How many of us spend time praying against our enemies? Many of us, I imagine, and so we have been taught by the Pentecostal movement. This prayer focus on enemies energizes our prayers. When it is time to pray for righteousness and holiness, people whisper. But when it is time to pray for the enemies’ destruction, we shout and stamp our feet. The thought that you can forget your enemies is therefore scandalous, as far as you can see.
Naturally, pastors, enjoying the energy that enemies bring to their congregations put their prayer emphasis on the enemy. It does not matter to them that they sometimes have to manufacture such enemies. As long as people are energized, pastors are glad. This is a pity really because our God is greater than all enemies put together. And without fear of controversy, we here declare that you can forget your enemies from today on.
Observe that that last sentence contains an acknowledgment that we have enemies. The moment you put your hand up to become a follower of Jesus, the devil marked you. In hell, you are a marked man. Satan and his cohorts will do all in their power to steal, kill and destroy what God has given you. So, don’t hear me saying that we don’t have enemies. Indeed, the more fervently you serve God, the more and fiercer your enemies become.
Please God To Forget Your Enemies
This immediately gives you two options; spend all your life fighting against increasing enemies. Or forget your enemies and focus on pleasing God. I counsel you to choose the second option. Do you suppose Enoch, the one who walked with God and did not taste death, had no enemies? He must have had some since the devil was there right from the beginning. But God causes your enemies to be at peace with you if your ways please God, as we see in Proverbs 16.7.
Unfortunately, deep down in our hearts, we know that our ways do not please God. We try to do a walk around by praying against enemies. Rather than that, you should focus on pleasing God and simply forget your enemies. Only today as I read the account of the mad man of Gadara, I realized the uselessness of fighting. The man had so many demons that two thousand pigs died from his demons! How are you going to chase so many?
And I think that is what Enoch knew that he chose to ignore the devil and focused on pleasing God. He pleased God so much that he escaped death. What’s stopping us from being like Enoch? Mostly our pastors. They are the reason you cannot forget your enemies because they keep bringing them up. In their attempt to make their church exclusive, they urge you to pray until you sweat.
Look at us, they like to claim, we pray harder than say the mainline churches. They do not let you consider that the mainline churches might have an inside track. We start to believe we are closer to God than they are even when we see that God seems to be blessing them.
When Your Obedience Is Complete
Perhaps more than He is blessing us. I actually once heard a forceful prayer warrior wondering why God seemed to favor nonchalant prayers. Why indeed? Could it be due to this morbid focus on the enemy that permeates the Pentecostal movement? Those churches you despise might know more about pleasing God. They consequently do not need to sweat in the place of prayer.
Remember, Jesus prayed all the time but the only time He sweated was at Gethsemane. He was carrying your sin and mine at that time, as you may recall. Get rid of sin and you would not need to sweat and labor in prayer. Is the time ripe to change your ways and forget your enemies? Only you will answer that for yourself but I know my own answer and it comes straight from the bible.
I firmly believe there are enemies. Oh, they are everywhere and are busy all the time. So don’t think that by asking you to forget your enemies, I am discounting them. Not at all. But the Bible shows us a stress-free strategy for getting rid of them. That’s right; when your own obedience to God is complete or fulfilled, God personally takes your enemies on.
Here is how the bible captures that concept. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
With that assurance, you no longer have to fight anything that is disobeying God’s will for your life. You can basically forget your enemies.
Maranatha!
