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ON PRAYER PRIDE
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, August 7, 2025 – When I was an atheist, one of the things that bothered me the most about Christians was their insistence that they pray for me. They’d tell me that they wanted to pray for me, sometimes asking me if that was OK, but most of the time not. If they did ask, I would turn them down with a sneer. No means no, even when it comes to God’s blessings.
The pride that some Christians take in praying for others still bothers me as a born-again believer. Prayer is the most powerful force in the universe, and it should never be used lightly or against the wishes of the recipient. It should also never be done from a position of pride. Or better said, it can’t be done from a position of pride, any more than it can be done lightly or against people’s wishes. Christians may think they’re praying in these cases, but all they’re doing is the spiritual equivalent of spinning their wheels. They’re accomplishing nothing good and going nowhere.
After I was born-again, God let me in on a secret that he’d held from me for decades as an unbeliever. He revealed to me that my grandmother had secretly prayed for me all those years. She’d prayed for me without telling me (and yes, without asking me) because God had guided her to do so, and she prayed from a place of grandmotherly love, not from pride. She did it in secret, and she did it out of obedience to God.
When I was born-again, my grandmother was the first person I told, because in my mind she was the only person I knew who’d understand what had happened to me. What I didn’t know at the time was that God had me rush to tell her because the news of my conversion was part of his payment to her for her labors. She wasn’t just the only person I knew who’d understand what had happened to me, she was the one person who needed to hear it, and God made sure she did. Scripture says there’s more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents, and that same joy is felt in genuine believers like my grandmother. We believers get paid first and foremost in joy, the kind that only comes from God through his Holy Spirit. Sure, we get other blessings, too (God is very generous to his children), but the main payment is joy.
We need to pray only for those God guides us to pray for, in obedience to him, not to “Christian prayer tradition”. Jesus wasn’t a fan of public prayer and used it only in rare cases where circumstances demanded it be used and where God guided him to use it. Otherwise, he followed his own advice of retreating to his prayer closet (or to anyplace private) and praying in secret for those God guided him to pray for. Jesus is our model for how to pray, not YouTube prophets or televangelists or street preachers. We’re to pray in secret and only with God’s go-ahead, and to pray from a place of love, not pride.
Prayer is the most powerful force in the universe; we need to respect it as such.
LET US PRAY
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 2, 2025 – Do we pray for success or for God’s will to be done?
Because sometimes God’s will is that we fail. Sometimes God’s will is that we suffer. Sometimes God’s will is that we lose and that we die, or that our loved ones fail, suffer, lose, and die.
The pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness is a wild goose chase, as only God can give us those things, and not by our pursuing them. We get them only by doing God’s will.
When people ask me to pray for them, I pray for God’s will to be done. Some people don’t like that. They insist that I pray for their health or their healing or their success in a venture, or whatever it is they’ve specifically asked me to pray for. But what if their spiritual well-being can only come from their worldly failure? What if God’s will is the opposite of what they want? What if they need to suffer in order to heal in the only way that really matters?
We cannot and should never pray against God. We must and only pray for God’s will to be done. If the old adage cautions us to be careful in what we wish for, how much more careful should we be in what we pray for?
Last fall, I spent a few months attending various church services around Halifax. I was struck by amount of time the ministers spent praying for the worldly success of this or that parishioner, this or that politician, this or that dignitary. The laundry lists of prayer requests were long and tedious and centered mostly on physical healings and money-earning ventures. Not one request was about spiritual healing. Not one request asked that God’s will be done. It was all just “make them feel better” or “give them money”. Granted, this was the worldly church, but still.
“A people of none understanding.”
Sometimes God’s will is that we be allowed to fail and hit rock bottom. I know this from personal experience, because had I not failed and hit rock bottom, I would never have been reborn. The worldly church doesn’t focus on the need for some to hit rock bottom in order to heal, but we born-again believers need to focus on it. We need to highlight spiritual healing and well-being rather than physical or financial well-being. And the way to spiritual healing is almost always through worldly failure.
I will pray for you, if you ask me, but I will pray that God’s will be done and that you accept whatever God wills. I cannot and will not pray any other way.
PRAY FOR HAMISH HARDING AND HIS FAMILY
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, June 20, 2023 – I do text editing and proofreading for my daily bread (Paul fixed tents; I fix tenses lol groan).
