Stephen's Final Prayer

The stones were flying, and Stephen was dying. Each rock that struck his body sent waves of agony through him, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the heartbreak of being murdered by the very people he'd tried to reach with God's love. These weren't strangers attacking him. They were religious leaders, people who claimed to serve the same God Stephen worshipped.

As Stephen felt his strength leaving him, his knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground. Blood ran down his face, his vision blurred, and he knew these were his final moments on earth. In that place of unimaginable pain and betrayal, Stephen did something that defies every human instinct: he prayed for the people who were killing him.

"Lord, do not hold this sin against them," he gasped with his dying breath. Not a curse, not a plea for revenge, not even a cry for his own rescue. Instead, Stephen used his last words to ask God to forgive his murderers.

I can hardly wrap my mind around that kind of love. I'll be honest: I sometimes struggle to keep my thoughts kind. When someone hurts my feelings with careless words, forgiveness doesn't always come easily. But Stephen, while being brutally murdered, prayed for the very people destroying him.

Are you facing your own betrayal right now? Perhaps someone you trusted has wounded you deeply, or people you love have turned against you in ways that feel devastating. Maybe you're struggling to forgive someone whose actions have torn your world apart, and the idea of praying for them feels impossible, even offensive.

Stephen's final prayer doesn't minimize the reality of deep wounds or suggest that forgiveness should come easily. But it shows us something powerful about what happens when we choose to pray for those who hurt us instead of plotting against them. When we ask God to bless those who have cursed us, something supernatural occurs—not just in them, but in us.

One of those watching Stephen die was a young man named Saul, who would later become the apostle Paul. Stephen's prayer for his enemies planted a seed that would eventually transform the greatest persecutor of Christians into the greatest missionary the world has ever known. Stephen never lived to see it, but his dying prayer helped change the course of history.

Your prayers for difficult people have power you may never see this side of heaven. When you choose to bless instead of curse, to intercede instead of seek revenge, you're participating in the kind of love that transforms hearts and changes everything.

Will you pray with me?

Lord, help me pray for those who have hurt me, even when every part of me wants to stay angry. Give me Stephen's heart to see beyond my pain to their need for Your grace. Amen.

Reflection Questions:

1. Who in your life feels impossible to pray for because of how they've hurt you?
2. How does Stephen's example challenge your natural response to those who wound you?
3. What might God want to do through your prayers for difficult people, even if you never see the results?