I bought a t-shirt in the men’s section at Wal-Mart last week. A t-shirt for me.

Not something I normally do. But as I cut through the men’s section on my way to the other side of the store, I passed a rack of t-shirts with scriptures on them. The shirt hanging on the end stopped me.

The graphic design displayed No Weapon Formed Against Me Will Prosper.

My heart felt a physical tug as I read it. That scripture, those words, are words that have been close to my prayer life for a long time but especially over the last couple of years. I grabbed the men’s tee from the rack and threw it in the cart.

The next day I put on that shirt almost like a breastplate of armor as I headed out the door. Stylish? No. But I felt like I had put on God’s word that day and displayed it proudly as I walked through town. It was displaying the words my heart had been praying and some days crying for over a year.

Arrows and weapons come against us in all forms in this life. Mine came as words, both hurtful and untrue, fired at me from people who I had thought were friends. That’s the worst kind of arrow. And they not only fired the arrows at me, they took those words and fired them into the circles around me as if to poison me and my name.

It was tempting to pick up the arrows and fire them back. And I admit I did that for a while. Hurt and anger will make you do things that you know you shouldn’t. But at times it feels like you are fighting alone and throwing the poison back seems like the only way to fight back and try to make people see that those weapons formed against you are wrong, and unjust.

Romans 8:31 tells us ” If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?”

Isaiah 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

It took me a hot minute to go from the point of picking up arrows and throwing them back to taking up God’s word and putting it on like an armor. But through my prayers, I grasped onto No Weapon Formed Against Me Will Prosper. That, to me, shifted my focus. It no long was about me and how I felt. The hurt turned to a confident hope in God’s word that He would fight my battles. It wasn’t for me to “set things right” to try to correct all of the untruths that were said about me. God would take care of all of that and those who were doing the wrong.

And then in the midst of my hurt, God spoke to my heart and said “Pray for them.” Excuse me?

Them? Um… what are my other options?

But His spirit reminded me, if God is for us, who can be against us? It is God who justifies…not me.

So that day I added those people to my prayer list and each night I called them by name. They have no idea. They pass me in the grocery store, even in the church and never know that for over a year I have been calling them by name during my prayer time.

I may never see the results of what God does with those prayers in the other’s lives. But I have already seen what He has done with those prayers in my life. He has taken my obedience, rather reluctant obedience in the beginning, and given me the greatest gift. Peace.

No longer do I have the anxious thoughts of trying to “get back” at anyone. The plotting to set things right and reveal others for “who they really are”. Not my job. Those verses in Romans and Isaiah tell me that. It is God who justifies.

God has given us the gift of His word. A Bible filled with the instructions, support, guidance that we need. We can’t do this life alone. We can’t fight every battle. I don’t know where I would be without God’s faithfulness and His word to get me through. And I can only pray that God is taking the prayers for my “enemies” and turning them into blessings and conviction for a change in their lives too.

So if you see me in town with a men’s tee on, take a closer look. I’m a walking billboard for God’s faithfulness.