Is It Right To Pray Imprecatory Psalms On Other People?
Question : Please I have a quick question that has been bothering me. Is it right to pray Psalms 35, 69 and other imprecatory Psalms on people? My wife and I have a running battle on this. Each time I pray this Psalms I seem to have revelations that show that I am doing something wrong. We are under much pressure now from witchcrafts and other ungodly influences. But I don't want us to react out of fear. Thanks.
Answer : I understand that Imprecatory Psalms, contained within the Book of Psalms of the Hebrew and Old Testament Bible, are those that invoke judgment, calamity, or curses, upon one's enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God. David wrote nearly one third of the whole Book of Psalms, and he was the one wrote nearly all those imprecatory Psalms including the two you have refrerred as Psalms 35 and 69. Here are the list of those imprecatory Psalms Psalms 5, 10, 17, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, 140.
These imprecatory Psalms were written mostly as prayers for restoration from national distress and defeat, and also were prayers for deliverance from accusation and persecution of the enemy. These saints of the Old Testament were appealing for God's judgment on the enemies, because their Law taught them things like ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’(Exod 21:24), ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ (Lev 19:18; Deut 23:3-6) and so on .., such things were told in interpretation for those who followed the Law which was their master during the Old Testament times (Gal 3:24). So as a Old Testament saint David in his natural state expressed his deep anguish, fear, hatred against evil and its doers, etc... to God by understanding Him as the God of justice (Deut 32:4), and to unload the burden he felt in his soul. Yet according to the Word of God, "If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand them over to their master." (Deut 23:15), which directly speaks to us that if we we realize that we are a hopeless slave of sin and therefore if we choose to take refuge in Christ He justifies us, and therefore mercifully we shall not be sent to our old master the law for us to be judged under it which will bring only death (Rom 7:2; 5:8-9; 6:23). We were all naturally as the sons of Adam were bound by the sin nature's influence to defeat us completely and keep us in its bondage, but thank Jesus that He came in the likeness of our sinful nature and condemned sin in the flesh to put to death its power completely over us (Rom 8:3).
So the bottom line is, "5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." Rom 7:5-6).
So David when ever he understood these New Testament concept of mercy, he said things like these, "12 They reward me evil for good, to the sorrow of my soul. 13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting; And my prayer would return to my own heart. 14 I paced about as though he were my friend or brother; I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns for his mother." (Psa 35:12-14). So we know just like you feel as a New Testament Christian that something is not right in praying and cursing against the enemy, David's spiritual gut feeling made him to reach out and pray for his enemies towards God to show them mercy and turn them towards Him (Matt 23:23). I can say that David was a Old Testament believer under law who acted more like that of a New Testament believers, hence we know that is the reason he was called as the one who was close to the heart of God (Acts 13:22; 1 Sam 13:14).
So we as New Testament Christians need to walk not in the oldness of the letter of the Law, but rather in the newness of the Spirit who helps us to keep all the new law that Jesus has revealed in a higher level to keep through out the New Testament. What did Jesus say for us to do for our enemies, "43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matt 5:43-48). In other words, only when we by the help of the Spirit love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us, even when our enemies work against us through witchcraft by actually trying to control us by bringing fear for their own benefits, or even through any others means it doesn't matter at all to God, when we act perfectly like our Heavenly Father in heaven who does only good to those who are evil and even speak and does evil against him many times, then we become close to the heart of God just like David was in the Old Testament times (Rom 8:26-27). Our heavenly Father seeing that we are walking perfectly before Him in our character just like the way He always walks, will start to reward us now and in the life to come specially for glorifying Him through our small earthly life. Though walking with God might be hard with our fleshly nature working against us temporarily (Heb 12:7), yet the reward and benefit for walking with Him now always outweighs the small difficulties that we pass through in this life to make the favor of God to come and rest upon us for now and forever permanently for eternity ahead (Psa 30:5).
