Imprecatory Prayers

[Jesus Freak]

I know this can fall under non-essential doctorine, but I just want to know yalls views on it. Thanks.

[Meg]

Please translate "Imprecatory Prayers". Some of us have no idea what that means...

[mikhen7]

From RationalWiki.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Imprecatory_prayer

Imprecatory prayer is prayer asking God to kill, maim, curse, send into eternal damnation, or otherwise harm an enemy. In the United States imprecatory prayer is most often invoked by both sides before an important football game.

This was interesting:
On the other hand, proponents of name it and claim it theology teach that the words that come out of your mouth are a "creative force" which actually speaks something into being. Therefore, they warn, watch what you say because anything you say can work against you as an imprecatory prayer. According to this teaching, if you say, "I don't feel so good today", you have just literally prayed an imprecatory prayer over yourself making yourself sick.

It seems this is a practice that many are reviving. Some take the Imprecatory Psalms and use them for a basis to justify asking God to curse their enemies. A good look at this practice is well -defined at this link.
http://www.gotquestions.org/imprecatory-prayer.html

God Bless not Curse! Pray for our enemies.

[Meg]

As tempting as that may be, and yes, I have been around that block, its not something we Christians do. If its that bad, confess your outrage, recognize the perp's potential damnation, and turn it over to the Lord. Then leave it there.

[Jesus Freak]

Personally I see nothing wrong with Imprecatory prayer. If an enemy of the Gospel (Richard Dawkins other enemies of Gospel, and False Prophets) continually rejects the Gospel and continues evil, making others twice the sons of hell. Is it wrong to pray to God to strike him/her down. When I pray, I pray that they either repent or God to strike them down. Those are the only 2 options and for those who continually reject the Gospel and despise it there is only one option. That is my opinion, sry if I offended anyone.

[mikhen7]

Personally I see nothing wrong with Imprecatory prayer. If an enemy of the Gospel (Richard Dawkins other enemies of Gospel, and False Prophets) continually rejects the Gospel and continues evil, making others twice the sons of hell. Is it wrong to pray to God to strike him/her down. When I pray, I pray that they either repent or God to strike them down. Those are the only 2 options and for those who continually reject the Gospel and despise it there is only one option. That is my opinion, sry if I offended anyone.

I understand your inflamatory zeal. But does the Most High really command us to do that? He said to pray for your enemies and bless those who curse you.

Our battle is against the principalties and powers of this present age. Our Kingdom is not of this world. We are told to stand firm in our faith and fight the good fight but nowhere in the NT will you find a word from the mouth of Jesus, the Apostles, or the authors of NT canon praying for the death of a person. What you are asking is for God to kill them. Its what the pharisees wished to happen to Jesus.

If you feel resistance by the False Prophets of the world then do your part to overcome evil with good. Preach the truth wherever they spew their lies. Ask God to intervene in the spread of their heresy but do not ask God to kill them. Instead ask God to open their eyes to the truth. God alone reseves the right to take a life as He wills not us.

See the links above.

[Meg]

Personally I see nothing wrong with Imprecatory prayer. If an enemy of the Gospel (Richard Dawkins other enemies of Gospel, and False Prophets) continually rejects the Gospel and continues evil, making others twice the sons of hell. Is it wrong to pray to God to strike him/her down. When I pray, I pray that they either repent or God to strike them down. Those are the only 2 options and for those who continually reject the Gospel and despise it there is only one option. That is my opinion, sry if I offended anyone.

Hi JesusFreak, allow me to put it this way, you can ask, but don't hurt yourself holding your breath while waiting for God to see it your way. (Been there, done that, and this dude is serious evil)...

Having been stuck in this sort of rut for many years now, and the dude in question is alive and well, imprecatory prayer got me all of nowhere. So since God was firmly committed to NOT seeing things my way, I had to learn to see things His way, which is why I said what I did (sorry for the irritable tone, that did hit a nerve...)

That being said, in the issue of blatant false teachers and their deluded followers, and Todd Bentley is my personal favorite apostate whipping boy, since God is probably not going to interrupt Dawkins next service with a well-aimed bolt of lightning, I'd suggest praying for the people who listen to him. Whats at issue, as much as I've figured out, is the bitterness and resentment that builds in our own hearts when injustices or offences start to get to us. That can give the devil a foothold in your heart, and thats harmful to you, OK. I hope that last makes sense.

[Jesus Freak]

Hey Meg,

I know what you mean sis. I def. pray His will to be done. If He chooses to "strike down" an apostate, enemy of the gospel, etc...Then His will be done, not mine. I earnestly pray that they repent, however I also pray that God strikes down His enemies by saying that I mean the New Covenant dosen't change His Holy attributes that we see in the OT. I know I might be chastised for holding this non-essential doctorine, but please anyone reading this don't pull out the heretic card. Thanks Meg, for your opinion! I appreciate it so much!

YBIC,
Alec

[readytogo]

I agree with the people who posted above, mikhen7 and Meg. That's not something that we were taught to do by Jesus. We are to pray for the salvation of our enemies. Imprecatory prayer is seen in the Old Testament (Psalm 83) but that was for the Jewish people who were living in a different dispensation (living under law not grace).

While I disagree with Richard Dawkins immensely and am tremendously saddened by the number of people who follow him blindly, I'm not omniscient. I cannot be 100% certain that he will not respond to the gospel on his deathbed (He's got esophageal cancer currently). Therefore, I would not presume to pray for him to be struck by a lightning bolt before his time. Like Meg, I carried around that kind of hate for some people for years, even though I felt "justified" in hating them. In the end, I realized that 1) my hatred was only harming me and not the other person and 2) if God is going to "zap" someone for their sins, why wouldn't He just zap me as well, because I am a sinner as well. He extends His grace and mercy to me, I will try to extend that to those people and let His justice take care of all in the end. BTW, my means of extending grace and mercy to those who did me wrong consists of not dwelling on the past which will lead me to sin and stay as FAR away from them as possible!

