PRAY IT! Prosper My City

To be honest, there have been times when, in my humanness, I wanted God to withhold blessings from my enemies.  There, I said it.  I do not think I am alone in feeling this way.  A quick browse through the Psalms shows many passages where the psalmist is crying out for deliverance, and for foes to be struck down.  Yet, in Jeremiah 29, we encounter God's instruction to His people on how to live with the enemies who had, for the time being, conquered them.  In verse 7:  "Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.  Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." 

What?  Whaaaaat?  Pray?  For God to prosper them?  For good things to happen to them?  Yes.

We do not have to hunt too hard for the prayer application here.  "Pray to the LORD for it"... it does not really get more specific and un-complicated than that, now, does it?  God is so nice, that He even included an explanation for those who may have had a similar reaction of surprise and confusion.  "Because if it [the city] prospers, you too will prosper." 

Our "city" is not some nameless, faceless, thing.  It is made up of people.  Real people with whom we may or may not agree.  Real people who from time to time make mistakes.  Real people whose decisions may result in negative consequences for us.  Real people who may or may not love Jesus.  And we have been called by God to pray for them all. 

Could it be self-destructive to not pray for the city in which we live?  If the city prospers, so do we.  If we withhold prayers of blessing for our city, is it like withholding God's blessings from ourselves as well... cutting off our noses to spite our faces, so-to-speak?  Is it possible the very deliverance we are seeking may come about through prayer of blessings for those who are troubling us rather than prayers for them to be struck down?

Jesus,
Release an abundant blessing upon my city.  Use your blessing to draw people to You.  May millions see that You are the Giver and respond by giving their lives to You.  Prosper my city. 

Amen.

PoC Prayer Service, 7pm.  Why not?

Pastor Celia