Why (on earth) would I pray for my enemies?

I'm sure you're thinking, "Oh I've got a prayer for my enemy alright..." I'll let you go ahead and finish that statement. But I heard a pastor say, one Sunday, "who is at the top of your prayer list? ...Is it you?"

It got me to thinking: Wow, I'm sure most of us would admit that we are at the top of our own prayer list; meanwhile another group of us might not admit it, but if we think back to the things we pray about the most--well we are the benefactor of those things.

So then that thought led me to ponder 'what would it be like if our enemy was at the top of our prayer list'. Immediately I whispered to myself, I'm sure our enemies are somehow already at the top of the list because we are probably praying they get "got" by God or some type of retaliation for what they've 'done to us'. Sadly, this isn't what God was referring to when He challenged us to...

"...I say love your enemies, pray for them that persecute you..." Matthew 5:44

How in the world do I pray for someone who is not only being unloving towards me, but who is plotting against and setting up for my demise? Keep in mind, some enemies are simply people who aren't blatantly accusing or attacking us but may silently drawing us to do evil, or even is unknowingly doing things that directly affect us in a negative manner.

So we pray for them by asking God and His angels to come against their plans...

"Pull me from the trap my enemies set for me, for I find protection in you alone." ~Ps. 31:4

After all the battle isn't against them, its a mirage to distract us from the real enemy- Satan who is after our lives.

"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies (human opponents), but against evil rulers" ~Eph. 6:12

So this frees us up to pray that our 'enemies' would be silenced. We can pray that they be shown the love of God through us. We might pray that God would restore the fellowship or broken/bruised relationship for His glory. We can even pray that our enemy would come to know Him as their Savior.

What's the point though? If I don't feel like doing this to begin with, why do it? To activate the nature Christ has placed in us that causes us to be/act just like Him. To achieve the highest level of holiness and perfection (maturity).