7 replies to this topic

[Candice]

I wonder how many of us collective believers (not calling anyone on the carpet except my own self) pray for those we "hate"?? About once a week I pray for President Obama and other leaders whom I don't like. It's not enough for me personally to give this a side glance mention so I can know I did it. Hmmm

THE FOCUS OF PRAYER
by David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011]

Prayer is often one of the most selfish areas of a Christian’s life. When you
think about it, most of our prayers focus on our own needs. The two main
subjects of our intercession are our own spiritual growth and the needs of our
families and friends.
G
Occasionally, we may reach beyond our own narrow concerns and pray for others.
Yet usually when we say, “I’ll pray for you,” we don’t do it. Or, we
pray once and then quickly forget about their need.

Recently I have been examining my own prayer life in light of the Scriptures
and I have been convicted about the narrowness and limitations of my own
praying. Like most believers, I spend much of my prayer time seeking the Lord
about my walk with Him. I cry out to be made holy, to become like Him, to
receive guidance for life, to have His anointing on my ministry. And I enjoy
sweet communion with Him, quietly worshiping Him and being refreshed in His
presence.

I also intercede daily for my family. I ask the Lord to protect my children
from the schemes of the devil—to make my sons like oaks planted by the river
of God, to make my daughters polished stones in His palace, and to make all my
grandchildren lovers of Jesus. I pray for the concerns of our church body. I
also intercede for individuals who are in crisis and for the many missionaries
and ministries we support.

You might say, “That’s all commendable, Brother Dave. It’s comforting to
know you’re shut in with the Lord, communing with Him and praying for all
those needs.”

But according to God’s Word, sweet communion is not enough. Yes, it is the
secret to spiritual growth, and we can have no greater experience on earth. But
if we go to the throne only for our personal edification and needs, we are being
selfish. We simply cannot neglect praying seriously for the dire needs all
around us.

“Then saith he unto his disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plenteous, but the
labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send
forth labourers into His harvest’” (Matthew 9:37-38).

I wonder how many of us collective believers (not calling anyone on the carpet except my own self) pray for those we "hate"?? About once a week I pray for President Obama and other leaders whom I don't like. It's not enough for me personally to give this a side glance mention so I can know I did it. Hmmm

HE FOCUS OF PRAYER
by David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011]

Prayer is often one of the most selfish areas of a Christian’s life. When you
think about it, most of our prayers focus on our own needs. The two main
subjects of our intercession are our own spiritual growth and the needs of our
families and friends.
G
Occasionally, we may reach beyond our own narrow concerns and pray for others.
Yet usually when we say, “I’ll pray for you,” we don’t do it. Or, we
pray once and then quickly forget about their need.

Recently I have been examining my own prayer life in light of the Scriptures
and I have been convicted about the narrowness and limitations of my own
praying. Like most believers, I spend much of my prayer time seeking the Lord
about my walk with Him. I cry out to be made holy, to become like Him, to
receive guidance for life, to have His anointing on my ministry. And I enjoy
sweet communion with Him, quietly worshiping Him and being refreshed in His
presence.

I also intercede daily for my family. I ask the Lord to protect my children
from the schemes of the devil—to make my sons like oaks planted by the river
of God, to make my daughters polished stones in His palace, and to make all my
grandchildren lovers of Jesus. I pray for the concerns of our church body. I
also intercede for individuals who are in crisis and for the many missionaries
and ministries we support.

You might say, “That’s all commendable, Brother Dave. It’s comforting to
know you’re shut in with the Lord, communing with Him and praying for all
those needs.”

But according to God’s Word, sweet communion is not enough. Yes, it is the
secret to spiritual growth, and we can have no greater experience on earth. But
if we go to the throne only for our personal edification and needs, we are being
selfish. We simply cannot neglect praying seriously for the dire needs all
around us.

“Then saith he unto his disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plenteous, but the
labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send
forth labourers into His harvest’” (Matthew 9:37-38).

[Candice]

Don't know what happened to the format above!!

