How to Pray for Your Globe-Loving Brothers and Sisters in Christ

Here’s a post I wrote while grieving the loss of my father and settling his affairs (which I am still settling).

Hat Tip: Get out of California before you pass and make sure you have a will.

I wanted to share this prayer with you because it has transformed my prayer life.

Below is the Scripture passage that inspired ten prayer principles when praying for those who disagree with you on any topic, especially the Flat Earth.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:3-11

I was praying through this passage for my father the day he passed away. Wow! Did God answer that one perfectly!

Below are the ten principles I pulled from these verses that I can faithfully pray for my friends, family, and loved ones who share faith in Jesus Christ, regardless of their views of cosmology. You really don’t have to disagree with your loved ones about anything to pray this way. 

One thing that really stood out to me in the above passage is the emotion involved in prayer. God doesn’t want us praying rote words with cold hearts. He also doesn’t want us to be mad at our brothers and sisters who hold differing opinions. Instead, God wants us to be thankful, joyful, and affectionate toward them. That’s life-changing.

1. Be thankful every time you lift them up in prayer (verse three). Find something about your brother or sister to be grateful for — even if they mock your beliefs. Trust me, thankfulness changes your heart and helps you pray according to God’s will so He can answer your prayers.

2. Make requests for them with joy (verse four). Joy can be difficult to muster up if your friend has hurt you. That’s why you need the Spirit’s help. Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. If you can’t feel joyful toward your friend, ask God to give you that joy. However, you might be surprised to know that if you begin with thanksgiving for your friend, the joy will likely naturally follow. Also, be specific in your prayers for them. Requests. What would you like God to do for them? See #s 6-10 for some specifics that God will answer with a yes.

3. Pray with confidence that God will complete the good work He has started in them (verse six): It is not your job to convert your friend to Flat Earth. That’s God’s job. Yet, as you pray, you can be confident that God is working out His good pleasure in their lives. Maybe the time for them to understand Biblical Cosmology isn’t today. It doesn’t matter. God is perfectly working His will in their lives if they are true believers. You can be confident of that, freeing you up to pray for them in faith.

4. Recognize the fellowship you have with them because of the gospel, even the same faith and grace (verses five and seven). You are united to your globe-believing brother or sister in Christ. Don’t break fellowship with them. Please don’t belittle them. Instead, embrace them. They belong to Christ just as much as you belong to Him. If you are truly Christ’s and they are truly Christ’s, you will spend an eternity together. Even if you can’t win them on this side of heaven, one day they will see God’s creation as it really is. See #3: God will perfect them, just like He is perfecting you.

5. Have the genuine affection of Christ Jesus in your heart for them and pray from that position (verse eight). If you apply principles 1-4, the affection of Christ will be the natural state of your heart toward your friend. You can smile as you pray for them. Loving them as Christ loves you.

6. Pray for their love to abound more and more (verse nine). As your love for them grows, you’ll want to see God’s love grow in them, too. Perhaps that mutual love for one another will open up more opportunities to discuss differing views profitably.

7. Pray for their love to grow in true knowledge and discernment (verse nine). Now that you have love, affection, thanksgiving, and joy for your friend, you are primed to ask God to bless your friend with the truth about His creation and to give them discernment concerning the lies of the evil one. Praying for true knowledge and discernment pleases God. He will answer it in the affirmative.

8. Pray they grow in approving excellent things (verse ten). What could be more excellent than understanding God’s beautiful creation? Ask God that they would recognize the difference between excellent things and mundane things, between truth and error.

9. Pray that they be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ (verse ten). The globe lie is an offense to God. No doubt your friend believes the lie in sincerity if they are truly Christ’s child. Yet we should pray for God to set them free from the delusion, for their own good and for God’s glory. He wants them to be without offense.

10. Pray for God to fill them with the fruit of righteousness (verse eleven). What is the fruit of righteousness? For sure, it includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Wouldn’t that kind of fruit make it possible to have some good discussions about Flat Earth?

And finally (this really could be an eleventh principle), pray all these things to the glory and praise of God, who desires all men to come to the knowledge of the truth.

If you use these ten principles as a model prayer for your loved ones, it will surely change your heart toward your brother or sister, freeing up God to answer your prayers in most marvelous ways.