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When You Pray Over Something

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You don’t get to decide how God answers. Today God sent me a message that He has my back. Many folks today like to paint a portrait of God as love, peace, kindness…you get me. They seldom like to think of the God who strikes terror in the hearts of those who wrong the ones He loves.

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I have learned to let Christ fight my battles.  I know He is just and will dish out what the other side rightly deserves. I don’t question Him. If you ever come against me, you don’t have to worry about me trying to get you back. You might want to read Psalm 18 and see who is coming for you though.

I love that the Lord has seen fit to destroy one of my enemies on the same day the Republican house voted to destroy healthcare for millions of Americans.  It was not a day of celebration, but one where we felt sorry for the person who had done so much wrong to others.  Some had forgotten all of the wrong done to them. Not me. God assures me He will deal with all of the wrongdoers according to the measure that they dish out.  Again, I pity them., but for the most part they earned it.

For the month of April, I camped out on Psalm 18.  I fell in love with the fact that “He” is the one who defends me.  The image is absolutely terrifying and I am glad I am on His side. And what keeps me there? Repentance. Regular and often.

When God places someone in a leadership role, responsibility comes with it.  He promises to show Himself shrewd to the crooked, those who take advantage of the ones they are supposed to lead.  He will take your job, home, all your assets and leave you flat on your back so that there is no place to look but up.

As I watch elected officials take advantage of Americans and make themselves rich, I pity what is coming for them.  As I have prayed over my circumstances, He has been faithful. He has shown me He won’t allow corruption to stand, not in our government and not in our church.

This past year God has revealed Christian leadership that does not know Jesus.  I am dumbfounded by some of the things folks claiming to be Christians have said and done. I am secure in saying there is no way any of these folks could stand before the Lord and say those same things or act the same way.  Only evil can do that.

I will continue to pray and lift up these situations, but God has assured me He is going to handle it.

God Knows Your Heart

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so it is no use trying to pretend. I was talking to a friend last night. She was struggling with praying for her enemies.

First of all, she was overwhelmed with guilt for having enemies. But when someone puts a target on your back, that gives them a special status. Jesus had enemies so as his disciples why would we not have them.  What I love about Jesus is He had no problem confronting their behavior. In Matthew 3:7 and 12:34 He called them vipers.

When people attack us, we need to be honest with ourselves and with God. We need to pray honest prayers over the situation.  I know some folks like to pray good things over their enemies, but baby, I bet they get upset when they see good things happening to them. I have learned to pray from exactly where my heart is. God knows where my heart is so there is no need for me to pretend and pray a bunch of stuff I don’t believe.  (just because you say it in a prayer doesn’t make it true)

I will lift up my enemies family situation, their work, finances, relationships, everything God brings to mind. Lord, get them so busy dealing with their stuff they don’t have time to deal with me.

What you do is give God permission to deal with your honest stuff. You have to recognize your stuff before God can change it.  Most recently some folks came after some friends and me hard. Sometimes I found the situations to be unreal because the prejudice was so over the top. But we prayed honest prayers and talked each other out of physical violence.

One day of the main oppressor went away.  It was awesome.  Then the Lord began to deal with the others. He took us from praying “Lord, get them!” to  praying “Lord, save them.”  We went from wanting to hit them in their throats to praying that God would deliver them from their struggles.

The Lord handled them and healed us. Most people miss the healing part, because they are too afraid to pray those first prayers.  They let bitterness take root, and never let God dig it out.  They stay in the pretend world of wanting good things to happen to everyone.

I want people who intentionally do evil to others to feel the wrath of God.  Many want to emphasize God’s  love, but down play His judgment.  Jesus has promised that God will protect His sheep, and I am going to hold Him to it.  When people come after me, I am going to let God handle it.

I pray over everyone who comes against me. Most situations the Lord has changed my heart on, while there are still a few I should not meet because I will hit them in their throat.  I have learned He deals with everything in its own time.  We are such a microwave generation that we want to feel better about something instantly, while God will take all the time He needs to work out His plan.

I keep praying until I see Him change a situation. He does. In the process I become a better me, not a bitter me.  How about you?