Thursday, August 21, 2014

Positive Prayer for the Enemy

Our church has been studying Saul of Tarsus in chapter 9 of Acts, and Luke says in the Greek language that Saul was "panting" to remove all the Christians from the face of the earth. I interpret that in my vernacular as "foaming at the mouth". Does this sound familiar? ISIS is saying that very thing today, and we are fearful and worried for those Christians and even for our own safety here.

But, what Jesus did for Saul He can do for all of ISIS, all who threaten our safety and lives. Christ can change, in an instant, what and who we see as impossibly lost. I keep telling myself over and over that Jesus can "arrest" and "transform" the lives of those here in the US whom I consider to be enemies of the gospel of Christ and the thieves of my freedoms, and ISIS as well. I wonder if I would stop worrying, fussing, and even hating those enemies of Jesus Christ, and pause constantly to pray fervently for their souls, if Jesus would intervene and grab them to Himself. Of course He can! Our war is not physical. It's spiritual! Shouldn't we be "panting" as much and extraordinarily more, in fervent prayer for the salvation of these physical enemies? 

This story of Saul in Acts 9 is a great one on which we should focus in our world today, for it is one of the greatest reminders of what God can do in desperate situations, if we would just ask Him and trust that He will do it.