Thursday
Pray For Them, Not Against Them
I should mention that my state politicians who work in that capitol building have demonstrated that they value politically-correct social whims over the well-being of the state. It’s pretty messed up. Yeah, they need prayer.
In fact, I really appreciated the corporate prayer for my state! If we’re going to change for the better, the change will be built on a foundation of prayer. I treasure that.
So I was surprised when I realized I was uncomfortable with the prayers that afternoon. They weren’t bad prayers; they were about “Stop abortion,” stop this bad thing or that bad thing. And those are things that need to stop.
But something wasn’t settling right in my spirit for the moment. I couldn’t have told you why.
Across the lawn, there was a counter-protest going on in reaction against this good gathering. A small group of satanists showed up in protest of the Christian event, offering to “un-baptize” people while they occasionally shouted “Hail satan!” at the worshipping crowd. They caught my attention.
There was a park bench near the counter-protest. The state had put up a pretty big barrier between the two groups, so I had to walk the long way around to get there. And I sat on that bench and visited with Father, just to watch what was going on, mostly.
The satanists were sure angry. Well, some of them were. Some appeared to be high, and they looked like they might be there just for the party. It seemed that there was a deep sadness among them. In particular, the angry ones caught my attention. So I watched and listened.
Thousands of Christians, just beyond that fence, were ignoring the satanists, were worshipping their God, praying against some of the things that these people valued. I could see why they were angry, why they were protesting.
I reflected that a lot of times when I visit with atheists, the god they don’t believe in is also a god I don’t believe in: capricious, judgmental, distant, self-centered. I figure that this might be part of why the satanists are angry at the Christian gathering (and the Christian God): because they see them the same way: capricious, judgmental, distant, self-centered.
That isn’t who I know God to be, and it isn’t what these people were like when I walked among them earlier, but I can understand the concern. I’ve been around enough to get an idea of where they got those untrue ideas. I could see why they might be angry.
Yeah, if I saw things that way, I might not want to celebrate those values either. As I began to understand a little bit of what might be their concerns, I began to feel compassion for them. So I talked with Father about them (in more religious vocabulary, I began to pray for them). And I learned some things.
As Father & I talked, I became aware that I was praying for them in much different ways than the prayer & worship gathering was. While the gathering was praying much for our state and our politicians and our people, the thought that came to my mind was that these people had had enough people praying against them. What they really needed was somebody to pray for them!
So I tried to turn that corner. I’ll be honest, it was a difficult turn. I’ve had decades of experience seeing “the enemies of God” as issues, as values, not as people, certainly not as individuals. I needed help to see these people as individuals, and if I was able to, to see them as individuals that Jesus died for, that Father weeps for, that Holy Spirit is drawing to himself.
Gradually, I began to see them less as “angry satanists,” and more as lost sheep, whom the shepherd was searching for.
That changed my prayers, I can tell you.
I prayed for individuals, that big angry guy with the demonic imagery on his black vest, that servant-hearted woman who needed more clothes on, that bouncy woman (?) with pink hair down to her knees.
I began to pray for peace, specific peace: that they would ind what they were looking for, even if they didn’t know they were looking. I prayed for success in their jobs, in their schooling, in their relationships.
I could go on. Actually, I did. For kind of a while.
I understand that hell is busy these days, and the political realm is one of his favorite places to wreak “stealing, killing, destroying,” and he’s having a measure of success. I understand that Father is still seeking saints who will “stand in the gap before me for the land;” I know a number of good people paying the price for that important work. I’m thankful for them.
At the end of it all, I am feeling a need to pray for people more than praying against them. At least, that’s what I’m feeling this week.
Praying to Stop an Untrustworthy Person
I was praying recently about a man who has shown himself to be
untrustworthy and whose efforts to control the world around him have
caused a lot of harm to a lot of people. It could have been any of a
number of folks, I suppose.
“Father, stop
him!” I prayed, and as soon as I said it, I knew I’d missed his
heart.
Two things came quickly into my mind:
• The principle I’ve held for a few years that it’s easier to pray for the storm to change its path than to stop it altogether,
• The image of a man on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians getting knocked off his ass and turned from a persecutor into a preacher. “I didn’t stop him,” Father whispered.
And I realized that I need to change my prayer from “Stop him!” to “Change his path,” and even “Redeem him.”
As I considered this some more, it occurred to me that my Father is awfully good at redeeming irredeemable people, and bringing good through them who formerly brought evil.
I realized, not for the first time, that when I pray against people that Jesus died for, I’m doing it alone, not with my Father; that a much wiser path is to pray for the people and for their redemption.
I have permission to pray against their work if it’s hurting folks, but I have his presence and even his partnership as I pray for their redemption.
Addiction of the Saints
I've had my attention drawn to the fact that the American church system (and possibly most of the church in western civilization) has an addiction problem.
More specifically, I see two addiction problems.
First, I find myself seeing that the average church-goer is pretty seriously addicted to the church feeding them spiritually, wiping their noses, changing their stinky diapers; not really taking responsibility for themselves, and not really able to stand as a believer without the church and its staff and its programs propping them up.
Second, I find myself aware that - whether intentionally or unintentionally (and both are present) - the institution and leaders of the western church are encouraging and sustaining that addiction.
Sure, it's the addicts' tithes and offerings that fund the buildings, programs and salaries. But the attentive, occasionally adoring congregations are fueling leaders' insecurities and need for recognition and significance as well.
It's at this point that I see visions of Christians wanting to take responsibility for their own lives trying to leave, and running into high barriers and guards with dogs coming after them.
Like I said, this sense has been in my face for a while, and it's come out of the blue. This is leading me to ponder, to pray, and so press into Papa on behalf of the Bride.
Prayer Isn't Enough
Rethinking What God Drawing Us Actually Means
• “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will *draw* all people to myself.” [John 12:32]
I think this might change how I pray some. I might be asking Father to helkō some folks, rather than just gently persuading them.
Saturday
Testimony: The Covid “Vaccine”
A Little background:
• The Covid 19 virus is a real virus.
People are dying from it.
• But the virus is being blown way
the heck out of proportion, and most of the deaths attributed to
Covid are actually people who had the virus dying from something
else. (CDC has acknowledged it..)
• A fair number of people are scared
silly of the virus. (This is not a time for judging.)
• There are a few vaccines for the
virus. Except that they’re not vaccines, they’re “experimental
therapies.”
• A fair number of people are scared
silly of the vaccines/experimental therapies. (This is not a time for
judging.)
• The federal government and a good
number of state and local governments are working overtime to
convince us that we need to get the vaccines/experimental therapies.
(Ironically, as I’m writing this, I’m getting text and email
notifications working to persuade me to get the treatment.)
• The attempts to manipulate/convince
the public are primarily based on either bribes or threats; they are
mostly not based on logic, research, or science.
• It’s pretty well documented that
the medical community has opportunity to make a lot of money from the
government for promoting the Covid “vaccine,” for treating Covid
symptoms, for reporting Covid deaths. (NB: It’s my policy to place
a lower value on the opinions of people who are being well paid to
have and to convince me those opinions.)
• A fair number of people are scared
silly of the government’s intentions. (This is not a time for
judging.)
• The Bible is pretty clear: we don’t
actually have reason to be afraid, and in fact we are commanded to
not fear.
• A fair number of people are afraid
to trust God when our health, our life or our government is on the
line. (This is not a time for judging.)
OK. That’s the background. (Note that
I’m not interested in arguing about these points. If you feel that
urge to fuss about these, go somewhere else to do it.)
TESTIMONY. This is my own story; fair
warning: it might be long and rambling.
I’m a fairly strong, fairly healthy
adult male with a solid immune system. I’m not actually afraid of
the virus. I’ve walked with Jesus long enough to know that he’s
serious about his ability to take care of me, and I know that it’s true that
“whether I live or I die, I am the Lord’s.”
I’ve heard first hand reports from
medical professionals, from people who have taken the vaccine; I’ve
read the manufacturers’ statements about them (and their
disclaimers of any liability for their product).
Based on what I’ve read (and I’ve read the original CDC & other reports, not just the news reports about them), I don’t see any reason why I personally need to take the vaccine/experimental therapy that they’re so aggressively promoting. I don’t judge those who take it, but I am comfortable concluding that it’s not for me.