[Jesus Freak]

I don't hold anger at them at all. I love Richard Dawkins. I do. He is a fallen creation, just like me. Hell has indeed enlarged itself with his deception. Please, I think this is being taken the wrong way, and I already regret posting it I don't want any1 here to see me as a westbro baptist. Im not angry at them, Richard Dawkins is forgiven, so is every other human being. But their are only 2 prayers I can lift up to our Lord, and pray that His will be done, and He be glorified. Now Im not going to be someone whose going to say the cancer is Gods wrath, because I really dont know if it is or not. I pray that these men repent, or be struck down. I love the young souls who aren't yet deceived and if Richard Dawkins dying will protect them, then not my will but HIS will be done.

[mikhen7]

I don't hold anger at them at all. I love Richard Dawkins. I do. He is a fallen creation, just like me. Hell has indeed enlarged itself with his deception. Please, I think this is being taken the wrong way, and I already regret posting it I don't want any1 here to see me as a westbro baptist. Im not angry at them, Richard Dawkins is forgiven, so is every other human being. But their are only 2 prayers I can lift up to our Lord, and pray that His will be done, and He be glorified. Now Im not going to be someone whose going to say the cancer is Gods wrath, because I really dont know if it is or not. I pray that these men repent, or be struck down. I love the young souls who aren't yet deceived and if Richard Dawkins dying will protect them, then not my will but HIS will be done.

I think your heart is right jesusFreak. It is very understandable that you may get so frustrated with the false gospel that seems to be so prevalent in our society. The two prayers you state are justified. God will indeed work out His will in the lives of those who lead others astray. Let's pray for the teacher and for the disciple.

God Bless

[Hannah]

I understand people wanting to pray Lord strike down our enemies.

If we are praying our of God's will these prayers come to nothing. Waste of time and breath.

If you are not sure why not place the person before God ans ask Him to deal with them as He sees fit. Do not pray for their harm or judgement. After all we know their judgement is assured and God will sort them out for their evil ways. We know that our enemies can only suceed where God has allowed them for His purpose to suceed.

My prayers for those who are against me if first for their salvation because a Saved Enemy becomes a Brother or Sister in Christ and problem solved. OR if they remain in rebellion for God to champion my cause, to defend me from their wickedness and to deal with them as He sees fit.

This way I am not asking for any harm to come against my enemies. I know the above is fully within the present will of God so these prayers will be heard and answered.

Why ask for God to take out my enemy when I don't know if this is OK with God? It doesn't do any good for my walk with God either to have hate in my heart. It certainly isn't fostering in me a compassionate heart. Jesus looked upon those who crucified Him and asked God to have mercy upon them. Saul (later the Apostle Paul) was one who certainly needed that pardon from the lips of Jesus. He would have sided with those who called for the death of Jesus and yet he ended up serving Him. We don't know what God has instore for the one who at this time may be running after us trying to kill us (as Paul did to the first Christians until he became a Believer himself). So wouldn't it be best not to pray for the death of an enemy but for their salvation and leaving them in the hands of God?

[mattfivefour]

I understand people wanting to pray Lord strike down our enemies.

If we are praying our of God's will these prayers come to nothing. Waste of time and breath.

If you are not sure why not place the person before God ans ask Him to deal with them as He sees fit. Do not pray for their harm or judgement. After all we know their judgement is assured and God will sort them out for their evil ways. We know that our enemies can only suceed where God has allowed them for His purpose to suceed.

My prayers for those who are against me if first for their salvation because a Saved Enemy becomes a Brother or Sister in Christ and problem solved. OR if they remain in rebellion for God to champion my cause, to defend me from their wickedness and to deal with them as He sees fit.

This way I am not asking for any harm to come against my enemies. I know the above is fully within the present will of God so these prayers will be heard and answered.

Why ask for God to take out my enemy when I don't know if this is OK with God? It doesn't do any good for my walk with God either to have hate in my heart. It certainly isn't fostering in me a compassionate heart. Jesus looked upon those who crucified Him and asked God to have mercy upon them. Saul (later the Apostle Paul) was one who certainly needed that pardon from the lips of Jesus. He would have sided with those who called for the death of Jesus and yet he ended up serving Him. We don't know what God has instore for the one who at this time may be running after us trying to kill us (as Paul did to the first Christians until he became a Believer himself). So wouldn't it be best not to pray for the death of an enemy but for their salvation and leaving them in the hands of God?

Mike, Meg, Karen, etc, your answers are good. But this post of Hannah's is one of the wisest I think I have ever read on this subject. You have blessed me, sis! This is truly the mind of God displayed.

[mikhen7]

Mike, Meg, Karen, etc, your answers are good. But this post of Hannah's is one of the wisest I think I have ever read on this subject. You have blessed me, sis! This is truly the mind of God displayed.

Yes, Hannah very good response! Awesome.

God Bless!

[Meg]

I agree very deeply, beautiful insight Hannah.

[Hannah]

People my post on this was not my own. My darling husband helped me to learn this, it was wisdom God taught him and then my DH assisted me to learn it over time. Praise God for my wonderful husband that has been instrumental in my Christian growth & in knowing and understanding God's Word. Glad I was able to share what I have learned here.