23rd May 2024
Praying for everyone
This is the eighth in a series of studies on the subject of prayer.
…for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.
Philippians 1:19 (NIVUK)
There are plenty of people we know we should pray for. The single mum struggling to make ends meet who doesn’t know where the next meal is coming from. The man in his fifties who has just been made redundant and doesn’t know if he’ll get another job. A family member who has just been given the news that they have terminal cancer and is distraught. Or a friend who is grieving the loss of their spouse and is so lonely. All these people clearly need our prayers and I’m sure they find their way into our prayer time, but are there people in your life for whom you don’t pray because you think they don’t need it? Maybe we feel they have got their life together: they have a good job, a nice family, and are spiritually mature. It is easy to overlook those who appear to be successful, yet the truth is, we all need and benefit from the prayers of others.
We might think, if there was anyone who didn’t need the prayers of others, it would be the Apostle Paul. He partnered mightily with God to spread the gospel, raise churches, and write scripture. A spiritual giant if ever there was one, who surely didn’t need the prayers of others – or did he? When he was in prison, he wrote to the church at Philippi saying that his deliverance would not be by the Holy Spirit alone, but also through the prayers of God’s people. Paul wanted these Christian believers to know that he was dependent on their prayers to sustain him during his ministry.
Paul wrote in the same vein to the Christians in Rome: ‘I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favourably received by the Lord’s people there…’ (Romans 15:30-31).
A common feature of Paul’s letters is that he concluded with a request for the church to pray for him: ