http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/eyeball-man-sentenced-for-shooting-officer/ar-BBhuzO7
I always feel bad for people who have ruined their lives in seemingly irreversible ways. And where I see humility and brokenness I hope all the more that God will meet them in that brokenness and humility and give them some kind of future and hope full of Christ.
Do you have anything inside of you that can pray that in his brokenness this man will encounter Christ and find the help and encouragement he'll need in prison, and God perhaps raise up a person who will pay to have his tattoos removed, and provide good Christian people who will visit him and minister to his spiritual needs? I'm serious.
Your thoughts and feelings?
I feel that some issues of rebellion:
yes, I would pray according to the issue, but! the below is what have happened in time past.
Pray Not For These People
What does this mean?
Q. I was shocked to see several passages where God tells Jeremiah not to pray for the Israelites anymore (Jeremiah 7:16 & 11:14). Does that mean God gives up on certain people and we shouldn't pray for them anymore? How do we know when He reaches that point?
Answer:
Great observation and question! Let's look at the texts first, and then check out some comparative scriptures in the New Testament. Then we need to decide if God calls us not to pray for some people.
Jeremiah's Texts
Jeremiah 7:16 says, "Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don't beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you."
Jeremiah 11:14 says, "Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress."
Intercession Revoked
These texts are particularly troubling because Old Testament prophets often interceded for rebellious people. Here God was telling Jeremiah to cease any intercession for the children of God. That was a shocking declaration.
Pray Not?
Should we "pray for these people anymore" when God has clearly delivered them to destruction? Does God tell us not to pray for certain people anymore?
It's a good question. But, we don't find any instance in the New Testament where Christians are commanded to quit praying for believers or unbelievers no matter who they are or what they have done.
God Lives in Eternity
Furthermore, God is beyond our space-time continuum. There is no past, present or future with Him. He is beyond our limited dimensional thinking of height, depth, width and one-half dimension of time (we can't go backwards in time yet). Isaiah 57:15 notes,
"For thus says the One who is high and
lifted up,
who inhabits eternity..." (ESV)
Only God inhabits eternity. Therefore, because of God's complete sovereignty over our lives we are told to be anxious for nothing and to pray for everything! (Philippians 4:6). We must continue to do so - to pray - until He tells us to do otherwise.
