Compassionate Prayer for Sinners
I have a bad feeling when it comes to a certain religious group, and the reason for it is that I believe that they have spread so much heresy around the world ever since their beginning that they fall into the category of Matt. 23:13-
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."
They twist the Scriptures to their own advantage, and use fear to control the people in their congregations. Someone I know who used to be a part of this group used the expression, when referring to this fear, as "being nailed to the pews." It is true that only by God's grace was she delivered from this spiritual bondage, because it is the largest cult in the world.
Whenever we can see the hurt and lies that bind others so clearly, there is a great temptation to "hate the sinner" and not just the sin. We tend to have such strong feelings towards the damage someone's sin has caused others, that we group the sin and the sinner together. I guess that is why God delineates it for us so clearly in the Scripture of "hating the sin, and not the sinner."
Since He has brought these strong feelings to my attention, I ask Him to help me pray for not only those caught in the web of the sinners, but also for the sinners themselves. Both are in bondage to generational false beliefs, and need deliverance as my friend did. And those who are blind to it, and may even justify it, need His deliverance even more. His love asks us if we will stand in the gap. (pray for the deliverance of the blind) Those who see, are the only ones who can!
This love of His goes further than we can know and see. It just keeps going and going and going, offering it's salvation (deliverance, cleansing and wholeness) to the worst of the worst. (which all of us once were before He came to us) Now, He asks those who are His, to intercede for those living in darkness.
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."
They twist the Scriptures to their own advantage, and use fear to control the people in their congregations. Someone I know who used to be a part of this group used the expression, when referring to this fear, as "being nailed to the pews." It is true that only by God's grace was she delivered from this spiritual bondage, because it is the largest cult in the world.
Whenever we can see the hurt and lies that bind others so clearly, there is a great temptation to "hate the sinner" and not just the sin. We tend to have such strong feelings towards the damage someone's sin has caused others, that we group the sin and the sinner together. I guess that is why God delineates it for us so clearly in the Scripture of "hating the sin, and not the sinner."
Since He has brought these strong feelings to my attention, I ask Him to help me pray for not only those caught in the web of the sinners, but also for the sinners themselves. Both are in bondage to generational false beliefs, and need deliverance as my friend did. And those who are blind to it, and may even justify it, need His deliverance even more. His love asks us if we will stand in the gap. (pray for the deliverance of the blind) Those who see, are the only ones who can!
This love of His goes further than we can know and see. It just keeps going and going and going, offering it's salvation (deliverance, cleansing and wholeness) to the worst of the worst. (which all of us once were before He came to us) Now, He asks those who are His, to intercede for those living in darkness.
"I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one." Ezekiel 22:30
Will we say, Here am I-send me, send me? Will God look and find no one, who will intercede on behalf of those held in bondage to the lies of the enemy? Will we let Him change our perspective from pointing the finger and being repulsed at their wrongdoing, to one of compassion because they are blind and in need of His mercy even though they don't realize it? Serious questions to ponder as the world falls down around us.
Will we say, Here am I-send me, send me? Will God look and find no one, who will intercede on behalf of those held in bondage to the lies of the enemy? Will we let Him change our perspective from pointing the finger and being repulsed at their wrongdoing, to one of compassion because they are blind and in need of His mercy even though they don't realize it? Serious questions to ponder as the world falls down around us.
posted by Patti Blount @ 7:09 AM
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