The feeling of turmoil like David had in the natural to act against evil was present within him as a fallen human son of Adam, likewise we will also always at the first instance of facing injustice and evil will rise up in our natural fleshly and soulish mind with bad feelings against people who do things against us, but as a Christian the Word of God says that we will have this internal fight of our soulish mind against the spiritual mind always and therefore should turn it in to sadness for the enemies rather than in to anger against them which will lead us ti imprison ourselves in bitterness against them which will give place to the devil to control our lives because God hates it (Gal 5:17; Heb 12:15; Eph 4:26-27; Matt 6:14-15), but we must choose to ask the help of the Holy Spirit and depend on Him and His strength to walk in the Spirit to avoid fulfilling the lust of the fleshly mind which acts independently of God and asks for judgment against enemies rather than mercy for our enemies just like as we have received mercy from God (Gal 5:16; Luke 23:34; Matt 5:7). Our natural instinct was to appeal for justice to be done by God like Abel's blood cried (Gen 4:10), but our Divine DNA in Christ Jesus cries out for mercy to be shown to our enemies who are used by Satan to do evil without the help of God to overcome their natural instinct (Heb 12:24). Even though Abel was the first type of multitudes through the centuries whose blood has been shed because of their witness for divine righteousness which cried for justice (Heb 11:4; I John 3:12; Matt 23:35-36; Rev 17:6), yet in the New Testament we see Stephen cried out to God to show mercy to his enemies at his dying moments which is the pattern God expects us to follow (Acts 7:59-60). So through Stephen mercy triumphed over judgment of God, in other words one of the very enemies of God was given mercy by God to not only become his child but also the leading apostle of His Church so that like him many could come in to salvation freely (James 2:13; Mic 7:18; 1 Tim 1:15-16). So we must unload all our bad feelings against others who wrong us, our deep anguish in seeing injustice done against us, our fear of evil, our hatred against evil and its doers, etc to God, then receive the peace of God that will keep our mind to be perfect like our Father in heaven is perfect through the trial and thus please God with our lives (Php 4:6-7; 2 Peter 3:15).
You may ask then who is doing to restrain the evil doers who are working constantly against me? To that God says I am in control of your life, I know how to defend my sons and daughters who act like me, who think like me, who talk like me, who walk like me and who see others like me mercifully. Here is what God says, "17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Rom 12:17-21). In other words, God is telling to us that it is not our business to take vengeance against anybody or judge anybody before His time, but it is our duty to overcome evil with the good Character of the Father God whose DNA is present within us to overcome evil that people do against us, because we see spiritually God's justice against evil doers who does not repent and turn back from evil in our foresight as those who are in danger of God's impending and serious judgment (1 John 4:4; 5:4; Matt 17:1; 18:7; Exo 34:7; Nah 1:3; Num 14:18). When we keep ourselves in the perfect character of our Heavenly Father by the help of the Holy Spirit, the evil wicked ones who are Satan and his minions cannot touch us for the Glory of God unlike the gentiles who might be stolen, killed and destroyed by these evil beings in such cases (1 John 5:18-19; 2 Cor 4:4; John 10:10). GLORY TO GOD!
So I believe we must serve the Lord in the newness of the Spirit in the New Testament like David did in the Old Testament times, to please God and be close to His heart always. As we have seen above, witchcraft's and other ungodly influences cannot touch you when you live in the perfection of our Heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit, if evil people are continually after you, pour out all your burdens to God and then bless them with all your heart and keep yourself in peace by the help of heaven which rules over you mind. Then when you do not act but stay in the blessed state of rest in peace, you are in fact giving place for the vengeance of God to take place against all those evil doers who continue to be the same without any repentance. It all depends on you as much as possible. For God to be glorified more and more in your lives, live more and more in the Perfect Character of our Father God in heaven. Glory to God!
Never pray those imprecatory Psalms on other people, because it is wrong and we will become deceived to walk in hate rather than in love if we do not realize our mistake to correct it immediately (Luke 9:53-54, 55-56). Act out of love which God has shown towards you freely in salvation, towards other sinners who need the same love that you have received in their lives to turn to God and change their evil mind to become good, and never react out of fear towards evil that others do against you because God is in control of your life and who can be against you when He is in control (Rom 8:31)!.
Understand one thing for sure, when God is in complete control over your life, there can be no evil that can stand against you as you are the child of God and one among the people of God in general. See what God says to you who is spiritual Israel of His (Gal 6:16, 18), "No curse can touch Jacob; no magic has any power against Israel. For now it will be said of Jacob, 'What wonders God has done for Israel!'" (Num 23:23, NLT). To make all evil powerless against you and turn it in to something good for you (Neh 13:2), reveals the Glory and wonder of God to all people in all the world. So you keep enjoying being like Christ Jesus in your character and God will keep defending you from evil in his time and glorify Himself through your life (Neh 8:10, 12; Php 4:4).
