Answers
By BGEA Admin • June 20, 2023 • Topics: Family, Prayer
Q:
My husband’s brother is a cruel man to everyone he knows. He’s filled with hatred and is his own worst enemy. He continues to dig in where he should let up. My pastor tells us to keep praying for him, but he only gets worse. We had hoped that our Christian witness would speak to him and convict him. Should we put our prayer time into others who have more hope?
A:
From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham
Sin and the sense of inner unworthiness impair physical and mental well-being. The sense of physical impurity and physical immorality, the sense of hatred directed toward our fellow men, the awareness of our own inadequacy and frustration and our inability to achieve the goals to which we aspire—these are the real reasons for physical and mental illness.
The sense of guilt and sin that natural man carries within renders him unfit for the performance of his duties; renders him sick in both mind and body. It’s no accident that Jesus combined healing with His preaching and teaching when He was on Earth. There is a very real relationship between the life of the spirit and the health of the body and mind.
Those who have read the Bible know the transformation that took place in the life of a man named Saul when he encountered Jesus Christ. His heart was changed and he was transformed from one of the most destructive enemies of Christ to one of His mightiest advocates: the beloved Apostle Paul. Equally dramatic changes in human personalities take place still today.
We can never pray for too many people, asking the Lord for an outpouring of God’s Spirit upon a willful and unrepentant soul. The ministry of intercessory prayer, particularly for the lost, is so important.
(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)
