Summary: Jesus Christ often did the unexpected, and so we as His followers should do the same. When the world is dark and we are feeling persecuted by others, the natural response is to hate or hit back and want them to be destroyed. The Old Testament is full of stories like that. But Jesus said something different. He said, “I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” How apparently ridiculous is that? Jesus knew that if we pray for those who hate us in his name, we will see them as real people. Hurting people. Scared people. People in need of Jesus’ love and salvation. Even if they want to do us harm, we need to pray that they find the love of Christ. That love will change their lives and attitudes. The history of the Christian faith is filled with those faithful believers who prayed for those who enslaved them. For example, in the 1940s, Walter Ciszek spent fifteen years in prison in the Soviet Union for doing secret missionary work. He said, “I learned to pray for my interrogators, not so they would see things my way or come to the truth so that my ordeal would end, but because they, too, were created by God, and human beings in need of His blessing and His daily grace.” This is the attitude that will give us power and love for those who want to harm us, and this is how we will change this world for Christ. This is Luis Palau.
