The Heart of Prayer: What You Feel Is What You Pray
The heart and emotion that supports your prayer is the most important thing, and not what you say. If you pray for someone and you inside feel good about them, then what’s prayed is the feel good. If you think in your heart, this person is amazing and they have a broad future ahead of them, and you pray for them saying, “I hope you die,” the thing you felt is what is prayed, not what you say.
There was once a homeless man whom I brought back to my apartment so he could get some rest. He prayed in this manner, praying good thoughts but thinking evil. He would say all the right things, but bad things happened to people when he prayed. Inside, he was hateful towards other people. And he attempted to turn me against my wife. That’s the evidence of his hatred towards her. I allowed him to pray over her, and he said good things, but then she developed a huge welt, and her womb started to hurt. I wound up taking him back to where I picked him up originally once I figured out what was going on. The bible says that the accuser of the brethren is Satan (Revelation 12:10), and I used to say that, and so my wife said it to me, and it snapped me out of my distorted thoughts. When I dropped him off, all the pain stopped, and the welt went away.
God, while on earth, told us to be careful about what we feel in our hearts.
1 John 3:15 NKJV
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Matthew 15:18 NLT
But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you.
Aka, the things that come from the heart are what defile you.
Matthew 5:19 ESV
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
Mark 7:21-23 Berean Standard Bible
For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, / greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. / All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man.”
James 3:14-16
For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, / greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. / All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man
Matthew 15:11-20 AMPC
It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that makes him unclean and defiled, but what comes out of the mouth; this makes a man unclean and defiles [him]. Then the disciples came and said to Him, Do You know that the Pharisees were displeased and offended and indignant when they heard this saying? He answered, Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be torn up by the roots. [Isa. 60:21.] Let them alone and disregard them; they are blind guides and teachers. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a ditch. But Peter said to Him, Explain this proverb (this maxim) to us. And He said, Are you also even yet dull and ignorant [without understanding and unable to put things together]? Do you not see and understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the abdomen and so passes on into the place where discharges are deposited? But whatever comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what makes a man unclean and defiles [him]. For out of the heart come evil thoughts (reasonings and disputings and designs) such as murder, adultery, sexual vice, theft, false witnessing, slander, and irreverent speech. These are what make a man unclean and defile [him]; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean or defile [him].
What comes out of the mouth defiles a man is what this says, and it also says that what comes out of the heart is what defiles him.
You can think in your heart, I love this person, and say “I hate you so much,” and that doesn’t defile you. When you start thinking/feeling, “I hate this person so much,” that’s when there’s a problem
That’s why Jesus tells us to bless and pray for those who persecute us, and to show them love, because you can’t hold anger in your heart towards someone for long if you’re constantly praying good things for them and doing good things for them. It changes YOUR heart.
I recently did this with my biological family. I consistently prayed for their blessings, and it got rid of the hatred in my heart that I harbored.
Luke 6:27-28
But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, / bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Romans 13:10 MSG
Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.
That’s why people who hate themselves hate others, because we love as well as we are loved by ourselves, and God is the source of love because he is love.
When we meet God, and realize that he loves us even with all our faults and hatred that we harbor, it purifies us, and then we start thinking and feeling (praying) good things in our heart towards others. You can only love others as much as you love yourself, and God is the one who changes us in that manner when we read his word and spend time with him.
It’s a common idea that you become like those you spend time with.
1 John 4:8 NIV
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Spend time with God, and pray blessings over the people you can’t forgive. Soon you will forgive them from the heart because by spending time with God, you’ll become like God, who is love, and the things you say become who you are.
P.S. …
Proverbs 24:17-18 NLT
Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble. For the LORD will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them.
Where does he turn his anger?…
