The One When God Asks for Difficult Prayers

When the news is on and you see all the horrible things happening in the world, the horrible things people do to other people, do you shake your head in disgust? Do you immediately think, my goodness what a horrible world we live in! I mean yes, what some people do to others is downright disgusting and truly is horrible. The question lies in what our reactions as followers of God should be. What would Jesus do? How would Jesus respond? God has laid this heavy on my heart. I have not been reacting right to the horrible things taking place in the world. Instead of shaking my head in disbelief of how horrible people can be to each other, I should be praying for those people. Jesus prayed for the sinners, the lost souls, the people who needed Him most. He cried out to God to have mercy on them - every single one - even while being tortured on the cross for all the sins we ALL carry out day to day. He prayed. That is exactly what we are supposed to be doing. Praying, not judging. Can you pray for the murders, the rapist, the thieves? This should always be our first response. Every time. Pray for them. Pray that God touches their hearts and brings them to truly know the heartbeat of Jesus. Pray that God redeems them, has mercy on them, forgives them, and restores them. Pray that their lives are changed and their passions change to serve the kingdom of God instead of evil. Can you do it? Think of what a better world we would live in if we all behaved like Jesus taught us. If we took heed and really followed His lessons and examples.

James 4:12 "God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. he alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?" ----- carry that on to your thief, your rapist, your murderer.

Can you pray for the people who hurt you personally? Can you pray for the person who robbed your home, the person who hurt you, murdered your loved one, scarred you emotionally, or even your rapist? When we can bring ourselves to this place of being able to pray for the person who hurt you most and deepest in whatever way they may have hurt you, a release will come. Healing will begin. Forgiveness and restoration will come into your life. If you pray with a sincere heart for these people in your life as well as in the world around you, God will bring you to a place of total peace, love, healing, and wholeness again. You will be freed. Whatever was robbed from your soul will be restored tenfold. I am not saying it's easy, it is definitely not easy. However, if you can pray for the strength to sincerely get to this place in your heart, God will give you the strength to do it and God WANTS to give you the strength to do it. God only wants the best for our lives. He wants us to live whole and complete lives through Him and in Him.

A long long long time ago I was struggling greatly - I won't go into details but in a nutshell alcohol became my outlet. I didn't want to "feel" life. One night, I was out with one of my friends and became oblivious to the world around me. I had drank WAY too much and don't even remember most of the night. A couple of guys followed us back to my apartment and without saying any more about it, they took advantage of the situation. This is one of the nights in my life that has haunted me for years. I had completely passed out by the time I walked through the door and fell into my bed. I vaguely recall phasing in and out of consciousness and trying to push him away. At one point I vomited and he still wouldn't go away. I recall asking "why" - I recall his answer being something to the effect of - "I smiled at him"...well shucks. No smiling...got it.

I blamed myself for obvious reasons. For one, I shouldn't have drank in the first place. For two, I shouldn't be smiling at people. For three, I was clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time and shouldn't have been there in the first place. I should be smarter than this. How could I be dumb enough to let something like this happen? Over 20 years later, the scars remain. I know most of us have stories similar to this in one way or another. We all have traumas we've endured and had to get through. After all, we do live in a world where the devil "prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8)

First, you have to forgive yourself and stop listening to the devil's lies. You are NOT worthless! You are worthy of healing, love and compassion. Second, you have to forgive the other people involved in order to truly heal and move on. How though? I wondered this most of my life...how. How do you heal from these horribly traumatic events in our lives we all have and experience in this life on earth.