[Charles Miles]

Candice,

 

I have the same, or similar, difficulty but with the LOVE part.  Jesus said.."love one another even as I have loved you, love one another".  I have no difficulty praying for our government officials,or even others in the world that I think need prayer, but when it comes to loving scoundrels and crooked folkes, well, it gets tough.  Nonetheless, we are told to love them by a Father that loves us, and that is what the motivation for the prayers should be, not out of obligation.   Any thing done outside of love is about useless for us and we all know it!  You know, being a christian is not easy a lot of the time and I struggle to obey commandments more than I should have to.  I think if we stop all our thoughts about our opinions about these people and concentrate more on who we are and who they are, we see that we are all  people who God loves and are all His creation. We do not love the unlovable because of anything other than God loved us when we were in the same shape and unlovable.  If we have God`s love within us, we can`t help but let it seep out to others. Now, I said all this and I confess, it isn`t as easy as it should be for me in some cases.....that tells me where I stand in this relationship with the Father, and this is where I spend much time in study and prayer.

 

Lord help us to represent your love to others as you presented your love to us...  Thank you for your Lovingkindness and Grace given to us, sinners, who in no way deserved any of it.

 

Charlie

[Julie Daube]

Charlie, I can relate to your comments about how difficult it is to love scoundrels and evildoers (sex traffickers, brutal dictators, terrorists, and those who commit satanic ritual abuse come to mind). It's definitely something I've struggled with, especially as someone who is passionate about justice.

Many years ago I read something very controversial in a message by noted theologian John MacArthur: While there is definitely a biblical requirement to love our personal enemies, we are not necessarily under the same obligation to love God's enemies. Elsewhere, I have seen Psalm 139 used in support of this idea: "Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them as my enemies" (verses 21-22). I don't agree with everything MacArthur has said, but I think he may have been on to something here.

On the other hand, this idea gets complicated when we consider that all sinners who haven't trusted in Jesus are enemies of God.

Maybe if we understand love as a decision, rather than a feeling, it gets easier. I’ve heard it said that love is a decision to seek the best for its object (my pastor said something along those lines, but I don’t remember his exact words). We often equate love with warm, fuzzy feelings, assuming we have to like people (or feel affection for them) in order to love them. But I don’t think that’s the case.

So how would we seek the best for enemies of the gospel and those who are servants of Satan? The first thing that comes to mind is to pray for their salvation . . . that God will convict them and lead them to repentance.

I also believe that we can ask God to restrain the wicked from committing evil – and to hold them to account when they harm the innocent. In fact, in praying this way, we are demonstrating our love for the potential victims of the scoundrels we would prefer to hate.

I read the following by a Christian blogger today. He wrote this after having learned of a horrible evil that had touched the life of his friend.

“ . .. Yes, we can and should pray for God to do justice against evil, but we must also pray that in his mercy God would redeem those who do evil. Over the course of the week, my prayers about this unquestionably evil man became, ‘Oh God, restrain him from evil. Save him, send to him to jail, or strike him dead: let him do no more evil. In your mercy, please draw him to you and redeem him, restoring the many relationships he has destroyed. But protect those he has hurt, and never let him harm them again."

“It is not a perfect prayer,” he added, “but it is the best I can do at summing up the tensions that run so deep here. It is a prayer for mercy and salvation, but also a prayer for justice, and above all a prayer that evil would be ended—in whatever way God chooses.”

To read the blog post in its entirety, go here:
http://blog.chriskry...t-evil-men.html

[Charles Miles]

Yes, it can be complicated and confusing to the human mind when we try to rationalize who to love and who to hate.  Without God`s ability to see into the human heart, it is impossible, so I try, let me repeat that I TRY, to love the sinner but hate the sin. Example would be I do not hate gays, but I do hate homosexuality as a lifestyle...it is not an alternate, it is wrong!  Now, Osama Binladen...is a much harder example, but is it not the same thing?  I`m not as sure there, but God sent a man to far away Nineva long ago to give the people there a message.  He didn`t go because he hated those people and they were enemies of Israel.  They were enemies, wasn`t he supposed to hate them?  Well, Jonah got a taste of what lengths God will go to when He wishes to help even enemies of His.  I try ever so hard not to judge who is an enemy of the Lord and who is simply confused.  I can`t do it!  The easy way out for me, and I do love easy ways out...."love one another even as I have loved you, love one another".  The words here that stick in my throat are.."even as".. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...."  Even as...  "but for the joy set before Him, Christ endured the cross"...Even as..   The world hated Him, He endured a fixed trial, died a terrible death on a cross, spent 3 days tortured in hell, and rose from the dead to give me eternal life.....Even as....I simply can`t judge anyone to be a sinner against God, because I was once one of those.  But praise God, I am forgiven, and I am no longer one of those, but I remember what it was like to be ignorant of God`s love and Grace.  What if one of those people I hated today were to repent, be saved, and become a fellow child of God next week?   That would be hard to explain.

