Jewish prayer: praying to God requires concentration
Saying a prayer properly is not easy. It requires intensive concentration from us. We fall very easily into the thoughtless pronunciation of the words and let ourselves be distracted by our …
Read moreJewish prayer: praying to God requires concentration
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praying for the lost. God has honored, and in many instances has answered, the fervent prayers of believers for the salvation of unbelievers. Concerning his own salvation, L. R. Scarborough, the second president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and inaugural occupant of the first established chair of evangelism in the world (“The Chair of Fire”), recounted:
The human beginning of the influence leading to my salvation was in the prayer of my mother in my behalf when I was an infant. She climbed out of bed, having gone down toward the grave that I might live, and crawled on her knees across the floor to my little cradle when I was three weeks of age, and prayed that God would save me in His good time and call me to preach.[1]
In fact, research has revealed in the last two decades that regardless of their sizes or locations, Southern Baptist churches who report the highest rates of baptisms attribute praying for the salvation of unbelievers by name to their evangelistic effectiveness.[2]
Although historical examples and investigative evidence of God’s blessing on believers’ prayers for the salvation of the lost can be documented, do any biblical precedents exist concerning praying for the salvation of unbelievers to substantiate these examples and evidences? Yes, the Bible does in fact establish precedents for believers to pray for the salvation of the lost, when one considers that Jesus practiced, Paul acknowledged, and Scripture instructs prayer for the salvation of unbelievers.
The Bible attests that Christ prayed for the lost. Concerning the suffering Servant of the LORD, Isaiah writes: Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors” (Is 53:12, NKJV, emphasis added). In his account of the death of Jesus, Luke confirms that He interceded on behalf of those who crucified and reviled Him. He writes:
And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself” (Luke 23:33–36, NKJV, emphasis added).
As Christ suffered for the sins of the world on the cross, He prayed for the forgiveness of sinners who crucified and reviled Him. The Bible does not indicate that all, or even many, of those for whose forgiveness He prayed actually received it. Nevertheless, one of the crucified criminals who at first derided Him (Matt 27:44) later entreated the Lord. As a result, he was forgiven of his sins and naturalized a citizen of Paradise by the Savior who cared enough to pray for him.
In addition, the apostle Paul acknowledged praying for the salvation of unbelieving Israel. He wrote to the believers in Rome, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1, NKJV). Paul’s desire for the salvation of his fellow countrymen led him to pray for their salvation. Although not all Israel was saved during his lifetime, he looked forward in faith to a day when the fullness of the Gentiles’ salvation would be accomplished and his prayer for Israel to be saved would be answered (Rom 11:26a).
Finally, believers are commanded to pray in various ways for all people, kings, and authorities. Paul writes,
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:1–4, NKJV).
The apostle explains that the prescribed petitions on behalf of “all men, … kings … [and those] who are in authority” 1) should be practiced in order to live godly and reverently in peace and 2) should prove good and acceptable to God who desires the salvation of everyone. For these reasons, the supplications, prayers, and intercessions required of believers should include a petition for the salvation of all people.
Consider that most, if not all, of the kings and authorities to whom Paul refers were not only non believers, but they had actively oppressed believers. No wonder Paul appeals to the hope of a day when believers could lead godly and reverent lives in peace, free from the threat of persecution. Such a day was possible if the believers in Paul’s day would pray for the salvation of these tyrannical rulers, and as a result of hearing the gospel they would believe, thus bringing an end to their oppressiveness.
In addition, Paul claims that praying for the salvation of all men is pleasing and acceptable to God. As Thomas Lea explains, “The relative clause of v. 4 provides the basis for the assertion in v. 3 that prayer for all people is pleasing to God. The goal of the prayers Paul urged is that all people be saved. Intercession for all people pleases the God who desires all to be saved.”[3] God desires to see everyone saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, though not all will do so.
Therefore, in order to lead godly and reverent lives in peace and to please God with their supplication, prayers, and intercession, believers are instructed to pray for the salvation of all people, great and small.
In a sermon he entitled, Mary Magdalene, C.H. Spurgeon urged the following in regards to believers’ responsibility to plead for the salvation of the lost:
Until the gate of hell is shut upon a man, we must not cease to pray for him. And if we see him hugging the very doorposts of damnation, we must go to the mercy seat and beseech the arm of grace to pluck him from his dangerous position. While there is life there is hope, and although the soul is almost smothered with despair, we must not despair for it, but rather arouse ourselves to awaken the Almighty arm.
On their own merit, historical examples like that of Scarborough and/or pragmatic evidences like those documented by Rainer and Parr provide believers reasons to pray for the salvation of unbelievers. However, the example of Jesus, the acknowledgement of Paul, and the instruction of 1 Tim 2:1–4 as presented above reveal to believers their obligation to pray for the salvation of the lost.
When a believer prays for the soul of a lost person and he is subsequently saved, skeptics may attribute it to nothing more than mere coincidence. When churches pray for the salvation of unbelievers by name and effective evangelistic growth results, cynics might consider it pragmatism. However, perhaps the most appropriate label to designate believers who pray for the salvation of the lost would be “biblical.”
[1]L. R. Scarborough, “The Evolution of a Cowboy,” in L. R. Scarborough Collection, 17, Archives, A. Webb Roberts Library, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, n.d, 1.
