Have you ever prayed and yet feel like nothing ever goes your way? Would you pray for others despite such an experience? Let's talk about it.
Do you think physically or verbally retaliating/abusing others is better than praying for other people? Why do you think there are so many people suffering in this world especially when people deliberately hurt someone? Is spreading pain better than spreading love?
Or let me ask you this... If you believe in cursing others for various reasons, why do you not believe that prayers can do wonders? They're almost the opposite of each other so why think that causing harm to others (thru spells, witchcraft, etc.) is more effective than praying to God?
If you pay a witch to curse your enemy of course there will be people who will indeed fall victim to such. Those cursed will get sick or worse, could die of weird causes. Do you know why?
The number one reason a person will be effectively cursed is because that human being is not close to God at all. The worst kind of sinner and the farther away from the Lord you are, the more you will be susceptible to hexes and all kinds of maledictions. Just ask those who've experienced the power of God over any witchcraft/magick/occult attacks. When they started praying and calling on to the Lord, even going to confession then to mass every Sunday, etc., they began to get better.
Ask any witch, Satanist, etc., and they will tell you that they cannot attack any person who is really close to God. Any curse or spell they send will never be effective against a devout or truly pious Catholic. What does this mean? God trumps any evil being. It also means that a deep faith + prayers to God is more powerful than any curse or magick spell in the world.
You're thinking about it the wrong way. Any prayer will primarily be as "strong" as the person who is saying it. Meaning, it depends on your relationship with God. Generally, the more united a person is to God, the stronger they are able to fight and defeat demons that cause "bad luck", accidents, illnesses, natural calamities, etc.
For example, the most united human being to God in the entire history of mankind is the mother of God. Mama Mary is a creature of God like each human being except she was made pure (without sin) upon her conception. Due to this the Holy Spirit was able to unite with her and thus she conceived of Jesus Christ when she agreed to it. Because of her full unity with the Holy Trinity (God the Father, Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ), just a glance from her will make demons flee in haste! 馃槅 (Read about St. Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes.)
Not all our prayers will be answered, especially if they are just selfish wishes. However even if you are very far away from God (for example, an atheist or a Satanist) but then you call upon Jesus in repentance to ask for His help (for example, an accident or grave illness), for sure the Lord will answer in unexpected ways!
It doesn't mean your prayers are "weak" at that point. Only God knows how to respond to us the best way to help and eventually make us holier. Answered prayers really depends on our communication with the Holy Trinity AND our state in life.
The above is usually prayers for ourselves, but what happens if we pray for other people instead? Well, the prayers of the Catholic exorcist priests upon demoniacs are really effective because clergymen are backed by Jesus. Of course there are times even Mama Mary, the archangels and the saints are called upon depending on the type of demons that are possessing someone.
That doesn't mean ordinary people like you and me can't defeat evil spirits who always tempt us. Even a simple prayer to our guardian angel can help drive away evil around us.
Of course whenever we pray not for our own sake, we can be able to help our friends, loved ones and even anyone we do not care for. This time, praying for other people will be on a higher level because it is usually done out of love and concern for others. At times it is even done as a form of penance!
A woman praying the rosary. | (photo source)
Don't you think it's quite a noble thing to do when we pray for our enemies, strangers and random human beings we don't know personally? Even Jesus said we must not curse our enemies but instead pray for them to the Lord our God. (Matthew 5:44) Why noble? Because it is difficult to do especially when we are selfish and prideful. I should know, I've been there done that for a few years since the pandemic!
A sinful human usually prays for personal gain if they randomly get the urge to do so, while a devout person will constantly pray for others more than themselves or their own family. Guess whose prayers are "stronger"?
The ultimate form is when Jesus died horribly (allowed Himself to be sacrificed to save all of humanity) not because He just felt like it. For God so loved the world... (John 3:16) We all know love and sacrifice is stronger than hate, selfishness and excessive love of self, right? That's why praying for others is important and can do wonders.
Next, it also depends on who you pray to. Of course praying to any of the three persons of God directly can have a major effect, however not all who call on the Lord will be "listened to". Sometimes we need the help of other holy people in Heaven in order for God to "hear" or "prioritize" our prayers.
Take for example the first miracle of Jesus at the wedding at Cana. The newlyweds had no more wine, His mother noticed and asked Jesus to make wine despite it not being His time to do miracles yet. Being obedient to His parent, Jesus obligingly turned water into wine. Do you think He would have done so if Mary did not ask of it in behalf of the married couple? If you read the Bible story, for sure He wouldn't have thought of doing such a thing on His own.
This is why we need to ask for the intercession of those fully united with the Lord. For example, our guardian angels or the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael plus Mama Mary and the many saints in Heaven. In another sense, this is somewhat why prayers of priests are "powerful" against evil.
Well we can't do everything, duh. That's why no man is an island. And there are times we humans can't do anything despite everything we do, no matter how many we are and how long or hard we do it. (Examples: healing a rare disease, getting rid of addictions, preventing war, escaping extreme natural calamities, expelling demons, etc.) That's why praying to God is important. Nothing is impossible with God but He is not our slave. We are beings created by Him and not the other way around.
Again, why indeed, why do we pray? Watch this to know the answer directly from a priest:
But if God is good, why pray? Here we go, answered by a priest:
Got any misconceptions about prayers and praying for others? I've had several which I never even thought I'd have. 馃槀 I'll get to that in my next post. For the meantime, what can you say about everything you've read here? Have you had any exceptional experience after you prayed to God for other people? Feel free to share in the comments!
XOXO,
