…praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit… —Ephesians 6:18
“As we continue on in our
intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding
is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought. The
danger in this is that we begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was
gradually lifting up to a totally different level in direct answer to our
prayers. Whenever we step back from our close identification with God’s
interest and concern for others and step into having emotional sympathy with
them, the vital connection with God is gone. We have then put our sympathy and
concern for them in the way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God. […] It is sympathy with ourselves or with others
that makes us say, “I will not allow that thing to happen.” And instantly we
are out of that vital connection with God. […]
God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to
intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with them.” CHAMBERS
Why does anything unpleasant happen
to anyone? I can think of a number of
reasons. My list is nowise complete. 1. We
were born into a fallen world, where sickness, death, heartache, brokenness, and
loss are part of the life experience. So
we, who are from the dust of this earth, are subject to those things happening
to us. All of us .. even
Christians. 2. There are consequences to
our actions. Poor decisions result in
poor outcomes. Sin can and will lead to
unpleasant things happening in our lives.
Irresponsible actions lead to undesirable consequences. 3. God has
specifically allowed something in our lives to cause us to look to Him and to change
the way we are living and doing. To pray
for someone .. even yourself, in the right way, is a spiritual act not a sympathetic
one. In other words, we want what is best for that person spiritually not just
for them to find relief from their calamity in the physical or emotional
sense. Well, don’t we?
Do you see a person’s
spiritual condition as important? As most
important? We need spiritual discernment to know how to pray for someone. To pray that someone be relieved of the
financial problem they face which is a consequence of their decisions, when
they have no intention of dealing with the reason they have the financial
problem, well it’s problematic. Our prayer
would do nothing for the problem but is only intended to bring relief from the
consequence. The person’s heart needs to be changed. They must repent and trust God. Which one is easier for you to pray for your
children? To pray that God would help
them out of their financial problem or pray that God would turn their hearts
toward Him. If someone has fallen ill or
a family has lost a loved one through death. How do you pray? Certainly for comfort and strength. That they
would turn their hearts toward God and not shake their fists at Him. And if
they are not Christians, then that they would put their hope in God and not
struggle with the loss by trusting to their own strength. That requires spiritual discernment. We are to show the world Jesus. Jesus came to
point mankind to God. To set eternal things
right. When the disciples asked Jesus to
teach them to pray, what did He tell them.
Focus on the Father and who He is.
Ask Him to provide what we need.
Not for God to underwrite our solutions to the problems we face. Think about how you pray for others. How you pray for yourself. ELGIN
Charley Elgin
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