Praying For Others

"I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints," Ephesians 1:16-18

Lately, I have been reading Piercing the Darkness. I read it a few years ago and saw it recently when I was looking for something. I thought I would read it after I finished another book I was reading. Well, I ultimately put aside the other book. Unfortunately, I had already seen the movie so I was having trouble reading the book. Always read the book first!

Anyway, one of the keys of this book is the impact on the spirit world because of the prayers of Christians. It made me realize how much I need to pray more and when I pray to pray for more than just the surface stuff. I realized that I needed to pray for my spiritual needs and condition more. I also realized that I needed to pray for others and to pray about the spiritual aspects, good and bad, for these people.

Sometimes it is easy to just go through the list of needs that I have and others have and forget about listening to the Spirit and praying accordingly. I feel challenged to make sure that my prayers are focused on things of the Spirit and praying more for others. If I prayed for others more like the verses above I am sure that they would impact the spiritual lives of those that I prayed for.

Even In the Little Things

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

This verse is quoted over and over again when we are making major decisions in our lives. We are told to not be anxious and take it to God. When we have fears or anxieties we are once again reminded to not be and take it to Him. That is good, and hard to do, but truly it will bring the peace that surpasses all our understanding.

Today I have a “small” anxiety. I honestly and struggling with what to do about a situation. Nothing major, nothing earth shattering, but still important. I clicked on my verse of the day and Philippians 4:6-7 came up. I had to smile because it is the answer. Will I still have to deal with making a choice and how to share the choice without offending? Yes. But I know I can take it to God in prayer and even though I have to have a possibly hard conversation discussion, He will give me His peace.

I need to keep this verse in mind, not just when there is a major decision or fear, but even in the everyday decision. He is there to hear my request and He is waiting to give me His peace.

The Sin of Others

(Ezra) "saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today." Ezra 9:6-7

Ezra has just been informed that the people have allowed their daughters and sons to intermarry with the people of the land. This was forbidden and he is upset about it. He rips his clothes and pulls out his hair and beard. Then he prays the prayer above. The prayer goes beyond these verses, but I thought these two were enough.

Ezra, takes on the sin of others. He heaps himself in with the people who actually sinned, but he didn't do this. He never married someone outside of his people. His sons and daughters didn't intermarry with them. Yet he takes on the sin. Read through the Old Testament and you'll see that one man's sin affects the whole, so Ezra's response is not unusual.

In our day in age it is. Why? Well we don't have to take on the sin of anyone else because Jesus did that for us. So we do not need to rip our clothes and pull out our hair when someone else sins. What I did think while I read this passage was that his response of their-sin-is-mine-sin meant he understood the idea that His people are connected.

Once again, we do not need to take on anyone else's sin, but we tend to respond to the sin of our brothers and sisters with reproach, haughtiness, and condescending. We feel it is our place to condemn, punish, shun. The Scripture clearly tells us how to deal with sin in others and it is done in love. So what if instead we actually did responded with love. Not acceptance of the sin, but love on the person with understanding that we all sin. Love on the person with help, what ever kind God directs us to give them. Love on the person with uplifting in prayer that God will gently convict and correct them. Love on them with help as they go through repentance. Love on them with understanding that there are consequences and they may be hard, but necessary. Just love on them.

I wonder what the Church would be like if we did that.