Much Blessings...
Answer : I understand that Imprecatory Psalms, contained within the Book of Psalms of the Hebrew and Old Testament Bible, are those that invoke judgment, calamity, or curses, upon one's enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God. David wrote nearly one third of the whole Book of Psalms, and he was the one wrote nearly all those imprecatory Psalms including the two you have refrerred as Psalms 35 and 69. Here are the list of those imprecatory Psalms Psalms 5, 10, 17, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, 140.
These imprecatory Psalms were written mostly as prayers for restoration from national distress and defeat, and also were prayers for deliverance from accusation and persecution of the enemy. These saints of the Old Testament were appealing for God's judgment on the enemies, because their Law taught them things like ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’(Exod 21:24), ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ (Lev 19:18; Deut 23:3-6) and so on .., such things were told in interpretation for those who followed the Law which was their master during the Old Testament times (Gal 3:24). So as a Old Testament saint David in his natural state expressed his deep anguish, fear, hatred against evil and its doers, etc... to God by understanding Him as the God of justice (Deut 32:4), and to unload the burden he felt in his soul. Yet according to the Word of God, "If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand them over to their master." (Deut 23:15), which directly speaks to us that if we we realize that we are a hopeless slave of sin and therefore if we choose to take refuge in Christ He justifies us, and therefore mercifully we shall not be sent to our old master the law for us to be judged under it which will bring only death (Rom 7:2; 5:8-9; 6:23). We were all naturally as the sons of Adam were bound by the sin nature's influence to defeat us completely and keep us in its bondage, but thank Jesus that He came in the likeness of our sinful nature and condemned sin in the flesh to put to death its power completely over us (Rom 8:3).
So the bottom line is, "5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." Rom 7:5-6).
So David when ever he understood these New Testament concept of mercy, he said things like these, "12 They reward me evil for good, to the sorrow of my soul. 13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting; And my prayer would return to my own heart. 14 I paced about as though he were my friend or brother; I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns for his mother." (Psa 35:12-14). So we know just like you feel as a New Testament Christian that something is not right in praying and cursing against the enemy, David's spiritual gut feeling made him to reach out and pray for his enemies towards God to show them mercy and turn them towards Him (Matt 23:23). I can say that David was a Old Testament believer under law who acted more like that of a New Testament believers, hence we know that is the reason he was called as the one who was close to the heart of God (Acts 13:22; 1 Sam 13:14).
So we as New Testament Christians need to walk not in the oldness of the letter of the Law, but rather in the newness of the Spirit who helps us to keep all the new law that Jesus has revealed in a higher level to keep through out the New Testament. What did Jesus say for us to do for our enemies, "43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matt 5:43-48). In other words, only when we by the help of the Spirit love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us, even when our enemies work against us through witchcraft by actually trying to control us by bringing fear for their own benefits, or even through any others means it doesn't matter at all to God, when we act perfectly like our Heavenly Father in heaven who does only good to those who are evil and even speak and does evil against him many times, then we become close to the heart of God just like David was in the Old Testament times (Rom 8:26-27). Our heavenly Father seeing that we are walking perfectly before Him in our character just like the way He always walks, will start to reward us now and in the life to come specially for glorifying Him through our small earthly life. Though walking with God might be hard with our fleshly nature working against us temporarily (Heb 12:7), yet the reward and benefit for walking with Him now always outweighs the small difficulties that we pass through in this life to make the favor of God to come and rest upon us for now and forever permanently for eternity ahead (Psa 30:5).
