“Get ‘Em Lord” Prayers

August 25, 2020 Gracie

“Get ‘Em Lord” Prayers

Hands down, the most popular post on my blog, Delight-in-God.com, is an article I wrote called, “How To Pray For Someone You Don’t Like.”

In that article, Pastor J. Josh Smith shared valuable Biblical insight about how to pray for our enemies.

I’m just gonna say it – praying for God to bless our enemies isn’t easy to do.

Why do we have to do that when a “get ‘em, Lord” prayer feels sooo much better?

get 'em Lord

What’s Wrong With a “Get ‘Em Lord” Prayer?

We want quick justice when we’ve been wronged.

Think about that coworker who stole your idea and got all the credit and the accompanying raise.

Or, the neighbor who lets his dog trample your petunias and use your yard as a community toilet every morning.

Oh, that is so annoying.

Get ‘em, Lord.

From a biblical standpoint, we have to be very, very careful with a “get em” prayer.

A lot of it rides on the nature of the “wrong” we experienced and, very much so, on our intent when asking the Lord for justice.

There’s a huge difference between a mean person who irritates us, and an actual enemy of the faith.

What are Imprecatory Prayers?

Asking God to rain down His wrath on our enemies is called imprecatory prayer.

One of the synonyms for imprecate is to “damn.”

That’s pretty serious business and requires cautious consideration.

We know that the Lord Himself called out enemies of the faith, (the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees), in Matthew 23:31-33.

Imprecatory psalms, from David and others, and the imprecatory pleas in the Book of Jeremiah are some other examples.

Therefore, give their children over to famine
And deliver them up to the power of the sword;
And let their wives become childless and widowed.
Let their men also be smitten to death,
Their young men struck down by the sword in battle. – Jeremiah 18:21, (NASB).¹

That’s a pretty obvious “get ‘em Lord” plea from the prophet Jeremiah.

We have this verse from King David, in Psalm 17:13:

Arise, O Lord, confront him, bring him low;
Deliver my soul from the wicked with your sword – Psalm 17:13, (NASB).²

David says “with your sword.” – no mistaking what he meant.

Was that wrong of King David to pray that?

There is no taint of personal jealousy, spite, or ambition in these psalms. Rather, there is a deep concern for God’s people. There is a desire for God’s glory to be displayed. In the case of David’s imprecations, those who opposed the king opposed God, because the king was God’s anointed. In the case of the other imprecatory psalms, they are all national, not personal in character. The psalmists in every case had a deep desire that God’s plan might be fulfilled through His people for His glory.

Thus it helps to understand the imprecatory psalms if we view them in light of God’s purpose and in light of the psalmist’s attitude. He was not seeking vengeance or being selfish. Rather, he was asking God to vindicate His people who had been mistreated and to fulfill His plan through them. – Stephen J. Cole, author and theologian.³

What About What Jesus Said at the Sermon on the Mount?

Sermon on the Mount – Source credit, Geralt

On one hand, we have the imprecatory prayers and pleas throughout Bible, and on the other, we also have the very real command from Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount to ”pray for those who persecute you”.

To clarify: His imprecatory prayers were against enemies of the faith.

Using imprecatory prayers from the Psalms today should only be done against our spiritual enemies (Ephesians 6:12). Praying imprecations on human foes is unjustifiable, as it would require taking these prayers out of context. In the New Testament, Jesus exhorts us to pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44–48; Luke 6:27–38), but praying for their death or for bad things to happen to them isn’t what He meant. Instead, we are to pray for their salvation first and foremost, and then for God’s will to be done. There’s no greater blessing than a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and that’s what Jesus means by praying for and blessing those who curse us. – Got Questions website.

Seeking Justice and Get ’em Lord Prayers

Vengeance is the Lord’s.

Understandably, we rightly grieve when we see evil in our world, like sexual trafficking, for instance.

Pray against perversion, take a stand, call it out, demand justice and jailing the perpetrators. There’s nothing wrong with that.

God hears those prayers, and He hears the cries of the innocents.

He hates Sin, more than we could ever imagine.

It’s in our nature to seek justice in this fallen world, but it must be on God’s terms within the justice system that He has established, not our personal plans to retaliate.

This is a hard topic, so I hope this is helpful.

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³Steven J. Cole quotation is courtesy of bible.org. from “Psalm 137: Difficult Words, But True” n.d. 1993. Web. Accessed August 19, 2020. Retrieved from https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-137-difficult-words-true.

⁴ Quotation from gotquestions.org, from “What is imprecatory prayer?” n.d., para. 4. Web. Accessed August 19, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.gotquestions.org/imprecatory-prayer.html

Our Exceptional God

Finding Peace In The Chaos

September 18, 2019 Gracie

Looking For Peace Of Mind

Just gonna’ say it.

