“Love Your Enemies”
To begin with, we need to act in loving ways toward our enemies, even when our feelings are otherwise. In time, if our efforts are genuine, our feelings will come along (see Brent L. Top, Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet, pp. 105-7).
All the while, however, even as were are praying for our enemies, we need to be praying for ourselves—that our hearts may be purified of anger or bitterness or hatred. In time the Holy Spirit will transform our lives, our vision, our perspective, our understanding of things as they really are.
Enos is an excellent example of what must happen if we are to pray with fervor for our enemies. We must wrestle with God in prayer, obtain a remission of our sins, be born again in regard to things of the Spirit, and gain confidence with the Almighty. Then our prayers begin to reach beyond our thoughts, and our circle of concern expands and broadens to include those who had previously held little place in either our thoughts or our prayers.