(B.C. – Before Christ; A.D. – Anno Domini or In the year of the Lord, i.e. after the birth of Christ)
We know that in any organization or society, power and authority comes with responsibility; the greater the authority, the greater the responsibility. We Followers of Christ have received access to the tremendous power that raised Jesus from the dead (Eph. 1:19-20). It goes to say then, that this power also comes with tremendous responsibility designed to always glorify God, through Jesus Christ. We are called to follow the commandments of Jesus, and to emulate the way He did things, with the help of the same Spirit of God.
When it comes to praying with Scripture, our Resurrection Power is the driving force behind our words as we pray in the name of Jesus, who is the fulfillment of all the prophecies in the Old Testament. – Lk. 24:44. Given that all authority on heaven and earth was given to Him by His Father; if He deemed it fit to replace any of the precepts in the Old Testament with a new one, that should be our status quo. A good example will be the concept of vengeance and dealing with our enemies. Love your enemies, do good to those who hurt you, pray for them.
It makes sense then that scripture verses that relate to an old law that Christ has changed should not be part of our arsenal for the spiritual warfare that Paul instructs us to wage in Ephesians 6. With this in mind, it is bewildering to read or hear spiritual warfare prayers (some taken from scripture), from Followers of Christ pronouncing a death wish on their enemies!
The Psalmist had a right to do that in his writings, but we who follow the teachings of Christ, do not have that liberty. We must pay attention to the fact that Paul said our battle was against spiritual wickedness. Now, the enemy uses human beings, knowingly or unknowingly, to wage his war against his targets by putting his wicked spirit in them and sending them to distract and obstruct the faithful. But the Sword/Word of God should not be directed against the person, (whom Christ died for and is yearning to reconcile with), but against the wicked spirit operating in that person and the power controlling said spirit behind the scenes.
It is pointless wishing for the death of another human being, in the name of Jesus for that matter, when that is not what Jesus asked us to do. It is mind-boggling asking God to remove someone from this world, even the most wicked tyrant; who are we to ask God to change His timetable or plans for anybody’s life? Imagine if the earliest Followers of Christ had prayed for the death of one of their worst enemies, Saul (who was torturing and killing them); who would have written the letters and epistles of encouragement that Apostle Paul wrote? Letters that continue to serve as a guide for our faith thousands of years later?
We are either Followers of Christ as Christians or we are not. While He did not do away with all the precepts of the old covenant, He did modify some of them to correspond to the new life we have in Him. We should therefore filter our B.C. scripture-based prayers through the lens of our Redeemer, Jesus, and the way He asked (and showed) us to live in this world; especially if we choose to say those prayers to God in His name.
Originally written and published in March 2018
Hilltop Thoughts, Valley Strengths 