I am ready for a vacation.

So ready.

Like right now.

Trust me, these past few months at our house have been very busy and physically exhausting.

Who’d have thought I’d end up with two sprained knees and a swollen ankle when it was all over?

Not kidding.

Heavy boxes and I have a complicated relationship.

We don’t like each other.

Now it’s time to slow down, or at least that’s my goal.

Calgon, take me away!

There are so many places we’d love to visit again, including Myrtle Beach and Charleston, SC.

The last time we were in Charleston it was a birthday surprise from my husband. He got a few points for that one.

Looking for peace

If you haven’t vacationed in Charleston yet, you might want to put it on your bucket list. But, there’s a “but”, as you will see below.

We stayed at this charming downtown hotel within walking distance to everything you could possibly want – from restaurants, to art galleries, shopping, and more.

It was seventh heaven.

As soon as we checked into our room, it was back downstairs so we could walk around town and sample the delicious waterfront cuisine.

By the end of the day we were exhausted and ready to hit the sack for a peaceful night’s sleep.

All was quiet until 4:30 the next morning.

We heard a very loud bang outside our upstairs window.

Both of us jolted awake.

“What the heck was that?”

And then there was another bang, and another (times about 10).

It’s so loudddd.

I cautiously opened the blinds and saw the city garbage truck down below doing its trash pickup right outside our upstairs window.

Why hadn’t we noticed that when we checked in earlier?

The noise and beeping went on and on and seemed to get louder.

The idea of pleasantly sleeping in while on a vacation floated right out that window.

Excuse me, Concierge, where can we buy some earplugs?

Garbage in Garbage Out

Our experience with the trash truck reminds me of the “noise” circulating on TV and social media on a daily basis.

Lots of “noise” and loud angry voices – full of so much hate and division-promoting rhetoric.

I don’t know about you, but I have to turn it off.

Who can live with that much anger day after day after day?

There’s still so much good left in America that I don’t listen to those who try to tear her down.

Finding Peace in the Chaos

Looking for peace amidst the chaos

No one said it’s going to be easy to blot out all of the angry noise – especially with the popularity of social media and 24-hour news coverage.

But what we can do, is continue to trust in God’s will and cultivate an active prayer life which can help calm our anxious thoughts.

When we walk in peace even though our surroundings are unpleasant, God is glorified.¹– Chuck Swindoll, Christian pastor, author, and educator.

Here’s something else to consider.

Amid the “noise” of the world, why not shower someone else with grace in the name of Jesus Christ?

Good deeds don’t get us to Heaven, but they do take the focus off ourselves as we aim our attention on others.

I recently watched a video and loved the ideas presented.

Here’s the mission: on your next birthday, whatever age you are, that’s the number of random blessings to aim for over the next year.

Let’s see, for me that would be . . . 30 years old . . . 40 . . . We’ll stop right there.

There’s a wonderful feeling you get, sometimes hard to put into words, that comes from the smiles and/or tears you witness when you anonymously bless someone else. Add a note to your anonymous gift about God’s love for them, and you’ve planted a seed. For me, it’s an excellent way for finding peace in the chaos.

God has primarily chosen to reach people through people. So engage them, and most importantly, keep praying for them. Give it a try, and you will discover what a joy it is to tell others about Jesus. I pray that God will give you a burden for people like you have never had before.² – Greg Laurie, Pastor, Bible teacher, and author.

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¹Chuck Swindoll quotation, courtesy of Insight For Today, A Daily Devotional by Chuck Swindoll. “Peace Amidst Unpleasant Circumstances.” November 28, 2017. para. 21. Web. Accessed 15 September, 2019.

²Pastor Greg Laurie quotation, courtesy of Harvest.org, “5 Ways to Love Your Neighbor.” Ebook. Page 22. Accessed 15 September, 2019.

Our Exceptional God

When God Is Silent

October 29, 2018 Gracie

What Does It Mean When God Is Silent?

when God is silent

Have you prayed and prayed about an important decision, and waited and waited, and it seems like it’s taking forever to get an answer?

God’s timing and our timing are two very different things.

It’s important to remember that He hears us.

Absolutely, and loud and clear.

He hears every prayer, and sees every tear.

So why does God make us wait?

Trust Him More

Waiting can be tough, especially when you’re desperately seeking answers.

Daily (or nightly) prayers are essential, but here’s the most important thing – praying for God’s will and not our own.

Oops, we often forget that part.

The happiest ending may seem clear to us, but only God knows the final outcomes.

Despite what we think is best, the timing may not be right yet, or His answer is No.

If you read through Psalms, you’ll see that God didn’t always answer the prayers of His people right away.

Psalms

We must trust Him more, not less, even when it seems like it’s taking forever to get an answer.

