Your negative prayers might be sabotaging your own growth

"Colossians 3:2 says to set your mind on things above, not on things on the Earth. Whatever we focus on, we give power to." - Graham Cooke 

My dear warriors,

Take a moment to read through the apostolic prayers in the New Testament. What do they all share in common? All of the apostles prayers were positive prayers. You will not find a negative prayer—and you most certainly won’t find any venting prayers! What do I mean by a positive or negative prayer? I mean that you will never see them ask God to remove a negative. Instead, they ask God for an impartation of a positive.

• Rather than praying for the removal of division, the apostles prayed for unity.
• Rather than praying for the removal of hate, they prayed for an impartation of God’s love.
• Rather than asking God to deliver people from fear, they asked the Lord to release peace! 
• Rather than asking the Lord to remove despair, they asked God to cause hope to abound!

God knows the human heart so well that He knew we would automatically tend towards the negative. It’s so easy for us to be negative in our fallen state that even our prayers can be negative! So when the Holy Spirit allowed those specific prayers of the apostles to be included in Scripture, it’s almost like He put His stamp of approval on them and showed us: this is how I want you to pray. Use these examples. 

But why does it matter? See, we were made to magnify. Specifically, we were created for the purpose of magnifying God, but because of our corrupted nature, if we lose our focus on God, then we magnify whatever we focus on. So these apostolic prayers are important because they are God-centered. They are not centered around a problem or focused on a negative. Many people direct their prayers and focus on the devil. If we spend most of our prayers talking to the devil, rather than to God, then I think something is wrong. (Granted, there is a time and place to address a devil, but our regular prayer times should be focused on conversation with God, not the enemy!) All of the prayers in the Bible that Jesus prayed were directed to God the Father, and He even taught His disciples to direct their prayers to the Father (Our Father, Who art in heaven…)

God taught us to pray positive prayers to establish a norm so that we might grow in love and unity. Negative prayers take our focus away from love and unity, and our prayers become sin-centric. We begin to focus on all the things that are wrong, all the places in people’s lives where they are lacking, where leadership is not all we expect it to be, etc. Those kinds of prayers can stir up anger, bitterness, resentment, judgmental attitudes and cause unnecessary division (particularly if prayed in a group setting). Of course it would be hyperbole to say that all negative prayers have a negative impact, and would be ridiculous to say that God doesn’t answer if we prayer for Him to ‘remove’ something negative rather than ‘impart’ something positive. God is kind enough to know what we need, and to answer according to how He sees fit. What is important here is that you reposition your own heart: and that begins in prayer.

“When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love them.” – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 

I’m going to rewrite Lewis’ quote as such: When you pray for your enemies, you will presently come to love them. (Or anyone. It isn’t necessary that they be your enemies). When you pray for the impartation of positive virtues rather than focusing on the removal of negative characteristics, you will find that God begins to heal your heart of the negative emotions towards the people you are praying for. I have found that whatever it is you pray for God to impart to other people, you cannot escape the Holy Spirit giving you that same thing! So if you pray for love, you will be filled with love. Pray for peace, and you will presently find yourself filled with peace. Pray for humility, and you, too, will be humbled.  

As you continue to grow and develop in your prayer life, and as you train yourself to pray positive prayers on a regular basis, you will find that God changes your heart. Your inner life will be transformed, and your lens will be changed. You will begin to see the world through God’s lens. He sees by the fruits of the Spirit; that’s how you will begin to see, too. Your emotions will become a little more positive each day, and you will find yourself developing kindness, mercy and compassion towards others. You’ll begin to heal from anger, bitterness and resentment; you’ll find yourself less prone to ungodly expression through sarcasm, cynicism and pessimism. You’ll find your mind transformed, and that what Paul says is true: you have the mind of Christ! (1 Cor. 2:16)

Finally, positive prayers help grow our faith, and help us operate in faith. These apostolic prayers were given by the Holy Spirit, so we can be confident (and know) that they will be fully answered. Negative prayers, venting prayers do not build up your faith. Your heart is not positioned rightly before God, and you are just praying for Him to ‘let ‘em have it!’ That won’t build you up, or encourage a right spirit or renew your mind, or heal your heart. 

Positive prayers promote unity, they change our hearts, transform our emotions, renew our minds, and build up our faith. Prayer, with a right focus like this, becomes exhilarating! I’m including a link to a list of apostolic prayers for you to start praying. Warriors, take to the battleground in intercessory prayer, and begin to pray just the way your Commander and King has taught you.

Click here for your Apostolic Prayer List

Live in the battleground,

Yours,
Warrior Beloved 

©Michèle Aimée, 2015