"...Pray for those who persecute you..."

The past couple weeks my prayers have been consumed with one man in particular. He is a close family friend who is battling cancer...

I hate cancer more than anything, and I know that is silly to say because no one likes cancer; however, the effect it has had on my life turned my world upside down.

...anywho, this man's parents have been best friends with my parents for years, so together they have walked through this battling process. I have known his parents for years, yet I have never met this man.

Two januarys ago I was challenged to do 3 things throughout the year of 2009: Encourage one person often, mentor one person consistantly, and pray for one person daily. The idea was to think of one person for each catagory that maybe wasn't a part of my every day life, in hopes that it would get me out of my comfort zone.

I adopted Tony as the one person I would pray for daily. Because I had never met Tony, I would sometimes find myself frustrated because I didn't know what effect, if any, my prayer had on his life.

Eventually, I grew to love this man. I began to believe in him, and I began to be so interested in how his life was, how his battle was, how his family was, what i could be praying for... these things became important to me... and i had never even met him.

So, Here is what I wonder:

what would happen if we created a love movement by praying for people daily? People who we don't know. People we grew up with. People we love. People we don't love. Our best friends. Our enemies. Our teachers. Our nation. Our government. People who torment us. People who persecute us. People who speak life over us. People who speak lies about us. People who have encouraged us. People who have hurt us.

How will we react when we finally discover that the power of prayer overrides the power of depression, sickness, bitterness, hatred, and anger...?

What would the movement look like?