What Other People Think About Us Can Affect Our Prayers

Luke 7:1-5, “Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.”

This dear Roman Centurion (a military leader over 100 soldiers), had a sick servant whom he loved. This servant was sick and about to perish in death. The centurion had heard about a good man named Jesus, who went about healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, giving the ability to hear sound to the deaf, and even raised the dead. So the centurion humbly requested and sent the elder of the Jews to Jesus, pleading that his servant would be healed so that he would live and not die.

But the centurion never told the Jews to tell Jesus that he was worthy. They Jewish elders spoke those words of praise, regarding the centurion, on their own accord. This is but one of numerous examples found in the Scripture, where the way a man treated other people had an impact on whether his prayers got answered or denied.

In another popular Bible passage we read:

Matthew 5:23-24, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”

Dear friend, God DOES care about how you and I treat other people. Right doctrine matters, and so does the way that we treat people. When I attended Campus Church at Pensacola Christian College in 2021, Pastor Jeff Redlin mistreated me. In fact, he was downright abusive! When I told him that I was sleeping in Walmart's parking lot on July 4th, 2021, he was indifferent and just walked away. That wasn't cruel, it was just terrible. That is no way to treat a fellow Christian brother.

But when I emailed him a few days later to share my testimony and broken life with him, he was cruel. I told him as a friend that my former wife had divorced me 15 years earlier, and that I have lived alone since, suffering inexplicable pain of soul from loneliness and lack of companionship. I told him that I sincerely hoped to find a wife at Campus Church. His cruel response was to actually scold me for coming to church to find a wife. This was the first time I had ever written to him. As the pastor of a church (who receives a 6-digit salary), Jeff Redlin behaved very shamefully that day. You don't scold a 54 year old man as a little child for sharing his heart about desiring to fid a Christian wife. Pastor Redlin's cruel words cut to my heart. I never told him that I came to church to find a wife, which he foolishly assumed. I simply said that I hoped to find a wife at Campus Church. SHAME on Pastor Jeff Redlin!

Sadly, when all was said and done, the terrible shallow pastors at PCC's Campus Church banned me from attending their church anymore. I kindly asked all the pastors of Campus Church in June  and July of 2022, if I could please come back to church. They totally ignored my letter that I mailed to them in June. So I wrote them again in July (sending a courtesy copy to PCC too, so they knew of the situation), apologizing deeply from my heart for offending them. I kindly explained my health problems, broken life, catching COVID-19 in 2021 and loneliness of soul without a wife for the past 16 years. Those ungodly cult leaders couldn't have cared less. So in August of 2022 I lashed out on social media against them, which they were waiting for, so they could use it as an excuse to tell me I couldn't come back to church. Ladies and gentlemen, those wicked PCC pastors are not right with God. They mistreat, ignore, abuse and esteem themselves as being better than others (Philippians 2:3-5).

Dear reader, God watches everything!!! Hebrews 4:13, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” God never misses anything, not even a little bird that falls from the sky, or the number of hairs upon our head (Matthew 10:20-30). I have lost most of mine...lol. Praise the Lord anyhow! God is always good!!! I love Pastor Redlin and pray for him often, that God will break his heart and teach him how to love people. Kindly said, there is a woeful lack of God's love at Pensacola Christian College. The Bible warns that the letter of God's law killeth, but the Spirit of God giveth life. 2nd Corinthians 3:6, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” If we preach the truth to people, but without showing forth God's unconditional love to them, we will do more damage than good. 1st Corinthians 13:3, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” There must be a balance between truth and love in every preacher's sermon.

My friend, you can pray all day and all night, but God likely won't regard your prayers if you are unkind, abusive and intolerant toward others. It matters how we treat our fellow human beings. Notice what the Bible says concerning the atrocities being committed by the wicked in the Old testament city of Sodom. Genesis 18:20-21, “And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.” God hears THE CRY!!! God hears the cry of the innocent, of the victims, of the hurting and weeping children of men.

Genesis 4:10, “And he said, What hast thou done?  the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.” God heard the innocent blood of slain Abel cry out from the ground, which was shed by his angry brother Cain. Do you think that God hasn't heard THE CRY of the 63,000,000 murdered aborted babies since 1972 in the United States? You had better believe that God has heard THEIR CRY!!! And God will hear THE CRY of anyone that you and I hurt too! Who is it in this world who is cursing your name? Who is it that hopes you will someday get what you deserve coming to you? God knows. God cares. 1st Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

What saith the Scripture? Matthew 18:6, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Jesus said “ones which believeth on me,” which clearly weans that anyone who defrauds, injures, insults, offends, hurts or in any way messes with a born-again child of God is in BIG TROUBLE.

In Matthew 25:40 Jesus warned, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” The Lord is essentially saying: “We are in this thing called Christianity together. We are on the same team. One for all, and all for one! If you are one of my beloved sheep trusting in Me, whatever anyone does (or doesn't do) to you, as far as I am concerned they have done it to Me too!” What an awesome Savior, God and Lord!!!

The inspired Word of God specifically addresses husbands and wives, warning them to treat each other properly, or else God WON'T answers their prayers. 1st Peter 3:7, “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” Dear beloved reader, I humbly think I have the great mind and heart of God, which is shed abroad in my soul by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). 1st Corinthians 2:16, “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

Having made that profound statement, I sincerely believe that you can be mean, unkind and even abusive in your words toward God, because He loves you and me so very much; but God will not tolerate you and I mistreating, ignoring, hurting, cheating or in any way being malicious toward another human being. Psalms 103:14, “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” God knows that we are weak, and that we easily get frustrated and discouraged. I think I am right in saying that God will put up with a lot from His children, but I think He draws the line when we hurt other people. 

I kindly challenge you dear friend, whoever you may be, to purpose in your soul to treat everyone as you would like to be treated. After all this is The Golden Rule taught in Matthew 7:12, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” I don't know about you, but I am going to do all that I can. by God's grace with His help, to love everybody. People just want to be loved. They really do! There isn't much love in most religious circles today; but rather, only sinful compromise, which is rooted in the love of money, and not God's concern for the souls of humanity. May our great Savior God wonderful God do a work in your heart dear reader, that you and I will LOVE PEOPLE the way that we want to be loved.

Of course, that means that we must first let God love us. You'll never be able to love anyone, until you first love yourself with God's love. He loves you dear friend. Oh, yes God does! If you were the only human being who had ever been created, Jesus would have died just for you!!! You are not just another insignificant number in the massive sea of humanity. The last I checked, the world's population is now up to about 7,900,000,000 people. I have read shocking estimates that by the year 2050, the world's population will have soared to an astounding 50,000,000,000 people! Wowza! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!!!

I care about you friend. I don't get paid to serve God. I have labored day and night since 2002, for the past 20 years, trying to be a VOICE in cyberspace for the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope my humble words in this blog have challenged you dear reader, to LOVE God and your neighbour. The two greatest commands in the Holy Bible are to love God with all our heart, soul and might; and the second is like unto the first, to love our neighbour (all mankind) as our self. I agree with Evangelist Lester Roloff (1914-1982) that these two great commands are really just one—TO LOVE. Amen and amen. May we all learn to yield, to let God love others through us, which is the fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).