Pastor’s Column. When we pray for another person, it is not a matter of changing God’s mind about the person or exercising some magical spell over the person’s life. Before we even begin to pray, God’s concern for this person has been active. All of us, including those we pray for, live within the force field of God’s love. God is not only the power source for people with free will, but God’s love is our environment, the grid in which we live. The inner power of a person’s life can always be turned back on, for whether one chooses to love God, God loves her. Whether a person makes good choices, God is at work for this person’s wellbeing. And whether or not one chooses to plug in to God, our power source, God is standing by to restore inner strength.
When we pray for another person, what we’re doing is adding our concern to the love that God already has for the individual. Our prayers don’t have to turn the tide, as though it’s up to us entirely. We aren’t the person’s power source. God is. Our prayers, which sometimes lead to our cooperating with God via word and deed, are but added to the force field of God’s concern. And they only have to tip the balance of courage or hope or determination or whatever of God’s grace is needed by the person to result in his/her wellbeing. Tip the balance so that this person will be moved to hang in there, or endure the cure, or take responsibility for her life, or pick himself up and try again, or turn his life around. - DJ
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