I do not pray for the world
by Ivan Ho 30 Jan 2022
Someone said to me: “Ivan, you’ve been praying for Covid to go away for a long time, but so far that prayer hasn’t been answered…”. I do not know where he got the idea from but to be honest, I have never prayed for Covid to go away. Put it that way, I have never been led to pray along those lines.
Today, I come across a scripture which I believe would explain why I was never led to pray that prayer.
“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.”
John 17:9 NKJV
Jesus says: “I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me.” What does He mean when Jesus says: “I do not pray for the world“?
We would be forgiven to think that we can pray for anything of the world and God will answer our prayers. But if Jesus doesn’t pray for the world, what business do we have in trying to change the things of the world through our prayers? We have been dispensing far too much energy in praying for things that Jesus Himself doesn’t pray about.
We are not of this world
Jesus makes it clear to us that He is not of this world and His kingdom is not of this world either.
I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
John 17:14 NKJV
If we are in Christ, we no longer
belong to this world. We have been born again in the kingdom of God. Our business is no longer to serve the cause of the world but to serve the cause of the kingdom of God. Our prayers are therefore offered for kingdom purposes rather than to satisfy our worldly needs and desires. Praying for straight ‘A’s in school exams, for example, are irrelevant unless they are for kingdom purpose. In the same way, God is not in the business of removing germs and viruses, or any sickness and disease for that matter.
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
James 5:14-15 NKJV
God never says: “Let’s take the jab so you won’t get sick…”. Before Jesus returns, sicknesses are here to stay in the world which is part of the curse of man’s sin and rebellion against God. Only in Christ will that curse be broken in us. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever get sick, but if we do get sick, we have our God given immune systems as our first line of defence and that’s why more than 98% of people who contracted coronavirus have recovered even before any vaccine was developed and being released in the market. And if one’s weakened immune system cannot cope with virus attacks, our prayer of faith is the most powerful way to let God heal us from all kinds of sicknesses. It wouldn’t make sense that you can pray for any disease but when it comes to coronavirus, Jesus won’t be able to heal you. Sadly, that’s what a lot of believers seem to think.
God is more concerned about His people overcoming the deceptions and fear surrounding Covid than the dangers of the virus itself. As long as there are living beings in our world, there are germs and bacteria and God has given us the best defence mechanism with our immune systems. To pray for Covid to go away, we have to pray that all viruses to go away and that will not happen until Jesus returns. Let’s not forget, Covid-19 is a name they gave to corona-virus which originated in Wuhan. We need to know that, whatever name they give to any virus, the name of Jesus is far greater! No viruses formed against us shall prosper in Jesus’s name. Our ultimate defence against any virus is not vaccines, which by the way have proven to be rather useless, but in the power of the name of Jesus!