 

Lord please help me to do the things I just tried to explain,

 

Charlie

[Candice]

Julie and Charlie
I like the idea, Julie, of asking God to restrain evil. I do pray this on a personal level but not against, say, our leaders. Usually I pray for them to turn, repent and God to draw them to His Son. That seems obligatory and not out of love for my part. This is just the honest truth. It is a decision to pray as I'm commanded out of love for Christ; not really any lovely feelings towards those enemies

To be honest, I most often "feel" utter futility in praying for world leaders and the powers that be.

[Julie Daube]

Thanks for being so honest, Candice! I totally understand where you're coming from. Like I said in my previous post, love is not about feelings. It's a choice. We don't have to have "lovely feelings" or affection toward people in order to love them; we just have to be committed to seeking God's best for them (that's what my pastor said - I just remembered! He said, "Love is a commitment to seek God's best for a person" or something very close to that).

 

With evil people, seeking God's "best" for them would mean praying for them to repent and be saved. So, Candice, when you pray out of obligation for wicked leaders to repent and turn to Jesus, you really are loving them! It has nothing to do with how you feel - you have made a choice to seek God's best for them. Good for you!  

[Meema]

When I do not know what to pray, and that includes when a prayer request from someone I do not know comes via email, I pray, “Father, Thy will be done, and may You be glorified.” If I know the circumstances include someone who is not yet saved I add, “May You be seen.”

 

Of late, as we advance deeper into this reprobated age, I usually end my prayers with, “...and deliver us from evil.”

 

Scripture tells us that when we are right with God even our enemies will be at peace with us. I get that. I’ve experienced it. So, the mandate to love our enemies is, for me, more about not allowing hate to build up in my heart. Not entertaining revenge or devising retribution. It’s always an issue of choice, how we manage what goes on in our hearts, not just our heads. However, having no malice does not mean being a door mat for any psychopath who puts a target on you. Paul’s comment about the Alexander the coppersmith, (2 Timothy 4:14) Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord will render to him according to his works:  (4:15) of whom do thou also beware; for he greatly withstood our words. 

 

The old saying, let go and let God is trite but true. God has enemies and I consider God’s enemies to be a threat to me and mine. But I can trust that God has it. He knows who His enemies are. Frankly, that is a major comfort to me. I just listen, obey and trust that He will let me know when I need to be still or it’s time to pull on the full armor of Christ and stand.  

 

In an effort to deflect the inevitable challenge, “Where is your Christian compassion for the poor fellow whose mind is warped and therefore cannot be held accountable for his actions? You should pray for him”, I counter with this: I can forgive, meaning I wish no ill-will toward, and pray for someone, that he/she see the light and stop the bad behavior, and, at the same time, choose to stay far away and out of reach and therefore away from the inevitable consequence of the bad behavior. 

 

At the very core of discernment is prudence. But more harshly stated, evil does not need help from me, in any regard, neither my compassion, nor my prayers. Evil is destined for a very bad ending and that destiny was decided long before I was born. We now live in a society that prefers evil over righteousness so false-righteousness and self-righteousness is the new standard ideology. It is within this stream-of-consciousness mind-meld masquerading as good-for-goodness-sake doctrine that creates the perfect atmosphere for psychopaths of all kinds and in all areas of humanity to flourish.

 

And flourish they do. Solomon said, “...there is nothing new under the sun” and while that is true, in this late hour we deal with many old things but vastly multiplied to a nearly overwhelming reality.

 

(Isaiah 5:18) Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope; (5:19) that say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it! (5:20) Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (5:21) Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

 

For Him,

Meema