[2] Thom Rainer, Effective Evangelistic Churches (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1996), 67–71, 76–79 and Steve R. Parr, Steve Foster, David Harrill, and Tom Crites, Georgia’s Top Evangelistic Churches: Ten Lessons from the Most Effective Churches (Duluth, Georgia Baptist Convention, 2008), 10–11, 26, 29
Candle flame spiritual meanings
While burning, candles also speak a language of their own, which you can learn to interpret with some effort. You must have wondered why that candle is acting so strange, well below is the explanation of what a flame does. Keep an eye on! If you are going to make sure there is no draft, even if you walk past it, a flame goes back and forth, so sit at 2 meters away from it, because if you breathe in and out, the flame can affect it.
Take the regular thin candle 2.02 cm, no stumps or larger, if you have a thick stump candle, then take a new one, the first 2/5 cm of a new candle is still possible. When the candle is halfway through, it no longer gets enough oxygen and it goes back and forth, so that means nothing.
With the Xenos they also have pillar candles of 4.5 cm thickness and 10 cm long and they burn out completely. The disadvantage of pillar candles that are thicker than 5 cm is that you can always throw away half of it or you have to make new candles out of it. You can do that again in a knotton roll of kitchen paper just the right size.
The north stands for physical manifestation, symbolizing purity, purity, innocence, inner growth, death and rebirth and is paradoxical.
The east always stands for birth, the east symbolizes new life, a new beginning, the power of creation, optimism, vision, hope and clarity.
The west stands for maturity, for inner strength, for the healing of all your wounds. It is the place of love, an open heart, and you can see where life has really brought you.
The south stands for initiation, it stands for your youth; the direction of pure life without any restraint. It is the direction of innocence and the direction of losing your innocence, to come to responsibility. The south is action. And from the action where you have met the full life.
If your candle burns solidly, it means that power and energy is going to your manifestation, so a very good sign.
There is opposition, the ritual will probably have to be performed a few more times to achieve the intended success.
There are raw emotions and an explosion of energy is taking place.
The flame vibrates for no apparent reason: The current state changes.
Is that a good sign, because it shows that all power and energy will be used for the purpose.
The tip of the fire tongue has a light color: Success, happiness and improvement of the current situation. (But if the glow lasts for a while, the windfall also takes a while)
A coming disappointment. The flame is small, gives little light: Be careful when making decisions.
Flame describes a spiral / revolves around its own axis: Indicates the presence of people who want to bring evil to your house.
Flame is slender and slender, seems to want to turn down: A sign of danger.
The flame is very narrow and high (15-20 cm): Someone is cheating on you or you will get a financial benefit in the future.
The flame seems to dance and moves in different ways: An ‘energy’ is happy that contact was established and would like to provide comfort or advice.
A disaster report? If the deaf goes a bit more gradually, this is a sign that it is better to start again with setting your goal and to prepare better. It could also be that someone is working against it.
Extinguishing flame: Your goal is missed, it is best to start over again and this time set your intentions more carefully, it may also be that someone is trying to stop your creation.
The flame continues to burn quietly: You are listened to carefully.
A crackling flame: It may be that someone from the spirit world is communicating with you, trying to tune into this sound so that you understand what is being said.
If the flame crackles strongly: Is there a disagreement or quarrel about your intention / purpose of burning?
The flame crackles softly and irregularly: The spirit world communicates with you, the thoughts are pure. The flame is regularly but mildly crackling: Someone has authority, someone gives orders.
Numbers / numbers are important with various forms of magic, including with magic candles. If you believe in a higher power or an energy that connects us, then it is good to put 1 apart for this in addition to the amount of candles that you burn.
1 candle: is for 1 purpose, 1 person, 1 prayer, or for the beginning of something. 1 candle is a direct question!
2 candles: brings balance and keeps the energy of the candles in the house. For a romantic dinner where the atmosphere and the contact between two people must remain there, you burn 2 candles.
3 candles: is for divine power, for balance, for love that is not physical …. all good consists of 3.
4 candles: is for balance with groups, family etc. Here too the energy stays where it is already present. 4 is earthly (4 points of the compass) and is also used for the progress of material things.
5 candles: is for friends (group balance + 1 for the higher), but also for repairing setbacks.
6 candles:is what is controversial …. for some the 6 is the number of evil, others see it as a perfect number because it is the sum of its own factors (1,2,3) and the sum of 2×3 is. 6 is used for domestic matters and balance. I never burn 6 candles myself, unless it is 2x 3 and this is clearly visible in the color or location of the candles.
7 candles: is often used for occult matters. 7 is a number of the unseen, the philosophical and the spiritual. reverse or neutralize.
8 candles: I have not yet lit a fire, the number 8 is a continuous number, 2 zeros on each other or 2×4 and stands for willpower and individuality. According to some, it is also the number of regrets and you could use 8 candles to make up for something.
9 candles:is for everything that is finite … is perfect, or to achieve this. The number 9 is the ultimate number and is considered a special number with sacred meaning. 9 is also the transition number.
11 candles: is for the special consciousness, balancing between good and evil.
12 candles: is for powerful completeness. There are 12 months, zodiac signs .
13 candles: ..oooo …. for some it is the calling of misfortune and bad friends, but I also hear many people for whom this number means the opposite. Sometimes it is very useful to know which color belongs to which day. Certainly if you want to burn a candle for something that needs extra light and / or warmth in the near future. Even when you want to pick out a color of candles for a special day … or you don’t know how to choose a color for a special ritual.
Finally, I want to give an advice! A general rule is that everything you give will come back 3x … this does not only apply to all positive things, but also in other areas. Remember this very well in advance !!
