Thursday, April 10, 2014

praying for people

Someone disappointed me. I got sad, then angry, then frustrated. I rolled my eyes. I thought about what I wanted to say to that person.

Then God showed me how to pray for that person. He showed me that my feelings and thoughts were pinpointing areas of need in that person's life and character. Where did those needs come from? What kind of healing was needed? I started to pray that God would bless that person with the traits that were lacking, not because changing that person was my responsibility, but because it was part of God's purposes for that person. God loves that person, and his will for them is that they become "conformed to the image of Christ" (Rom 8:29). My feelings and thoughts were revealing what God is already doing in their life. And I can participate in it by praying for them. It's not that I shouldn't talk to them. But God was telling me that I shouldn't talk to that person about their shortcomings and/or needs until I had talked to God about that person first.

Talking to God about people this way helps me to love them. I'm changed from seeing them as people who hurt me, to people who need God's transforming power in their lives. Just like I do.