The feeling of turmoil like David had in the natural to act against evil was present within him as a fallen human son of Adam, likewise we will also always at the first instance of facing injustice and evil will rise up in our natural fleshly and soulish mind with bad feelings against people who do things against us, but as a Christian the Word of God says that we will have this internal fight of our soulish mind against the spiritual mind always and therefore should turn it in to sadness for the enemies rather than in to anger against them which will lead us ti imprison ourselves in bitterness against them which will give place to the devil to control our lives because God hates it (Gal 5:17; Heb 12:15; Eph 4:26-27; Matt 6:14-15), but we must choose to ask the help of the Holy Spirit and depend on Him and His strength to walk in the Spirit to avoid fulfilling the lust of the fleshly mind which acts independently of God and asks for judgment against enemies rather than mercy for our enemies just like as we have received mercy from God (Gal 5:16; Luke 23:34; Matt 5:7). Our natural instinct was to appeal for justice to be done by God like Abel's blood cried (Gen 4:10), but our Divine DNA in Christ Jesus cries out for mercy to be shown to our enemies who are used by Satan to do evil without the help of God to overcome their natural instinct (Heb 12:24). Even though Abel was the first type of multitudes through the centuries whose blood has been shed because of their witness for divine righteousness which cried for justice (Heb 11:4; I John 3:12; Matt 23:35-36; Rev 17:6), yet in the New Testament we see Stephen cried out to God to show mercy to his enemies at his dying moments which is the pattern God expects us to follow (Acts 7:59-60). So through Stephen mercy triumphed over judgment of God, in other words one of the very enemies of God was given mercy by God to not only become his child but also the leading apostle of His Church so that like him many could come in to salvation freely (James 2:13; Mic 7:18; 1 Tim 1:15-16). So we must unload all our bad feelings against others who wrong us, our deep anguish in seeing injustice done against us, our fear of evil, our hatred against evil and its doers, etc to God, then receive the peace of God that will keep our mind to be perfect like our Father in heaven is perfect through the trial and thus please God with our lives (Php 4:6-7; 2 Peter 3:15).
You may ask then who is doing to restrain the evil doers who are working constantly against me? To that God says I am in control of your life, I know how to defend my sons and daughters who act like me, who think like me, who talk like me, who walk like me and who see others like me mercifully. Here is what God says, "17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Rom 12:17-21). In other words, God is telling to us that it is not our business to take vengeance against anybody or judge anybody before His time, but it is our duty to overcome evil with the good Character of the Father God whose DNA is present within us to overcome evil that people do against us, because we see spiritually God's justice against evil doers who does not repent and turn back from evil in our foresight as those who are in danger of God's impending and serious judgment (1 John 4:4; 5:4; Matt 17:1; 18:7; Exo 34:7; Nah 1:3; Num 14:18). When we keep ourselves in the perfect character of our Heavenly Father by the help of the Holy Spirit, the evil wicked ones who are Satan and his minions cannot touch us for the Glory of God unlike the gentiles who might be stolen, killed and destroyed by these evil beings in such cases (1 John 5:18-19; 2 Cor 4:4; John 10:10). GLORY TO GOD!
So I believe we must serve the Lord in the newness of the Spirit in the New Testament like David did in the Old Testament times, to please God and be close to His heart always. As we have seen above, witchcraft's and other ungodly influences cannot touch you when you live in the perfection of our Heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit, if evil people are continually after you, pour out all your burdens to God and then bless them with all your heart and keep yourself in peace by the help of heaven which rules over you mind. Then when you do not act but stay in the blessed state of rest in peace, you are in fact giving place for the vengeance of God to take place against all those evil doers who continue to be the same without any repentance. It all depends on you as much as possible. For God to be glorified more and more in your lives, live more and more in the Perfect Character of our Father God in heaven. Glory to God!
Never pray those imprecatory Psalms on other people, because it is wrong and we will become deceived to walk in hate rather than in love if we do not realize our mistake to correct it immediately (Luke 9:53-54, 55-56). Act out of love which God has shown towards you freely in salvation, towards other sinners who need the same love that you have received in their lives to turn to God and change their evil mind to become good, and never react out of fear towards evil that others do against you because God is in control of your life and who can be against you when He is in control (Rom 8:31)!.
Understand one thing for sure, when God is in complete control over your life, there can be no evil that can stand against you as you are the child of God and one among the people of God in general. See what God says to you who is spiritual Israel of His (Gal 6:16, 18), "No curse can touch Jacob; no magic has any power against Israel. For now it will be said of Jacob, 'What wonders God has done for Israel!'" (Num 23:23, NLT). To make all evil powerless against you and turn it in to something good for you (Neh 13:2), reveals the Glory and wonder of God to all people in all the world. So you keep enjoying being like Christ Jesus in your character and God will keep defending you from evil in his time and glorify Himself through your life (Neh 8:10, 12; Php 4:4).
Much Blessings...
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