How Not to Pray -By Seun Elere

If you have two children and one of them reported how the other has hurt him/her to you and requested that you maim or kill his/her sibling as a punishment for  the hurt, what would you do? God feels the same way when we ask Him to murder our friends, bosses, siblings, mother-in-law, mothers, etc who has hurt us.

Many climb all sorts of mountain to first of all know who might be behind their ordeals and for those who already think they know, they are praying day and night for that person to die. Guess what? It’s all a waste of time. We already know who the enemy is – the Bible already made it clear. Eph 6:12; 1 Pet 5:8. God won’t kill your mother in-law for you, He won’t slaughter your boss, etc, those are wasted prayers no matter how long and how vehement you prayed. He just wouldn’t kill His son or daughter for your sake. Infact, maybe some people are also praying that God should kill you as well for hurting them – John 8:7. Yes, hardened sinners would die but the primary purpose of Christ is to bring all to redemption. 2 Peter 3:9; John 3:16; and John 10:10

Christ taught us how to pray in Matt 6:9 and the very first thing He wants us to establish is that God is father to ALL and not just to you alone. He said we should start our prayers by saying “OUR father” and not MY father. So what kind of father would kill a son or daughter for another? God is always out to save His children and not to kill them. John 10:10.

Jesus demonstrated how the father rejoice over a sinner that repents and not the one that got killed Luk 15:4-10. Now, have I said there is no enemy to be casted out, No, but many of us look away from the real enemy and target the sons and daughters of God.

Jesus Christ Himself tought us how to confront the real enemy. When Jesus was face to face with the man possessed of the devil in Mk 5:1-17, He confronted the right enemy -the devil. Now before his encounter with Jesus, the people have tried repeatedly to destroy or even kill the man. They have chained and bound the man but he wasn’t the enemy so they could not prevail. The same way, we will not get any where by binding and casting that man or woman instead of the devil. Jesus casted the devil out and the man was instantly made whole. Infact, he offered to follow Jesus in verse 18 but Jesus gave him another assignment instead – and he went into Decapolis preaching the word of God. He was still of service to the Lord.

Next time, instead of praying that your wicked boss should die or loose his job, cast out the spirit of wickedness in him. Don’t waste your time and strength asking God to kill His children, confront the enemy.

I don’t know who needs to know this, but please don’t think God doesn’t answer your prayers, it might just be that you are asking HIM to murder the same person He sent His only son to die for. Target the enemy – the devil – in your prayers and not the person.

We know that praying according to God’s will guarantees answer – 1 John 5:14 – but asking Him to kill the very souls He sacrificed His son to safe doesn’t sound like His will, does it?

I pray that God grants you understanding. Amen