Praying for my enemies

We started doing a Bible Study with some friends last night. It was nice. We are using the Discovery method. We thought the book of Philippians would be a good place to begin - because it's about joy and stuff.

Right away I was struck by verses 3-5:

I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, ⁴ always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

It made me think about how - here was Paul, in prison, going through all these hardships, and yet he could pray with joy for others. For some reason I started thinking of the places where Jesus says we are to 'love our enemies and pray for those who mistreat us'... Gah!

Oh, I think it is right on. Jesus is correct. He is The Way, after all. So, when I woke up around 4:30 this morning I decided I was going to try praying for my enemies. I can remember preaching about how this was one of the best ways to get over being mad at someone. I tried... I did. But the truth is... I just couldn't do it. Ugh. My heart is hard, and I am still so bitter.

My prayer today will be asking God to do for me as he said in Ezekiel 36:26:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Help me, Lord.