But there are people around me who are scared of the virus, some more than others, of course. Many of these are MY people, people I would die for, people who would die for me: people I love.
These people are scared for me, and they believe they have reason. They consider me higher risk for more than one reason, and the reports agree with them. Some of these people trust the vaccine/experimental therapy, and they want me to “protect myself” and take it. Some of them want me to take it as protection for themselves. (This is not a time for judging.)
So this put me in a tough place. I was confident that I didn’t need the vaccine/experimental therapy, and that in fact, I would be wise to avoid it.
But people who love me were paying a price for my choice. That wasn’t comfortable for me. There were people, people I love and whom I love to be around, that weren’t comfortable being around me. That’s not comfortable for me.
That’s been a hard place. And when I find myself in hard places like that, I try to remember to take these to my Father, so I brought this awkward, confusing, emotionally-charged mess that was in my heart to him. He listened quietly for a while (or at least I assumed he was listening, but he sure was quiet). I poured out my concerns and confusions to him. I wasn’t OK with this divided heart thing going on.
We spent a while here, days, maybe weeks, not minutes or hours. But eventually, his peace did what it does, and it settled my thoughts and emotions and drew my attention back to my Father’s goodness where it belongs.
And in that process, he drew my attention to Mark’s version of the Great Commission, and to one clause in particular: “If they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.” He wasn’t giving me a direction in the midst of the options, he was just reminding me: “This is the way I am with you, Son.”
As I kept praying (I cannot tell you how many times I’ve stopped listening too early!), I felt his affirmation that I could trust him, I could trust this promise, whichever way I chose to go, but this was my choice to make; he wasn’t going to make my choices for me here.
I still believe that this virus isn’t a threat for me personally, and I still believe that I don’t need the experimental therapy that’s being promoted.
So I signed up to get the experimental therapy, confident that it will by no means hurt me. That was long enough ago that I had to work really hard to get it; it was really awkward, really uncomfortable, really irritating to jump through all the hoops. (The notifications I’m getting now announce that some places have it available for walk-ins.)
After several weeks, I made it to the front of the line and it was my turn. They had me sign a raft of papers (and were really confused when I insisted on reading what I was signing), and the nurse who gave me the injection confessed that he didn’t believe we needed “a ‘vaccine’ that is 95% effective against a disease with a 99+% survival rate.” We laughed about it together.
When it came time for the second injection, people crawled out of the woodwork to tell me their horror stories of how bad the second one was, and how dangerous it was, and how that’s where people got sick from the second one. Thanks folks!
So I reminded myself pretty aggressively of Father’s promise. “If they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.” My version went this way: “If I am injected with anything deadly, it will by no means hurt me.” It was kind of hard work to agree with him instead of all the fear-driven testimonies.
The next morning, I woke up feeling “off,” and the doubts whispered into my ear: “See! I told you you’d get sick! Now it’s happened to you!”
So I had a conversation with my soul. “If I am injected with anything deadly, it will by no means hurt me.” I kind of had a shouting match inside my soul for a while, but eventually my soul gave in, the symptoms vanished, and I had a great day. That was a month or two ago, and I haven’t been sick for a day since.
I still shake my head (sometimes when my soul gets out of line) at how much this changes the hearts and the choices of some of the people I love, but then I remember, “I did this for you, because I love you.” I can’t generally tell them that, of course, because they think I was convinced of their opinions when I saw the error of my ways because of their insightful presentation of the media’s hysteria.
And I feel my Father’s comfortable pleasure with my choices here. It was my choice, your choice might be completely different. But this is how I dealt with it.
I hope my story is helpful to you.
Friday
Sometimes we fire blanks.
Thursday
Learning to Pray Wisely
You and I, we’re not slaves, not servants.
How The Walks In The Woods Actually Worked
Watch and Pray
Jesus and Intercessors
Audacious Prayer
Prophetic Exercise: The Judge's Bench
Tuesday
We Have Room to Grow in Our Prayers
Praying for Hillary Clinton |
- She needs to repent and stop supporting bad things! or
- She needs to have a revelation of God and get saved!
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