Your prayer request has been laid before me, and I must speak to you in all faithfulness, for the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, and it must divide even our most bitter cries so that the marrow of the Spirit may be seen. I hear the anguish beneath your words, the fear of evil tongues and secret workings, the sense of being surrounded by foes both near and far. Yet I tremble for you, my friend, because the petition you have offered is not after the mind of Christ, but is a cry for vengeance that belongs to the law and not to the gospel of grace.
Consider well: when David was hunted by Saul, he would not stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, though he held the king's life in the cave. When Shimei cursed and threw stones, David saw the hand of the Lord in it, saying, "Let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him." The Psalmist indeed cries out in Psalm 35 and 94, but these are not licenses for personal spite; they are appeals to the Judge of all the earth, who alone may wield the sword of justice. You, child of the new covenant, are called to a higher path: "Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you." To ask for plagues like Egypt and seas of blood is to forget that you yourself were once an enemy, and Christ found a ransom for you. Would you have Him pour out the vials of wrath on you when you were yet in your sins? He was gracious, and said, "Deliver him from going down to the pit." Shall you now demand the pit for others?
The Scriptures you cite are indeed inspired, but they must be handled with the spirit of Him who, when He was reviled, reviled not again. In the Old Testament, the imprecatory psalms often speak of God’s controversy with His covenant-breakers and of the coming judgment upon those who finally reject Him. But you and I live on this side of Calvary, where we hear our Master pray, "Father, forgive them." Unless a supernatural power is put forth in any deliverance, it is worth nothing; so too, any prayer that is stained with a vengeful spirit must first be brought to the blood to be purged and cleansed. Examine your heart, I beseech you: is this the prayer of one who has been forgiven ten thousand talents, yet seizes his fellow-servant by the throat for a hundred pence?
Think not that I make light of your trials. The enemy may indeed strike at you with malicious intent, neighbors, workplace, even those of your own household. But what says the Word? "The Lord has chastened me sorely: but He has not given me over to death." My enemy struck at me and he might make me fall, but, in very truth, my gracious God was using him to chasten me that I might not fall. The enemy was moved by malice, but God was working by him in love to my soul. Troubles do not spring out of the dust; the Lord Himself kindles the furnace. That which you receive from the rod bears the blessed aspect of chastening from a father’s hand, and this is a gladsome fact which makes even the sharpest smart to be profitable. Will you not then be more earnest to profit by your trial than to escape from it? Be more eager for the heavenly silver and gold than about hurrying away from the scene of conflict.
You speak of witchcraft, fetish, and magic. I do not doubt that the wicked one prowls about, and that some yield themselves to his dark arts. But remember: greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. The deliverance from all the power of the enemy is not by your imprecations, but solely by the power of God! "It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy." If you have been born again from above, you are seated with Christ in heavenly places, far above all principality and power. Do you think that a curse hurled back in the flesh can add one cubit to your safety? Nay, rather, set a bird free from a cage and it will sing; even thus, pray that those who oppose you may be set free from the snare of the devil, and they may yet be your brethren in Christ.
Perhaps you will say that they have done you real harm, sending rats and vermin to plague you. I know not the full truth of these matters, but this I know: the devil is a defeated foe. When you bow your knee, let it not be to call down fire from heaven like a son of thunder who knows not what spirit he is of, but to ask for the Spirit of meekness. Intercessory prayer is a most excellent thing, it benefits you first, for as you pray, "Lord, preserve me from this evil," you are led to examine your own heart. Prayer is the most essential thing in turning sinners from the error of their ways. Would you wish for your enemies’ destruction when God might yet grant them repentance? O my friend, I stayed at the brook Jabbok, full of fear that Esau would slay me, but when I met him, he fell on my neck and kissed me. So may it be with you. The Lord who softened an angry brother’s heart can yet make your adversaries to be at peace with you.
Let your prayer be changed, then, from a cry for vengeance to a pleading of the promises. Say, "Remember the Word unto Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope." Plead that He would deliver you from evil, that He would be a shield about you, and that He would confound the works of darkness, not by your hand, but by the brightness of His coming. If you must pray against the wickedness, then pray as the early saints did: "Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word." Ask for grace to overcome evil with good. So shall the praise of deliverance be wholly to free grace alone, and you shall walk forth as the Lord’s freeman, compassed about with songs of deliverance.
I urge you now, before the mercy seat, to renounce every bitter root. Our Lord is pleased to duplicate His mercies: the blessing itself is great, but it is an equal blessing to be made to pray for it aright. Go to your closet not with the spirit of Elijah calling for fire on the captains of fifties, but with the spirit of Stephen, who, when stoned, cried, "Lay not this sin to their charge." Trust your cause to the Judge of all; He will deal with the sorcerer and the liar in His own time. But as for you, let your only quarrel be against your own sins, your only fight the good fight of faith. If God has preserved you from the wrath to come, what is there to be afraid of? He shall preserve you from trouble; He shall compass you about with songs of deliverance. Live, then, and declare the works of the Lord, for you shall not die but live, and in living you shall see that the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hand unto iniquity.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
