121 Days of Prayer

In Regard to Evil Be Infants

The purposes of this prayer are: Guidance/Purpose, Wisdom and Spreading of the Gospel.

Omniscient God, when comparing the spiritual gift of prophecy to the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. In the law it is written: ‘Through men of strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me,’ says the Lord. Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’” 1 Corinthians 14:18–25 (NIV). Lord, we pray that we become infants when confronted with evil. We also pray that we too receive all the spiritual gifts with which you blessed the first believers. Amen.