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Could you pray for ISIS?

As I write this post the US have started to launch air strikes in Iraq in an attempt to stop the advance of the radical Islamic group The Islamic State (previously known as ISIS). These strikes are in response to what can only be described as the horrifying acts committed by the group in Northern Syria and Iraq. Reports of mass murders, crucifying, beheading children etc continue to flood the internet often published by the group themselves in an attempt to spread terror.

A good friend of mine recently asked me what difference my commitment to be a peacemaker made to my life; a fair question to ask a middle class white boy who lives in safety day in day out. One answer is my prayer life.

Increasingly the group have been accused of attempting genocide due to their attempt to exterminate minority groups in the area including Yazidis and Christians. Seeing the terror inflicted on my brothers and sisters in Iraq causes me deep distress. The largest Christian town in Iraq fell to the soldiers this week and the stories of previous towns that had been taken leaves no room for optimism for those captured.

The soldiers of ISIS have committed acts of complete atrocity towards my family

And yet I am told to bless, love and pray for them.

A good friend of mine recently asked me what difference my commitment to be a peacemaker made to my life; a fair question to ask a middle class white boy who lives in safety day in day out. One answer is my prayer life.

Matthew 5 tells me that to follow the example of my God I must love ISIS, and indeed to pray for them. And so this morning as I cried out for the Prince of Peace to establish his kingdom in the Middle East I prayed for ISIS.

• I prayed that they would hear the gospel.
• I prayed that they would come to know the Prince of Peace.
• I prayed that they would not die by air strikes but that they would live.
• I prayed that I would come to love them as I love my closest friends.
• I prayed that I would mourn their deaths.

I’m convinced that the God of the Cross mourns the death of each and every member of ISIS, even the most violent and so should we.