I had a pastor I work for rip me off, overwork me, psychologically, mentally, emotionally, and verbally abuse me, and he even physically abused a few others on his staff. I would be lying if I didn’t say that in my darkest moments, I prayed for bad things to happen to the guy. I was sitting back watching him succeed while I struggled. I wanted him to at least break his leg, or get the flu.
But I studied 2 Samuel 1 and saw how David responded to Saul’s death. He wept. He mourned. He fasted. He prayed. He wrote and sang a song of lament.
And I can say that 10 years after being abused by this pastor, I actually pray now that he would really come to know Jesus in a real way. I genuinely do because the Holy Spirit changes our hearts like that. I saw this guy’s downfall, moral failure, and the closing down of his church. I was part of blowing the whistle on him with a group of many others who had been grossly mistreated by him. But I can genuinely say, because of the love of Christ, I no longer wish ruin on him. I actually pray for him to see who Jesus really is.
Some fire is bad, some fire is good.
Maybe instead of wanting fire to fall on the people we dislike, we should be asking for a different kind of fire…
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