Faith Venture

Strive to avoid praying against anyone in your prayer so that you do not destroy what you have been building up by making your prayer a defilement.

Evagrius, 4th Century Teacher

I had to pause at this chapter and consider. I don’t think of myself as one who bears grudges and puts myself against others. Oh, yes, there are many with whom I disagree theologically and politically. And, yes, I’ve been wronged many times. But I don’t dwell on these and pray for their destruction.

I think of poor Jonah, who took his God-given message of destruction to the people of Nineveh with great joy for their demise. Then they repented and God told Jonah, good job, they have come to me. And Jonah was bitterly disappointed.

Have I ever sat in prayer and wished bad to come to someone? Have I ever paused for a quick prayer of condemnation toward another human, another of God’s children? If so, I stand condemned.

We pray that we may more closely be with God and that others also will be and for their healing. Take a blessing from this teaching today.

This entry was posted on October 6, 2021 at 6:37 am and is filed under Disciplines, Prayer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.