Wounded Intercession: Turn Pain into Prayer

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (Rom. 12:14).The apostle Paul gave that instruction with an authenticity born of personal experience. He had once stood by, a persecutor himself, nodding approval as Stephen was executed—stones pounding the life out of a faithful follower of Jesus. Stephen cried out in his final moments, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60), a dying prayer that mirrored the heart of Jesus, who on the cross said, “Father, forgive them” (Luk