One of my clients years ago was a search and rescue (SAR) helicopter pilot who wrote articles for military journals about his rescues. It was fascinating to read his “insider scoops” about his missions. Many of the rescues were of people who’d done things they shouldn’t have done, such as gone skiing in locations that were off-limits due to avalanche dangers or headed out to sea in an approaching storm in a flimsy boat. Still, as a SAR operative, my client always had to put his personal feelings aside about the foolhardiness of the people he was attempting to rescue. He had to put his personal feelings aside and conduct a rescue mission, even if he personally believed it was a lost cause and even if it meant he had to put himself in harm’s way. Regardless of his personal opinions on the matter, he had to conduct a rescue mission. That was his job.
There’s no shortage of people doing things they’ve been warned not to do who then get themselves in a pickle they need rescuing from. But the time of rescue efforts is the not the time for giving up hope or for wagging your finger or for saying “I told you so.” The time of rescue efforts is to do everything in your power to bring the distressed people to safety. After they’re safe, then you can lecture them.
I mention this because a big part of our job as born-again believers is to pray for people. If people request our prayers, we pray for them. Our prayers are our spiritual SAR. We offer our prayers regardless of our personal feelings about the people who’ve asked for them or the reason they’ve asked for them. When people ask for our prayers, we go into spiritual SAR mode and conduct the requested mission.
As of the time of writing this article, a billionaire adventurer has gone missing during a trip in a submersible to the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic. His family has requested prayers. And because his family has requested prayers, we need to pray for the safe rescue of the billionaire and everyone else on board the submersible. Regardless of our personal feelings about the man’s adventures (or now misadventures), we need to pray for him. That’s our job.
So please pray for him. The man’s name is Hamish Harding. Please pray for Hamish Harding, at the request of his family. Please pray for his safe rescue and the safe rescue of all those on board the Titan.
“Hamish Harding’s stepson, Brian Szasz, confirmed his stepfather was on board the vessel when it went missing.
“‘Hamish Harding, my step father, has gone missing on submarine. Thoughts and prayers,’ he wrote on Facebook, sharing family photos and articles.
“‘Thoughts and prayers for my Mom and Hamish Harding,’ he added.
“In a follow-up post, he added: ‘Thoughts and prayers for my stepfather Hamish Harding as his submarine has gone missing exploring Titanic. Search and rescue mission is underway.’“
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tldr: When people ask for your prayers, you give them your prayers.
That’s a non-negotiable request.
Regardless of your personal feelings towards the people making the request or the reason for their request, you pray for them. You ask God to help them.
That is your duty as a Christian.
If you choose not to do your duty, you’ll have God to answer to.
OUTRAGED? PRAY!
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, May 26, 2023 – Every day, it seems, globalized corporations are releasing more and more explicit ad campaigns promoting degeneracy. The videos and images are meant to shock, not sell, as the aim of the campaigns is not to win customers but souls. They do that by trading in the currency of outrage.
Have you been outraged lately? Have you seen the images of the all-but-naked men parading around in high heels in libraries (of all places), thrusting their bikinied groin just inches from a child’s face? Have you seen the lite beer ads? How about the ad campaign for children’s “rainbow clothes” for “rainbow season”?
Christians, according to Christian forums, are in a constant state of outrage these days about what is happening all around them. But if an ad is obviously aimed to shock and promote outrage, Christians need to step back and take the high road.
Outrage will get you nowhere good spiritually. Outrage fuels the devil and makes him stronger. Jesus told us to be offended in nothing, and that includes satanically inspired ads meant to shock you into outrage. We’re not to be outraged. We’re to pray, not denigrate; bless, not curse; do good, not evil. That’s what Jesus taught us.
Prayer, as I’ve said many times here on this blog, is the most powerful force in the universe. When you bypass outrage and go straight to prayer, you give God permission to intervene in the situation. When God intervenes, he knows exactly what to do. He knows all the sweet spots of every soul on Earth; he knows exactly what to whisper in the ears of the lost at exactly the right time. We, on the other hand, don’t know the sweet spots or what or when to whisper, which is why we need to react with prayer, not outrage.
Jesus never protested. Scripture prophesied that the Messiah would not raise his voice in the streets like a rabble-rouser or an insurrectionist, and so he didn’t. The only time we see Jesus visibly angered is in the temple, when he overturned tables and whipped the money changers, which he did in accordance with prophecy.
