Personality Prayers

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.  (James 4:3)

God's Word tells us to pray for our enemies - those who have harmed or destroyed what is sacred to us individually or collectively.  But what about people who just irritate us or rub us the wrong way?  There are far more folks in our everyday lives that fit this description.  They are clearly not "enemies," yet we tend to regard them with similar feelings of aversion.  We know we should pray for them as well, but it seems so hard to do so in a genuine way.  Why is that?

God instilled in each of us a personality all our own.  When these personalities intermingle, it can make for fascinating discussion, spectacular accomplishments, and also some ruffled feathers.  We encounter this dynamic each day at work, at school, in our social activities, and even within our families.  We each have varying levels of tolerance for varying personality quirks.  Sometimes we can make it work, while other times our lack of patience and frayed nerves result in unkind words, hurt feelings or resentment.  Perhaps it's hard to pray for folks who irritate us because we expect more from them than we do from enemies.  A coworker or classmate might bug the daylights out of us, but they aren't out to destroy what is sacred, so why can't they just shape up and get with the program?  Why should we need to pray for them to be the way we want them to be?

The answer, of course, is that we shouldn't.  There's nothing wrong with wanting a rude person to be courteous or an arrogant person to take on an attitude of humility.  But we should not limit our supplications to correcting what we perceive to be wrong with another person.  We should also pray for our own patience and understanding (not to mention a greater understanding of our own personality quirks).  Above all, we should pray for God's strength and guidance in utilizing our greatest asset: our ability to be witnesses for Christ.  By approaching all our relationships - even those that irritate us - with the strength, wisdom and love of Jesus, we will have far more influence on folks than by simply cataloging their faults and praying for them to be corrected.

The next time someone makes you want to scream in frustration, take a breath and take a moment with the Lord.  When we ask for help in being a witness for Christ, God will always answer.  Sometimes, your relationship with the other person will change for the better, but if not, one thing is for certain: your relationship with God will grow stronger.  The stronger that relationship is, the more visible Christ will become to everyone around you.