When you watch any news broadcast, you will quickly learn the world we live in is full of evil and demise. People hurt people. People hurt children. People hurt retired people who cannot even walk to defend themselves. People hurt defenseless animals. The headlines are everywhere and it can be daunting. What do you do? In some of my quiet time recently, God has called me to pray for them. Not just the people who are victims - that's obvious - but the people causing the harm. Don't they need Jesus' love, mercy and forgiveness most? God loves all His lost children and wants them all to accept Him and enjoy eternal paradise with Him. This is hard. VERY hard. But God was quite clear about it when I was truly listening to Him in prayer recently. We are called to be humble and obedient to God. How do you forgive someone who hurt you so badly? How do you forgive the evil in the world and wake up to face yet another day? You pray for the very person who caused or is causing the harm. Pray for them to have healing as well, pray for them to see God and accept Jesus. Pray for them to receive mercy from God. Those are the first steps to your own healing. Letting go and giving everything to God. Doing this brings freedom to love people how God loves people. Freedom to be who God called you to be.

It's super easy to pray for your family, your friends, loved ones, etc. It's easy to pray those vague prayers - you know the ones, "protect my family, the favorite football teams, favor in the upcoming year, these precious donuts we are about to eat, etc..." What about those really difficult prayers God asks you to pray? What about those true bare bones prayers that dive into the center of your heart and get right to the core of things? Can you do it? Can you pray for the people your human nature doesn't believe deserve prayers? Who are we to judge? The Bible clearly says in several places it is not up to us to be judging and it's actually dangerous to do so. It is not our place to judge ANYONE. Not a single person. Not even what we might consider the "bad" people. God knows our hearts and theirs and will give proper judgment accordingly when the time comes. That is God's job, not ours. It's not up to us. We are simply called to love and serve God, love people and forgive just as He forgives each one of us. Let. It. Go... and give it all - ALL of it to God to sort out. It may take time and that is ok. It took me well over and beyond a decade of years to bring myself to this place. God has all the time in the world. God is with you and walking through it right by your side and will be with you every minute of the journey. He wants you to have freedom. As soon as I was finally able to start sincerely and wholeheartedly praying for the people who hurt me the deepest, Jesus lifted the big boulders from my shoulders and released me from the heaviness of constantly carrying them around.

Matthew 7:1-4 "Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about the speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, 'let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye', when you can't see past the log in your own eye?"

We ALL sin. (Romans 3:23) That's why Jesus died on the cross for us and interceded on our behalf. So we don't have to perish and be punished eternally for our sins. He made the ultimate sacrifice for us. I am no better than any one else. I should be in prison and be punished eternally for my sins just like anyone else. Thankfully, Jesus saved me from that fate. I am so sincerely thankful every day for Jesus' gift of life and eternal salvation. I don't deserve it, but He freely gave the gift of life regardless of what is deserved. We just have to reach out to Him and accept His gift of life.

God is challenging me to pray for the most difficult people to pray for continuously. I'm setting my human nature aside - as we should anyways - and choosing to let God work. Retraining your brain and more importantly, your heart, doesn't happen over night. When you see the latest news broadcast, do you immediately respond with judgement and dismay? Or do you respond in the compassion, empathy, and love that Jesus did? Love, compassion, and empathy should always be first. I need God's power and grace and the Holy Spirit to not only guide me through difficult day to day things but also to help me in my prayers. I am being obedient to Him and am only able to do it through Him and with the strength of the Holy Spirit. If God asks me to do something, I know He has my best interest at heart and I would never want to be the one to disobey when God speaks.

So here I am. I'm praying for forgiveness for wanting to judge people instead of praying for them with a pure heart. I'm praying that God helps me to be more like Him and see everyone in the world how He sees them. I'm praying for compassion and mercy in the world. I'm praying for the people who caused the deepest scars in my own life as well as other people's lives. I'm praying God helps me be a person who listens and loves rather than looking at the world in disgust. I'm praying for those individuals who need Jesus more than anything else in life. With God's strength and grace, I've let go. I'm praying for the individuals that caused the deepest scars in my life and truly want the absolute best life has to give them. I'm praying and earnestly pleading that God have mercy on them and show them God's love and grace and most of all....forgiveness.

Matthew 9:12 "When Jesus heard this, he said 'Healthy people don't need a doctor - sick people do.' Then he added, 'Now go and learn the meaning of this scripture: 'I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.' For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.'"