Outrage is not a valid Christian response to worldly provocations. Outrage is not righteous anger. What Jesus did in the temple is righteous anger. Getting mad at men who wobble around in high heels is not righteous anger. If something or someone provokes you, put aside your outrage and start praying. Ask God to intervene and to help and heal all those involved. That’s how you fight against the current tidal wave of degeneracy. That’s how you don’t sell your soul. If the devil wants you to be outraged because it makes him stronger and God’s Kingdom weaker, call his bluff.
Default directly to prayer.
That’s how you win this game.
GETTING THE MIRACLE YOU NEED
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, August 18, 2022 – So many people praying for a miracle, praying for healing, praying for the cancer to go away or at least to go into remission. Praying for relationships to be healed. Praying for enough money to pay the bills or maybe a lottery win.
Praying for a miracle.
And then, when the requested miracle doesn’t come, so many people crying to God: “Why are you doing this to me? What have I done to deserve this?” and cursing him, or worse, swearing he doesn’t exist.
But God answers all prayers, including those made in the agony of the soul. You might not get the exact miracle you requested, but you will get a miracle. God will intervene, if you ask him to. Through divine intervention, he’ll give you the strength to endure whatever it is you’re going through, whatever it is you’ve brought on yourself, whatever it is you have to suffer. There’s your miracle. The miracle is in the power of your strength to endure, which you wouldn’t have had if you hadn’t prayed to God for help. Your strength to endure is God working through you. There’s your miracle.
People ask me if God works miracles in my life, and I say yes, every minute of every day. Every minute of every day God works through me. Every day I witness his intervention, because I constantly ask for it and thank God for it. Every day I see his miracles.
I may not get precisely what I ask for, but I do get what God knows I need to stay on the path Home. And sometimes he’ll throw in a little something extra, something he knows I’ll know could only have come from him, just to make me laugh. God loves it when he can make us laugh.
The night before Jesus was crucified, he prayed to God that there would be some other way for him to complete his mission without his having to be crucified. He didn’t want to be crucified. He didn’t want the agony and very public humiliation of that kind of death. But note that he qualified his prayer with “not what I want, but you want”, and he prayed the same prayer three times in succession, showing us that we need to be persistent in prayer, so that God knows we mean what we say and that it’s not just a passing fancy.
Jesus didn’t get specifically what he asked for; he was crucified. But immediately after Jesus prayed, God sent an angel to strengthen him. There was the miracle he needed – not the miracle he wanted, but the miracle he needed to get through what he had to get through in order to get Home.
Our strength to endure whatever we have to endure is not our strength; it doesn’t come from us, no matter how strong we think we are. That strength to endure comes from God. That is divine intervention. That is a miracle.
So whatever you pray for, pray like Jesus – qualify your prayers by telling God not to give you what you want, but what he wants. God loves you even more than you love yourself, so if you give God leave to give you what he wants rather than what you want, you’ll always come out ahead. Yes, Jesus had to deal with being crucified, but he was crucified while also strengthened by God to endure it. Imagine how much worse it would have been for Jesus without God’s help.
I know how bad things can get when you don’t pray for God’s help, because I lived the first 36 years of my life on Earth without praying to God, and I stumbled from one disaster to the next. I was constantly an emotional basket case, constantly flailing in pain, and constantly casting blame like an AK-47 spraying bullets.
But on that day when I finally called out for help, not even knowing who I was calling to, God heard, and he answered immediately. He offered me the option of choosing to forgive or choosing not to forgive, showing me the outcome of each choice and shining a bright light on the choice to forgive as the right one and the one that would stop all my pain. Thank God I cried out for help that day. Thank God God heard me, and thank God he answered.
God always hears our prayers and always answers them. Always. There is never a time when he doesn’t. When you give God leave to intervene, he might not do exactly what you want him to do, but he will do what’s best for you. That’s his job description as your Heavenly Father.
So pray to God like Jesus prayed – not demanding, not expecting, not threatening or negotiating, but humbly giving into God’s will for you, whatever that may be.
That’s how you pray, and that’s how you get the miracle you need.
