“When I pray for people who are hard to love, it becomes hard not to love them!”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – November 6, 2026
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me… But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:11, 44, NASB
You are falsely accused. Insulted. Lied about. How will you respond? In your flesh or in the power of the Holy Spirit? Every fleshly fiber in you screams for justice, while the gentle Holy Spirit nudges you to yield. Yield to prayer. Yield to love. Yield to forgiveness. This is the prescription for overcoming angry pride that Jesus modeled and taught: love and pray for your enemies, and forgive them, for “they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
A few years ago, I asked an elderly monk, Brother Marcellus, “How can I grow in humility and love in my walk with Jesus Christ?” He answered, “Boyd, whenever you are hurt or offended, the time it takes you to thank God and forgive reveals how close your walk is with Christ.” He held up his two bony index fingers six inches apart and slowly moved them together. “Some carry a lifetime of unforgiveness and die in bitterness. For others, it takes years; for others, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, or seconds; and for those whose walk is closest to Christ, their forgiveness and thanksgiving are simultaneous with the offense.” I was breathless. I asked my heavenly Father to remove any unforgiveness lingering in my heart. I felt truly free!
When I don’t take time to pray for others, my focus narrows to their imperfections. Prayer helps me cross the bridge from annoyance to love. I often catch myself thinking poorly of someone, even getting angry at their insensitivity. But when I start to pray for them, the anger and annoyance begin to melt away. When I pray for people who are hard to love, it becomes hard not to love them!
Whom do you find difficult to love? Replace judging with loving. Maybe he’s stuck in a destructive cycle of hurt stemming from childhood trauma. Maybe she feels desperate, misunderstood, and unloved, so she acts out in ways that drive others away. As Henri Nouwen wrote: “To die to our neighbors means to stop judging them, to stop evaluating them, and thus to become free to be compassionate. Compassion can never coexist with judgment because judgment creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other.”
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (Ephesians 1:17-18, NIV).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me pray for this hard-to-love friend, so our hearts will turn to You in faith and love, through Christ and in His name I pray, amen.
Application
Who do I need to stop judging and start praying for and loving?
Related Reading
Luke 6:27-28; Romans 1:8-10; Philippians 1:9; Colossians 1:9
Worship Resource
Ellie Holcomb: May the Words
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