I don't want to.

There are names in my heart right now — people who hurt me, people who lied about me, people who took something from me and never looked back. My instinct is to rehearse the wrong, not to pray for the one who did it.

But You said: love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Pray for them which despitefully use you. You didn't say it from a safe distance, either. You said it, and then You prayed for the men holding the nails.

So here I am, doing the hardest kind of obedience.

Bless them, Lord. I say it through gritted teeth today; maybe someday I'll mean it more. Meet them where they are. Deal with them — not as I would, but as You dealt with me: with truth, and with mercy. If there is wrong in them, turn them from it. If there is pain behind their cruelty, heal it.

And work on me while You're at it. Take this bitterness before it takes me. I'm not asking You to call what happened okay — You never do. I'm asking You to carry the debt so I can put it down.

Keep me praying for them until the prayer changes me.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Lord, give me sleep tonight — real rest, the kind You designed my body to need and my heart to receive.

Slow my breathing. Loosen my shoulders. Take the day's noise out of my ears.

You give sleep to those You love, so I'll stop trying to earn it and simply receive it.

Watch over me until morning.

In Jesus' name, Amen.