3 months of hard prayer

Last week I was talking with a friend about her husband. Well really about her husband’s friend and how she really truly didn’t like him. She felt the friend was a bad influence on her husband. It wasn’t just typical dislike either, it was really, truly, completely wanted this man to be gone. She had been pushed so far as to think mean thoughts of this man.

Definitely not from God.

We had talked about this many times before, and each time we talked about her husband being a good influence on this man, and how he probably didn’t have anyone else to show him God’s love in his life. But this never really made much of a difference for her. I’m sure in her head it did, and she knew we were speaking the truth, but it didn’t fix how she felt for her husband. And when she “discussed” it with her husband it only caused fights between them. I had been hearing this same story for years.

Then it occurred to me…

What if it wasn’t the husband that was in this man’s life. What if it was this man in her life. God uses everything to bring us closer to him, right? So why was this man in her life? Why was she in his?

So I put out a challenge.

For the next 3 months she was to pray for this man every day. Not that he would leave her husband’s life, but pray for him. His well being, his care, his health, and his coming to know God. And not focus at all on her husband’s relationship with him, or her dislike of him. 3 months of hard prayer.

Even if this man never changes one bit, God will use this time to change my friend. To bring her closer to Himself.

And to be fair, I am also joining this 3 months of hard prayer. I will be praying for someone who has made my life very difficult, someone I wish were out of my life. And I will try to focus on God’s will for her, not mine.

For the next 3 months I will pray for her everyday, and check in with my friend to see how she’s doing. Accountability is key in things you really don’t want to do.

Is there someone you should be praying for, but don’t really want to? Can you commit to 3 months for them?