on the walk

I was a guest in a small rural church on Sunday. It was a service very different from what I normally experience. I disagree with some of the theology that was practiced and taught. Nevertheless, Christ was proclaimed as Lord and Savior and I was glad to be there. They handled the recent celebration of a national holiday with care and restraint. In the pastoral prayer, we were directed to God and to place our trust and allegiance in the King and in no other kingdom.

I began to ponder how to pray, when the pastoral pray turned to pray for “our soldiers.” The pastor had not met us before the service. It was certainly a reasonable assumption that his “our” included us. My problem wasn’t that he assumed we would agree on who “our” was. My problem was that as he prayed for our soldiers safety, I heard Jesus tell me to pray for my enemies.

I confess, that I cannot even fully figure out who my enemies are. I know that it is not necessary that I declare as my enemy everyone that my government names as an enemy. But surely some of the forces against which “our” troops are fighting are in fact groups that are committed to the destruction of the nation to which I belong. So they are more or less my enemies.

In that case how do I pray for them. I cannot pray that they will be successful. I do not support their aims and more importantly, I do not believe that God does either. However I cannot pray for their death. In this case in particular I can pretty safely assume that most of the people in this battle are far from God and since my desire like God’s is for the salvation of many, how can I hope for the death of those living in rebellion against the purposes of God. Do I pray for battles in which no one dies?

I have more thoughts on this, but I am eager for yours.

In a time of war, how do Christians pray?

on the walk

-Ethan

Trackback URI | Comments RSS