“Pour out Your wrath upon them, and let Your burning anger overtake them. May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents. For they persecute the one You struck and recount the pain of those You wounded. Add iniquity to their iniquity; let them not share in Your righteousness. May they be blotted out of the Book of Life and not listed with the righteous.” (Psalm 69:24-28)
Imprecatory prayers are found throughout the Word of God and have been successfully used by God’s people when wicked and unjust men are persecuting the righteous without cause especially when the persecution is coming from wicked people in positions of authority. These prayers call for God’s vengeance to be poured out upon our adversaries. A list of imprecatory Psalms include Psalms 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 35, 37, 40, 52, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 69, 79, 83, 94, 109, 137, 139, and 143.
But when is the last time that you prayed: “Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked” (Psalm 3:7) or “Break the arm of the wicked man,” (Psalm 10:15) or “Pour out Your indignation on them, and let Your burning anger overtake them” (Psalm 69:24)? Does even the suggestion of praying this type of prayer seem un-Christian to you? Then it is because you have laid several faulty theological foundations.
- First, you do not understand that there are various types of prayer. Paul taught Timothy that “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanksbe made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Every prayer is different based upon the situation. Those who are led by the Spirit may be led to a specific prayer or Psalm based upon the specific circumstances. For example, when I was praying against the Supreme Court’s separation of church and state ruling, the Spirit led me Psalm 2 resulting in my Appeal to Heaven book. Unfortunately, when a modern-day Christian prays for wicked kings and all who are in authority, who have rejected Christ’s sovereign rule of the universe, it is not an imprecatory prayer that they pray. It is usually some type of toothless “Bless them Lord” and not “Avenge us LORD.”
- Second, we have to rid ourselves of the unbiblical doctrine that we are all God’s Children. The Bible teaches no such thing! As a matter of fact, it teaches the exact opposite from the beginning of the Book of Genesis to end of the Book of Revelation. The truth is that history proves there have been two very clear and distinct genealogical lines. They are Children of God and the Children of the devil. [see 1 John 3:10]. This history can be traced back to the Garden of Eden.
The Lord God told the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Gen 3:24-15). But who is the seed of the serpent? Satan’s first “seed” can be traced back to “Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.” (1 John 3:12). The idea that “the wicked detest the upright” (Proverbs 29:27) is a historically consistent theme and always leads to a persecution of the just by the unjust.
Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that their genealogy can be trace back to both Cain and the devil when He said: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning.” (John 8:44). These genealogical lines can be traced from Cain through the Old Testament.
Every prophet that the LORD sent to testify against the wicked leaders of their day were murdered for declaring God’s sovereignty and their rebuking their rebellion. [See Matt 23:29-36).
This murderous rampage continued into the early church. First, the children of the devil murdered an innocent Christ for publicly rebuking their hypocrisy [read Matthew 23], and then they began to systematically persecute and murder His followers. Stephen testifies before the Sanhedrin of the history of Satan’s children persecuting God’s Children when he said: “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers.” (Acts 7:52). Stephen met the same fate.
So, is it un-Christian to pray for justice or vengeance to be poured out on the heads of the wicked who murder the saints for simply defending to truth of His existence, His sovereignty or advocating that righteousness of God’s law to be the standard for our land? Jesus taught us to pray an imprecatory prayer in the Parable of the Persistent Widow when the oppressed widow enters the courts of heaven and petitions the judge. “Get justice for me from my adversary.’ To which Christ responds “shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Lk 18:1-8).
As we approach the end of the age and the fifth seal is opened, we see the martyred saints under the altar invoking imprecatory prayers when they say: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10). As a matter of fact, I have been teaching in my course “End-Times: A Preparation Guide,” that when the golden censers in heaven become filled with the imprecatory prayers of the saints, it will usher in the end of the age where these two genealogical lines will be separated once and for all. [see Matt 13:36-42 & Revelation 8]. See my video “Imprecatory Prayer and the 2020 Election.”
https://youtu.be/mVmnEVZb1d0
Let us pray…
“Vindicate us Lord, and plead our cause against an ungodly nation. Get justice for us from our adversaries. Deliver us from deceitful and unjust men. Cause them to fall into the pit that they have dug for the righteous. Grant to Your servants that we may speak Your word with all boldness. Give us the nations for our inheritance, and the ends of the earth for our possession.”
