Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Grace to you and peace from God, who has called you into being and called you by name. May you be ever aware of His great love for you.

Jesus calls his disciples to bless others—and not just our friends, family, and other disciples. Jesus calls us to bless our enemies, even those who are actively persecuting us:

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you …
— Matthew 5:44

That command is echoed in Paul’s description of our new life lived in view of God’s mercy:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
— Romans 12:14

A little over a year ago, we considered Romans 12:14 and asked, “How can we bless our enemies?” One way to bless our enemies is to pray a blessing upon them. God’s blessing of Abraham as recorded in Genesis 12 provides a great place to start when thinking about blessing others:

Now the LORD said to Abram,
“Go from your country, And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you into a great nation,
And I will bless you, And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
— Genesis 12:1-3

And in that blessing, we see that God’s blessing includes:

• place — a physical location, a sense of purpose
• provision — given land, become a nation, blessing (goods)
• presence — God promised to guide
• participation — Abraham will be a blessing to others (and the whole earth)
• protection — God will note and respond to those who interact with Abram

So, one way to bless our enemies is to pray that God will give them place (knowing where they truly belong in the world), provision (all they need to live a fulfilled life), presence (an increasing awareness that God is near), participation (a growing desire to participate in the Kingdom of God), and protection (that God will keep them from all harm—now and into the ages).

If we can pray that for our enemies, we can surely pray that for our brothers and sisters in Christ and the church into which he has cal