ON ABORTION, ROE v. WADE, AND PRAYER
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, June 24, 2022 – Women who declare “my body, my choice” in support of abortion apparently fail to realize that the baby inside a mother’s womb is not the mother’s body.
The baby has a different body than the mother’s, with different DNA.
So the argument “my body, my choice” fails right from the start, as the baby and the mother have different bodies that may temporarily be conjoined but are still different and unique.
Women who want the right to kill their babies would have to say: “The body inside my body is my right to kill”, although I’m not sure which right they would draw on to make that assertion.
As born-again believers, we know that killing the unborn in what should be the safest place on Earth for a baby (the womb) is a demonically inspired act. In fact, it is of benefit to the Satanic realm (to which the demons belong) that babies be killed, as that prolongs the time of the Gentiles and forestalls the demons’ final descent into the lake of fire. It is to their benefit that babies be killed, and so they inspire these women to kill their children. The outcry against today’s Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling is likewise demon-inspired.
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When I was an atheist, I was intimately acquainted with the abortion ritual. I was also heavily demonically oppressed and occasionally possessed until my rebirth 23 years ago. In hindsight, I know what drove me to hate the unborn, though at the time my hatred was dressed up as a “woman’s right” I refused to concede.
After I was born-again, I hated abortion. However, I have never supported pro-life organizations. I agree with their focus on stopping abortions, but I don’t support how they do it. I don’t support their methods. They come across as finger-pointers and haters rather than as lovers of their enemies who bless and pray for expectant women who don’t want to mother the child in their womb. I think a lot more would be accomplished if people prayed for mothers who are considering abortions rather than attacking and vilifying them.
A woman who wants to kill her own child is a very sick woman and should be treated as such; she is also an expectant mother and should be treated as such. Most importantly, her illness is spiritual, so her treatment must also be spiritual. She needs to be prayed for, not attacked and vilified. And Jesus tells us to go into our closets to pray, not out onto the street or in front of an abortion clinic or hospital. We don’t publicly announce our prayers for expectant mothers who want to abort their children; we pray in secret for them.
Abortion may be made illegal in one area, but as long as Satan rather than God rules in the hearts of some expectant mothers, abortions will continue elsewhere. As born-again followers of Jesus, our job isn’t to condemn spiritually sick expectant mothers who want to kill the child in their womb, but to pray for these women that they come to repentance and are healed by God. This is the same prayer we pray for everyone God puts in our heart to pray for: Whether they’re expectant mothers or not, the same treatment applies.
We should also not be so naïve as to think the ruling today is a victory for “good”. Abortion is an industry, and the same forces that benefit from that industry lord over the Supreme Court. As Jesus reminded us, the world is under Satan. The chaos, destruction and hatred that is about to be unleashed in response to the Roe v. Wade ruling will cast long shadows spiritually over the world. We need to make up our mind right now that our response to the hatred will not be finger-pointing and vilifying, but praying.
HOW DO CHRISTIANS PROTEST? THROUGH PRAYER
DARTMOUTH, Nova Scotia, June 3, 2021 – God has given Christians their very own special way to protest – it’s called “prayer”.
I mention this because some Christians don’t seem to have gotten that memo.
If you don’t like the way things are, you take it to God. You pray about it.
Christians protest through prayer.
I’ll say that again, a little louder for those who still haven’t heard:
CHRISTIANS PROTEST THROUGH PRAYER.
We don’t carry signs and make demands of the world: We pray. We ask God to change what we don’t like (through divine intervention), or we ask him to help us to accept what we don’t like or to help us find a workaround for it.
Either way, we go to God, just like Jesus did (and just like Jesus taught us to do). We don’t stand in public making a big show of it; we go into the privacy of our room (or our head) and we talk to God. We air our grievances in quiet petition to God, not in noisy protest to the world.
I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record (and I apologize for that), but this needs to be said one more time. There are some Christians reading this who still don’t get it.
Christians are to protest through private or group prayer, and preferably not in public. The only time Jesus prayed aloud in public was when he was making a point (namely, that he was the Messiah), in which case he’d preface his prayers by saying something like “Father, I know you always hear me, but I’m saying this so that the people here will know you sent me.” And then God would work a miracle through him. But otherwise, when he wanted to pray, Jesus went off by himself. He told us to go into our room to pray. He didn’t say anything about taking it to the street. Jesus at no time participated in mass public protests. So if Jesus didn’t do it, neither should we.
