[/audio] Have you received a chain letter or chain prayer and felt like it was a good cause or good intention, but yet felt uneasy because you were to send it to a certain number of people and cautioned “don’t break the chain?” Suddenly the “good feeling” about it turned into a “guilt trip.” Perhaps it even caused you to feel fear if you don’t do it. Especially if it is a prayer or a Scripture verse to pass along, you think, “Well, prayer and Scripture are good, so this must be good… but why do I feel bad? Why do I feel trapped?”
Here’s my theory on it.
God is the God of freedom! He gives freely, loves freely, removes chains – He sets people free. His desire is for us to pray and worship Him freely.
Satan, on the other hand, is about binding people up, putting holds on them, using fear tactics to trick people. He puts chains on people. Now when you hear “chain letter” or “chain prayer,” do you have a new theory on the source? Satan can trick good intentioned people to do things his way. Don’t we all know this from experience? Haven’t we been tricked a time or two ourselves? Please don’t be upset with the person that started the chain letter/prayer or the person that sent it to you. They are probably just victims in this “struggle” of good versus evil. The best thing to do would be to pray for them.
Here are some suggestions on how to pray regarding this matter:
Pray for their discernment, that God may open their eyes to the truth and the way He operates.
Pray that any evil attachment from the chain letter/prayer will be broken, so it loses its negative power.
And thank God that by His power, He will work it all for good and that He hears our hearts regarding the prayer intention and calms our fears.
Yes, we should pray as a community. Yes, we should encourage others to pray with us and for particular intentions (like COVID 19) but without compromising personal freedom. Praying as a community should be an invitation to “join in” the prayer intention – without pressure.
God wants us to pray to Him in freedom, in spirit and truth, with our hearts free and sincere.
I hope by sharing what’s been on my heart about chain letters and chain prayers have set some people free!
Christ’s blessings,
Patti Rey
Here are articles by other authors on chain letters:
How Should a Christian Respond to Chain Letters? Got Questions: Your Questions. Biblical Answers. Found at https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-chain-letters.html
The Problem with Chain Prayer by Kathy Lamb. Catholic365.com found at http://www.catholic365.com/article/7198/the-problem-with-chain-prayer.html