Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Do You Really Have To Pray For People You Don't Like?

My Utmost For His Highest
 
…men always ought to pray and not lose heart. —Luke 18:1
 
“You cannot truly intercede through prayer if you do not believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will simply be turning intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will serve only to increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch with God. True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward that person or circumstance. Intercession means to “fill up…[with] what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24), and this is precisely why there are so few intercessors[…] Our work is to be in such close contact with God that we may have His mind about everything, but we shirk that responsibility by substituting doing for interceding. […] What we must avoid in intercession is praying for someone to be simply “patched up.” We must pray that person completely through into contact with the very life of God. Think of the number of people God has brought across our path, only to see us drop them!”  CHAMBERS
 
Praying for people.  Who are you willing to pray for?  Not just the people you care about.  Not just the people you feel sorry for or compassion towards, but those people who treat you poorly, those people you really don’t like.  Jesus said, (Matthew 5:44) “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”  Ok so let’s say you do pray for them because Jesus said to.  In a way it’s like your parents telling you to say you are sorry for hitting your brother or sister.  You say it, after some coaxing, but you don’t mean it. 
 
Have you ever prayed for someone but with no real expectation that God will do anything or perhaps a hope that He won’t?  You don’t have to answer that.  (Luke 6:32-36) “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” 
 
There is no way that you will fulfill the scripture on your own.  If Jesus says do something, his command is founded in faith not in works.  He is not saying “Do the very best you can to treat those people better.”  He is saying “In your weakness, my strength is made perfect..  You can do all things through Me.”  You cannot obey God apart from faith and the power of the Spirit.  (Zechariah 4:6) “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.” So are you supposed to pray for those people with the hope that God will answer? Yes, but your heart and Spirit must be right, first.  ELGIN

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