Sometimes I just want to pray, “Zap ‘em, Lord!”

But then the Holy Spirit will rein me in. He reminds me the ones I want zapped have souls, and that God is not willing that any should perish.

Who are those people? Rapists, kidnappers, sex traffickers, drug dealers, murderers, professors who work to discredit faith in God, sellers of alcohol to alcoholics. These are obvious.

But what about the not-so-obvious ones, the ones hiding in plain—and sometimes not so plain—sight but are still after the faith and souls of our children, families, marriages, churches, and Christians. These can include businesses, entities, institutions, government officials, celebrities, porn peddlers—anyone who is bad for our country, families, children, and God’s people. These include those listed in the blog I posted yesterday, “Snaky Places.”

Many of these—obvious and not-so-obvious—played a part in our prodigals’ leaving the faith.

When I pray about these people, my first instinct is to pray they be destroyed, zapped, if you will, but in a second of time I realize they have souls. They need Jesus, too. So, my prayer becomes: “Lord, save them or remove them from places of influence. If You see they are not going to change their ways immediately, destroy their influence and place them where they will no longer influence people against You or harm anyone else.”

Perhaps our prodigals are the offenders sometimes, and that changes the way we want people to pray. If our prodigals are harming others, I ask God to stop their influence, too. Any weapon the enemy has formed that causes our prodigals to promote, condone, or support sin needs to be rendered ineffective.

I pray I will have discernment, and God is giving it.