What shall I ask you to do to these people? Make their women barren! Make them unable to nurse their babies! – Hosea 9:14 GNT

Hosea softens his angry prayer with a question for he really does not know how to pray. And while it sounds like an angry prayer maybe it is one of mercy. Maybe he knew how terrible the upcoming judgement was going to be and he wanted to spare the children that would be born during that time.

I think if I find myself wanting to pray an angry prayer, I should check myself. I believe in praying for revival and spiritual passion, but if I do so in an angry fashion than maybe I have opened the door for Satan to walk into my world.

Hosea does not pray for peace, deliverance or prosperity. He does not pray for these children to be protected during the judgement period.

Compare this to the joy found in the prayer of the Psalmist when he talks about renewal and revival.

Lord, make us prosperous again,^[b]
    just as the rain brings water back to dry riverbeds.
Let those who wept as they planted their crops,
    gather the harvest with joy!

 Those who wept as they went out carrying the seed
    will come back singing for joy,
    as they bring in the harvest. – Psalm 126:4-6 GNT

My prayer is not to be a bystander, but a person engaged in action and passion. I want God to do what I know He can do.

This is not to say that Christians who understand gospel truths can’t go to the law of God for help in weakening sin. In many places he tells Christians to “bring their sin” to the law and to the gospel. Nevertheless, such counsel comes with warnings to remember that Christians cannot come back under legal condemnation for their sin, and that too much emphasis on the danger of sin and the law can lead to the legalistic spirit that can only stop sinful acts temporarily and not change the heart. Timothy Keller