Page 146 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8
P. 146
Foundational Discussions in Christian Psychology
The frequency of the prayer of blessing The attitude of the one praying
The frequency of the prayer depends on the The attitude of the pray-er is very important. It
pray-ers motivation and circumstance. On a should be a humble attitude, standing (or sit-
day in which one does not go out of the house ting, walking or driving) before the Almighty
much, opportunity might be limited to people God on behalf of the object of payer, asking the
in the house or who can be seen from windows. Almighty God to intervene in that person or or-
The pray-er might pray for other people he/she ganisation or part of a city’s life with His absolu-
knows about or general prayers of blessing for a te goodness and mercy.
place such as organisation suburb/sub-division
or town/city. In the prayer for personal blessing, some of the
deception that often enters the prayer life is sel-
Other people who go to work, school, univer- fishness and hope for prosperity. In this prayer
sity or shopping might pass by a multitude of for blessing for others, this is less of a problem
people in vehicles, on foot and a multitude of and the believer can see himself/herself as follo-
places such as buildings (apartments and office wing Jesus as mediator between his/her neigh-
, houses, shops and public places. It would be bour and the Lord for the Lord’s most wonder-
impossible to pray for all, so the pray-er will just ful intervention in that person’s life.
select a few one after the other. Such a pray-er
may pray 40-60 times per day.
Taking the prayer of blessing for others to
One’s job might also play a role. If the nature higher levels
of your job is to be around many people daily, The first level of the prayer of the prayer of bles-
many opportunities will arise. If one is secluded sing is in its simple form as described in sec-
in an office with few visitors – then there will be tions 4-9. Believers can, however, take it to hig-
less opportunities. her and wider levels. These are:
Obstacles to the lifestyle of praying for God’s • Praying for God to bless those who perse-
blessing cute you.
The motivation in this article should be enough • Being a blessing by appreciating the people
to get a believer to adopt the lifestyle of praying around you
God’s blessing. What people experience who
have made an inner commitment to do so, Each of these higher/wider levels will now be
is that they might simply forget to do it. They discussed shortly:
might be distracted by people in the same ve-
hicle as them and talk incessantly as they are Praying for God to bless those who persecute
used to, instead of praying. you.
In real life we often meet or have people that we
Others will start well but become to busy and are in conflict with. They may have hurt or ab-
forget to pray. used us or people close to us a long time ago or
recently or it may be on-going. Sometimes the
A simple remedy suggested is to pray for the perpetrator may be unknown. The believer’s re-
opportunities missed (or at least some of them) sponse to the perpetrator may vary from mur-
the moment one realise that you have forgotten. derous thoughts to hatred, to anxiety and fear,
As the prayer takes so little time, even the bu- or we may have suppressed our feelings.
siest person can live such a lifestyle of prayer.
We might come across these people or think
The Luke 10 Transformation lifestyle program- about them from time to time. In this artic-
me mentioned in section 4 is designed to assist le our faith-praxis is to pray God’s blessing on
believers individually or in congregations to them. In practice, however all our thoughts
overcome resistance to change and adopt the come flooding back and praying for blessing
new lifestyle. may be difficult.
145
