Pray Before You Prey.
I have a rather startling confession to make. I’ve been a cable television subscriber for many years now, and up until this month, if I were ever asked by someone what my favorite channels were, I would probably reply with the usual suspects: CNN, ESPN, TNT, MTV, BET, HGTV…
(HGTV? Sorry, thought I’d try picking up a few brownie points in case my wife was reading this…)
After some deep soul searching, I now realize I have a new all-time favorite channel. As a leader (and survivor) of ministry, I know of no other channel that provides the kind of programming that we as believers can learn from and be inspired by than (yep, you guessed it)…Animal Planet.
I realize that may sound a bit strange, so please allow me to explain.
Every week, the Animal Planet (channel) features incredible footage of several wild animals, ranging from sea lions to hippos, and how they seek out and target other animals to prey upon. While some of the footage can at times be gruesome to watch, the cheetah is a real thing of beauty.
And a major source of conviction for me.
Despite being one the fastest animals on land, I was surprised to discover that the cheetah will tend to prey on the weak, even though it is fast enough to prey on the strong. One would think with its incredible agility and speed, the cheetah would set its sights on larger animals or targets.
But in fact, the cheetah does the exact opposite. Another interesting fact concerning the cheetah is that while in pursuit of its prey, nearly half of its hunting attempts actually result in failure.
The reason? Because the cheetah exerts so much energy chasing after its prey, that when it finally catches up and drags its target to the ground, it has very little energy left to ward off other predators from stealing its kill. In other words, the cheetah’s method of attack often makes its prey vulnerable to other predators seeking to attack.
So why did I see this as a major conviction for me?
Simply because Christians (myself included) are a lot like the cheetah. Instead of keeping our eyes on the targets God has given us the ability to pursue, we often turn our sights toward preying on the weak.
In a land filled with people who are losing their faith in God and the local church, there are times when it seems we are often consumed with preying on the weak among us, specifically, other Christians. It is amazing how our mouths often salivate when we read the headlines of a fallen Christian leader or pastor. Or how our ears spring up when we hear the latest gossip of a family member or friend.
When it comes to passing judgement and exposing the faults of another believer, we are often some of the fastest, wild animals alive. I’d like for us all to ponder a question that I had to ask myself recently:
Why do we prey before we pray?
Can you imagine what our world would be like if we would seek to cover one another in prayer? What would it take to grow a hunger within our hearts to look beyond the faults of our families, our churches, and perhaps, even those of our political leaders, in order to demonstrate the love that Christ has so equally shown to us all?
Is it possible to forward kindness and support to one another at the same speed we can forward an email of gossip and of malice intent? Is it possible to find comfort in knowing that God’s plans of acceptance are greater than our plans of discrimination?
I encourage you today to begin to pray before you prey. May we all strive to support one another in such a way that this world cannot help but to ask how we do the things we do (1 Pet. 3:15).
I assure you, it is only through the power of prayer that these things can be accomplished.
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Category: Life & Faith
Milan,
When I saw your words of wisdom on Shaun King’s blog I thought, “I’ve gotta check this guy out!” Glad I did. Your words in this article are quite timely and needed in the Body. Looking forward to gleaning more from you in the future!
Okay thanks,now I’m convicted! Thank God for that, it leads to maturity and deliverance so I embrace it. Conviction leads to repentance as we know, it is not the same thing as guilty for this leads to depression and profits nothing. So conviction is a powerful tool in the hand of God. My daughters and I watch Pet Police on Sunday nights at 9pm out here in Cali it is the best show ever. Love this blog.
Forty!!! I see you on here and I’m glad to have found you. Much Love to you, family, and ministry. I’ll be by the blog often and will link yours to mine. It’s been a while since we’ve spoken. Big things happening for both of us I’m sure and we need to catch up. Much Love
J.Kwest
Your words of today. I found very inspiring and it was God sent. Because it fit very well about a situaton I am experencing at work.
God bless your site and works in the minisery.
Thank you for that GOOD WORD!
-Sean
I received your article on “Pray before you Prey” through streamingfaith. It was an excellent article that was right on time in my life. Thank you.
I have a myspace that I frequently repost devotions from Streaming Faith.
PRAY before you PREY was immediately posted. I have friends that are now subscribing to Streaming Faith as a result of reading a devotion on my blog.
Below is a note I posted before the devotion today and as I state in the note THANKS MILAN.
“PRAY before we PREY”
I have had some things that I have wanted to right about but as usual I am not good at putting my thoughts and feelings to print, as my beautiful daughter is. I can say THANKS to Milan Ford (author of this devotion) cause he has said so simple with great illustration one of the thoughts I wished I could put in print. The other is how when we become Christians, somehow we forget what our life was and was heading for before we heard the WORD and ACCEPTED. So some Christians will turn from those still of the world and not give them the chance to SEE and HEAR the same WORD that made the difference in their life.
Well here is the Streaming Faith Devotion, and Thanks again Milan!
Milan
Thanks so much for an inspirational message that was sent to me through Streaming Faith. It truly convicted me, as a Christian as I am quick to point a finger, judging the acts of others. We really need messages of this nature that will constantly remind us of our journey with God and for God. Ours is to pray for situation no matter how dim they are. Stay blessed.
Thato
Ooouch!!!! I read the article on yesterday and did not have enough time to post a comment but was WOWed by it. I completely love how God spoke to you through Animal Planet to illustrate and convict us (me)of what we do.
I thought about it more when I went home and then let it marinate some more and this morning I had to laugh at myself on my way to work because I thought of it again and couldn’t say anything but OUCH! That is one of the biggest and unfortunate truths within the “church”.
We consciously and unconsciously look down, pick out, pick at, justify ourselves by the acts of others. We prey on them and as we get ‘em down low enough, the world (other predator) is able to just steal them away because we helped them. We…no, I have to learn and practice love…real, true, God’s love.
The love that edifies not tear down and desires the greater good-the Kingdom. Thank you so much for allowing God to use you in such a unique and special way. May God continue to bless you!
wow! how inspiring to hear someone tell it like it is. You are a true light in the darkness. Keep speaking out truth and reminding others to stop the tearing down of other people. Loving people is the only way to go!!!
God Bless you and your family!
I am sitting absorbing this reality and just realized that you put a name to a situation that has been going on for along time. We just got to look at ourselves and began to clean up from the inside out…Praise God!