Anyone who has been reading my posts for a while may know that I like to focus on contending for the greatness of Jesus within others, and that I believe strongly that one primary way to do this is through prayer, through engaging the Holy Spirit and partnering with Him in the work He is already doing.

Do I have the right to complain about a person I am not praying for?

If you are thinking “wait, aren’t we all individually responsible and accountable for our own actions, choices, morality, behaviors, failures…”. The answer, of course, is yes. But in case you were thinking that only applies to the person you are complaining about, may I invite you to turn that around?

There is a scene in the movie Gladiator that shows an emotional Commodus weeping before Marcus Aurelius over what he perceives is injustice. Marcus Aurelius gets on his knees before his son and cries out “your faults as a son are my failures as a father“. OOH, could that same logic apply to us? The person we wish would change – their faults as a [husband, wife, child, sibling, friend, co-worker, boss, pastor… you fill in the blank] are our failures as an intercessor? OUCH, stab in the heart!

Again, yes, we are all individually responsible. But what if we were willing to go the extra mile with Jesus and the Holy Spirit in contending for one another? How much further down the road would we be?

Gladiator Your Faults My Failures