When the waiting gets especially tough, I often turn to Christian music.

Here’s a favorite by the Newsboys that I believe captures the authenticity of our faith.

Is Our Timing More Important Than God’s Timing?

Our deadlines are not His deadlines.

There were several times in the past when my husband and I prayed about a big decision we had to make. We thought we knew what His answer would be, but it didn’t quite work out like we thought it would.

Years later, we can now look back and see that God was protecting us from something we didn’t realize at the time.

Some prayers are followed by silence (from God) because they are wrong, others because they are bigger than one can understand. It will be a wonderful moment for some of us when we stand before God and find that the prayers we clamored for in early days and imagined were never answered have been answered in the most amazing way, and that God’s silence has been the sign of the answer. – Oswald Chambers, Evangelist and Christian Minister.

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*Oswald Chambers quotation, as quoted from Christian quotes.info

Our Exceptional God

How To Praise God’s Glory

September 5, 2018 Gracie

How Can We Bring Praise To God?

Have you ever had someone pray for you out loud and in the moment?

My husband and I experienced this recently when we told a friend about a big decision we were about to make.

We were on the phone with him when all of a sudden, he stopped us mid-conversation, and prayed for us right then and there.

While our friend prayed, I couldn’t help but smile as I listened to his words.

After he finished praying for us in Jesus’ name, I had a quiet thought.

What an encouraging way to display reverence to God’s glory.

To pray for others, in the moment, and out loud.

praising God's glory *Photo credit, Ben White.

Why Do We Wait?

So why do we wait to pray until the evening hours?

I wish I had an answer to that question.

I don’t know if we just forget to do it in the moment, or if it’s easier to wait until that night at bedtime.

But, why do we need to wait when we can pray for someone-in-need right then and there?

That kind of opportunity doesn’t present itself every day.

If you have the chance to bless someone else and bring praise to the Father, then why not do it?

There’s so much good advice in this short video.

Praising God’s Glory

In a passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus said to the crowds,

¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that^[they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. – *Matthew 5:14-16., (ESV).

We are called to be light in a very dark world. If you can pray for someone in the moment – do it!

Don’t hide your light.

Let it shine and point others towards our Father in Heaven.

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* Photo courtesy of Ben White on Unsplash
* Scripture quotation is from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Our Exceptional God

Prayers To Disarm Your Enemy

August 22, 2018 Gracie

Why Should We Pray For Our Enemies

Prayers To Disarm Your Enemy

Recently, a reader searched on my blog for the term, “Prayers to disarm your enemy.”

I have to applaud this person for seeking answers using Prayers, rather than some type of payback.

It’s hard sometimes to pray for our enemies.

A few years ago, I interviewed a local pastor for his insight. The name of that article is “How To Pray For Someone You Don’t Like.” You can find it by clicking the link.The pastor’s biblical insight about praying for our enemies is just as valuable today as it was back then.

When someone launches an attack against you, even if it’s verbal, it can hurt really bad.

You feel blindsided and you want answers.

And, you want it…to stop.

As Christians we should pray for those who hate us and/or do us harm. We also know as Christians, that the hate towards us, as believers in salvation through Jesus Christ, is on the rise.

We must continue to pray.

God hears our every words. They don’t have to be eloquent words either.

If you’re suffering at the arms of an enemy, cry out to Jesus in your heart.

Psalm 69 in the Bible is an excellent example of a prayer for help in times of anguish.

Prayers To Disarm Your Enemy

If you need some inspiration when praying for your enemies, I found another resource that may help.

I contacted the author, Beth McLendon, and she has graciously given me permission to share this prayer with you.

I love the plea towards the end for God to heal the wounds of our enemies. As mean as they are, there is something going on inside of them that causes them to act out like they do.

Prayer For Enemies

Lord,

Be with my enemies today as they make decisions.

I ask that you would bring them your thoughts so that they can see

and evaluate their life situations through your wisdom.

I ask that you would help them to clearly hear your thoughts on

what they should do today and every day.

Guide them to recognize the right decision every time.

Help them to recognize the blessings that come from

making good choices and from developing a deep relationship with you.

I pray that they will realize the lightness of heart that they can have

if they will do the right thing.

I pray that they will realize the relief that they can have

when they do the right thing.

Bring your lovingkindness to rescue them from being unkind today.

Urge them not to sin against me or anyone else this day.

I ask that you would heal the wounds inside of them that pressure them to hurt others.

Let them begin to realize the joy of treating others in a godly way.

Bring them thoughts that would help to soften their heart toward you and your will for them.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

For more inspirational prayers, you can visit Beth’s website at the following URL: http://www.inspirational-prayers.com/

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*Opening photo courtesy of photographer Ben White on Unsplash

Our Exceptional God

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