The only petitions you should be supporting are those sent to God in prayer.
Please consider this the next time you’re tempted to “do something” in response to a grievance.
As a Christian, prayer should be your first and last and one-and-only form of protest.
Take it to God, not to the street.
YOU HAVE NOT BECAUSE YOU ASK NOT, SO ASK!
DARTMOUTH, Nova Scotia, May 3, 2021 – God gave us free will as our birthright. In fact, our will is the only thing we own; everything else belongs to God.
It’s important that we understand that.
It’s even more important to understand that God respects our free will. That means, he won’t override it.
Then how do we get God to intervene when we need his help?
We pray.
Prayer gives permission to God to intervene in our lives.
When we pray, we hit the override button on our free will.
God knows what we need, but we need to ask him in order for him to be able to override our free will.
So ask him!
Jesus says we don’t have because we don’t ask. We need to ask God – that is, to make an inward and/or outward statement FROM THE HEART – if we want him to intervene. If we don’t do that, even though God knows we need something, he’s not going to intervene because he respects our free will.
I’ve written before about prayer simply being a conversation with God. But prayer, sadly, is something most people only do on occasion or for special purposes, whereas Paul tells us we need to “pray without ceasing”, that is, to pray ALL THE TIME.
We need to ask God for help and advice through prayer all the time, not just on special occasions or before we fall asleep at night. We need to keep a running conversation with God all the time.
“You have not because you ask not.”
God’s people are strong-willed, even though to the world they might look otherwise. Unfortunately, strong-willed people tend also to be very independent and to think they can do everything for themselves, leaving God out of the picture. But even as strong as Jesus was (and he was by far the strongest person who ever lived), he still kept a running conversation with God, meaning that he prayed for God’s help and guidance all the time.
We need to do the same.
For everything,
All the time.
Because tests and temptations come at us non-stop. We may not see them as such, but they are. So we need to give God permission to intervene in every aspect of our lives, not just the “spiritual” parts. We need to ask his help and guidance when we choose our meals and our clothing, when we’re doing business deals, when we’re dealing with difficult people, when we’re going shopping – whatever choices we make in the run of a day, we need to get God’s help and guidance. We can even ask him to get the dog next door to stop barking. God will do that, if you ask him. Or if for some reason he chooses not to stop the dog from barking, he’ll at least make it so the barking doesn’t disturb you anymore. But he won’t do that if you don’t ask him.
This is what Jesus meant when he says “YOU HAVE NOT BECAUSE YOU ASK NOT.”
We need to ask. We need to keep the conversation with God running all day long, like Jesus did. God should be the first one we greet when we wake up in the morning, and the last one we say good-night to before we fall asleep. During the day, we should know he’s with us like a faithful companion and always ready to intervene at our word. But you have to ask. Yes, God knows everything, but you still need to ask. You need to give God permission, because he will not override your free will without your explicit permission.
If you do nothing else today, open a conversation with God and keep it going until the day you die. Know that God is with you at all times through his Spirit and he wants to guide and help you in everything you do. Give him permission for each thing you want help with, and remember to thank him. Thank Jesus, too, because he’s also with you in Spirit. We’re all one family in God’s Spirit. Jesus promised us we would be, and so we are.
If we have not it’s because we ask not.
So let’s ask!
PRAYER WARRIORS AND OTHER VAIN REPEATERS
DARTMOUTH, Nova Scotia, November 6, 2016 – Like Jesus, I am no stranger to confrontation. In fact, in this ongoing revolution called “being a Christian in an anti-Christ world”, confrontation should be a daily occurrence – not with unbelievers (Jesus didn’t bother them) but with those who say they know God yet by their words and actions prove otherwise.
Enter Exhibit A: “Prayer warriors”. Never mind the stupidity of the phrase; let’s look at what these self-hyped “warriors” think they’re accomplishing. (more…)
BE KIND AND PRAY
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, July 23, 2016 – Jesus is very clear about how we are to treat people who hate us: We are to be kind to them and pray for them.
We are not to seek revenge in any way or to curse them. We are to be kind to them and pray for them.
Praying means to be kind in our mind, not just in our words or actions.
There is no way that you can do either of those things (be kind and pray for people who hate you) without the help of God’s spirit. (more…)
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 