Deliver Us From Evil

                It’s week four in my blog and the title of our prayer session last night was “Deliver Us From Evil” and it is based on the story of church leaders who were put in jail for witnessing the gospel.  The story is told in Acts 4 where two of the disciples were put in jail temporarily for preaching the name of Jesus Christ.  When they were told they had to quit proclaiming God’s Word, their first course of action found in Acts 4:23 – 24 was to pray!  It should not surprise us that there will be opposition to any movement that can threaten to destabilize the norms and traditions of community life.  Most of the early opposition to the Christian witness came from within their own religious parties.  Remember, the first Christians were Jews and they did not see themselves as Christians, but as Jews who have been redeemed by Christ Jesus.  The fact that this faith did not mesh well with their established theologies found within their own chief priests reflects a reality that repeats in many different forms and thoughts. 

What’s important to understand is that it is OK for people to have different views and opinions, but to persecute someone because their views are different is when evil rears its ugly head.  In his book Dr. Teykl suggest that there are six areas where the spirit of evil thrives.  They include a spirit of religion that focuses more on  manmade doctrines and traditions than on seeking the face of God … a spirit of pride that stems from our feelings of independence and self-sufficiency … a spirit of accusation that dishonors leadership and blames them for everything we don’t like in our life and society … a spirit of prejudice built on attitudes of denominational superiority where one church thinks they are the only ones who do know the way to God … a spirit of judgment where self-righteousness focuses on works over grace, and a spirit of fear that arises out of the issue of control.

                What I find interesting about these spirits is how evil often arises when something good is distorted.  For example, there is nothing wrong with religion unless it becomes more about us than God.  In the Christian religion, we need to teach people the prayer of seeking God’s face, not ours for their help and salvation.  There is nothing wrong with pride if it is associated with a thankful heart that knows the truth about our own brokenness.  We need to learn the prayer of brokenness before God, always recognizing that we are nothing apart from God.  Accusation is not always bad.  Sometimes, when we make an accusation, we are revealing an injustice that needs to be revealed.  Accusation, like judgment, can be good things is the end goal is to protect and help people in love and compassion and grace.  We need to learn the prayers of honor for our leaders and compassion for those in need to be truly helpful.  Prejudice is never good, but it can arise from a healthy sense of self esteem, which is not bad in itself, but to keep one’s self esteem in check, we must learn the prayer of agreement, recognizing our need to work with others to get things done.  Finally, fear is a good thing if it is the fear of the Lord.  The problem with fear is that we often fear the consequences of displeasing others more than we fear displeasing the Lord.  We need to learn the prayer of faith that dispels ungodly fear, asking God to show us and move us toward the peace that can be found on the other side of a healthy fear of the Lord God the Almighty.

                This week, I am going to spend some time learning some new ways to pray that I explored last night in our study.  I hope you find your way to learn some good prayers to pray this week as well.

-          Dennis