Chosen Portion
All prayers

Theme

Hate Prayer

A short, Scripture-shaped theme prayer for an ordinary moment of Christian faith.

Read the prayer

The prayer

A prayer to pray now

Father, Your Word says that anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life. That is not an exaggeration. Hate is the seed. Murder is the fruit. The root is the same.

Father, some of the people I have hated never saw it on the outside. It stayed in the private rehearsal in my head, where I planned what they deserved. That rehearsal is not innocent. It corrodes me and dishonors them.

Cure the hate in me. Replace it with the harder kind of love that wills the good of the enemy, without pretending everything is fine and without letting go of truth. I do not have to feel warmly toward them. But I do have to stop keeping them as targets in my inner life.

Move them out of that target. Help me see them again as human beings made in Your image. And where my hate has cut me off from the life You offer, draw me back by Your mercy.

Amen.

How to pray it

  1. Read it slowly. Move through this prayer one line at a time, out loud if you can, letting each phrase land before the next.
  2. Make it personal. Pause where a line meets your day and name the person, fear, or hope it touches before God.
  3. Carry it with you. Keep one sentence with you — on your phone or in your pocket — and return to it when the day gets loud.

Verses to pray

Pray these slowly, one line at a time. Scripture quoted from a public-domain translation.

  1. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
    1 John 3:15
  2. If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
    1 John 4:20

Questions about this prayer

When should I pray hate prayer?

Pray it whenever the words fit your moment — at the start of the day, in a hard stretch, or when you simply want to turn toward God.

Which Bible verses anchor this prayer?

This prayer is anchored in 1 John 3:15, 1 John 4:20. The "Verses to pray" section above quotes them in full.

Can I save or share this prayer?

Yes. Use the Copy prayer button to copy the words, or open the Chosen Portion app to keep a daily prayer, devotional, and Scripture with you.