AltogetherLovely
Puritan Board Freshman
In reflection today, I've discovered that all of my prayers for unbelievers (whether ones I know, or when I'm praying for secular authorities, or any other case) always fall into one of two categories:
1) That they would repent and place their trust and hope in Christ.
or
2) That if God does not grant #1, that they would act in outward harmony with the principles of justice, mercy, and the tenets of God's Law.
This was not necessarily conscious, but it's the way my thoughts have always been oriented, and I've never though to ask if any other prayers are appropriate, or even required.
Today, I heard a friend of mine pray for an unbeliever regarding things like: joy in his family life, fulfillment with his earthly work, happiness for his children, and things like that.
Do you pray for those things about an unbeliever? I've never consciously avoided them, but more like a passive act of not praying such things because they don't seem all that important. I actually felt a little bothered internally when these things were prayed...thinking: "What good will fulfillment with work do? Why should there be joy and happiness in his life, if it does not first come from knowing God?"
Was that reaction wrong? Should we pray for those aspects of the lives of unbelievers? It still seems so shallow, but I have tremendous respect and admiration for the one I heard do it. Thanks for the insight.
1) That they would repent and place their trust and hope in Christ.
or
2) That if God does not grant #1, that they would act in outward harmony with the principles of justice, mercy, and the tenets of God's Law.
This was not necessarily conscious, but it's the way my thoughts have always been oriented, and I've never though to ask if any other prayers are appropriate, or even required.
Today, I heard a friend of mine pray for an unbeliever regarding things like: joy in his family life, fulfillment with his earthly work, happiness for his children, and things like that.
Do you pray for those things about an unbeliever? I've never consciously avoided them, but more like a passive act of not praying such things because they don't seem all that important. I actually felt a little bothered internally when these things were prayed...thinking: "What good will fulfillment with work do? Why should there be joy and happiness in his life, if it does not first come from knowing God?"
Was that reaction wrong? Should we pray for those aspects of the lives of unbelievers? It still seems so shallow, but I have tremendous respect and admiration for the one I heard do it. Thanks for the insight.