If I say their names, you will immediately resonate with them as “enemies.”  And if there is anybody who needs Jesus, it is them.  They are famous for protesting at funerals, against homosexuals, and against, well…anything.  They love the media attention.  I won’t even mention their names here so web crawlers don’t pick up any unjust press.  They are truly difficult to even think about loving, nonetheless praying for them (they plan to protest at Joplin tomorrow which is hard to think about).  But even they are precious to Jesus.  In fact, they are some of the most lost people I’ve ever known.

So tonight my mom requested we pray for them.  Has there ever been a more fitting way to obey this Scripture above?  We prayed for their lives, their repentance, their salvation.  Can there be any greater healing than that?  If they were to die today, I am no righteous judge but I at present do not anticipate seeing them as neighbors in heaven.  This has to break the heart of God as Father, yet their actions must anger him as Judge.  What if this man were your son?  Seriously, what if this grown man were your precious, yet seriously lost son?

“Pray for your enemies,” says Jesus.

So God, I pray that you heal their minds and hearts.  It happened with the child-murderer Manasseh that he changed and that surely seemed impossible (2 Chr 33).  If he can repent, cannot this family?