Praying for Others

No matter what past history we may have with others, we need to see them through God's eyes of love. On some level we feel justified in recalling all the hurts we have experienced in the relationships, but that is an "old man" mentality, and according to Romans 6 that old man died when we accepted Christ in our hearts.

Since we now live under the New Covenant and are free to experience all the gifts we have been given through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, we must reexamine our prayer lives, as well. Since we already have been given the inheritance of Christ by the nature of our commitment to His lordship, we no longer have to ask God to DO anything. It has already all been completed through Christ. (2Peter 1:3) Since the covenant for our inheritance is with Jesus, not ourselves, we can't screw it up by not holding up our end of the covenant: it has been sealed by Jesus. (Now THAT is some good news!)

With that in mind, we realize that we can "pray" for people by blessing them. A blessing in this sense is a spoken positive whereas a curse is a spoken negative. When we talk negatively about people and remind ourselves of things they did that hurt us, we are cursing them. When we talk about people and speak positive things about them -- in this case the things God says about them-- we are blessing them.

Here is an example: We think about a person and get a picture of them in our minds. Then we speak the truth of the Word while thinking about them, adding their names in the promises. "John (in this case I have used a fictitious person) has been given the mind of Christ. He makes wise decisions and hears clearly from the Holy Spirit who resides in his heart to teach Him. John has been made righteous (as it should be) through Christ. He exhibits the fruit of the Spirit in all his actions. John has the healing power of Christ residing within his body. He desires to live his life in a manner that reflects health."

This type of prayer reminds us of the provisions for all believers because of our salvation (safe from harm, healed, delivered, protected, anointed, reconciled, given all the promises, etc.) and causes us to see others as God sees us. If the person has not entered into a personal relationship with Christ, we can still agree with God's word for these things (God loved us all while we were still sinners and loves each of us equally) and that He will draw them unto Himself, because it is not His desire that any should perish.

By agreeing with what God's word says about others, we don't have to wonder about whether or not our prayers are "heard" because they are divinely inspired! The answer then does not depend on our faith, but rather on the choice of the person we are blessing, and their response to God's wooing. We are essentially all responsible for the outcomes of our own lives (we are given free choice by God) but we are drawn to God by His great love for us. It is for this reason that nagging or manipulation of any sort are not effective toward changing others--even if it is for their own good!

I recently heard an excellent analogy relating to this. It is much easier to fish than to hunt. Hunters chase their pray who run from them in fear, whereas fishers lure theirs with appealing bait. Could be why Jesus called us to be "fishers of men" instead of hunters!