In red are my Aunt Betty’s words to me and in blue my response. This issue must have been resolved, because I can’t remember who I was upset with when I wrote this.

Betty: It’s a very natural response to be irritated. Make a choice to turn it into prayer, rather than negative judgment. In other words, the difference is between opening a door that will bless the person, versus opening the door which Satan wants to stoke, and whereby we’re cursing the person. Negative judgments are cursing the person. Remember the part of Scripture that says, “Pray a blessing, don’t curse?” I thought, “Oh, that’s what that is saying.” When I feel myself erupting into an irritation with somebody, I have to learn to choose to open the door to love that person. I need to ask the Lord to strengthen, encourage and bring them into truth or whatever it is that the Lord is showing me. Do you see the difference? The one is you’re praying a blessing. The other is you’re cursing them. You’re throwing hot coals on their head in a sense with your judgment. So, in one way you could say, “Whoa! It sounds a bit unfair. You mean, the person that irritates me should get more blessings than somebody who doesn’t?” Yes, according to the teachings of Jesus Christ. It’s like, “Oh my gosh, so they seem to be rewarded for bad behavior.

AM: Well, it doesn’t say they have to be prayed for more.

Betty: No, but you can hear the part of you saying, “Oh gee, I’m rewarding them for their bad behavior when they irritate me. Then I’m supposed to go out of my way to pray blessings on them. But, that’s what Jesus is saying. Your little kid doesn’t want to go that way. That’s right. She’s a pagan. So that’s where irritation can become a blessing, because it’s a call to prayer.

AM: Ugh!

Betty: That’s our natural reaction there. There’s a number of Scriptures that tell us to pray for our enemies. Do good to those who persecute you. Oh boy, being a Christian is hard work. When you stop to think about it, being a negative, judging person is really carrying on Satan’s business, instead of the work of Christ. The work of Christ is to spread the blessings of God. That’s what he did when he came to earth. His very presence among us brought forth blessings. So, it makes a whole lot of sense to me.

X is really irritating me!

Betty: That’s where every time she gets into that, and your irritation starts to grow, you pray. What’s so great about it is you’ll be praying a lot for her transformation, rather than going into the irritation. So, it’s a win/win for her. “Lord, we just lift up that whole situation. We don’t know what your intention is, but we ask that you tune us to what you intend. Help us move in that area. We ask that whatever is causing the blockages, that You open that door and help that obstacle be removed. Lord, we put our trust in You.”