Prayer for an Enemy

O God, I come before Thee with a heart heavy and conflicted. There is one who has wounded me, who stands against me, and I confess that bitterness has taken root where love should grow. Yet Thy Word calls me to a higher way, and I feel the stirring of Thy Spirit even now. I ask Thee to soften my heart toward this person. Help me to see them not merely as my adversary, but as one whom Thou lovest and for whom Christ died. Remove the desire for vengeance from my soul; replace it with compassion I cannot manufacture on my own. Give me eyes to see their pain, their brokenness, the wounds that may have driven them to wound me. I choose, by Thy grace, to pray for their good rather than their harm. Bless them, Lord. Guide them toward repentance if they have sinned, and toward healing of whatever broken places exist within them. Help me to speak truth without cruelty, to hold firm boundaries without hatred. Most of all, free me. Free me from the chains of unforgiveness that bind me far more than they bind my enemy. Transform this enmity into something redemptive—perhaps not friendship, but at least the release of my grievance into Thy hands. Give me the grace to love as Thou lovest, without demanding that they first deserve it. In Jesus' name, Amen.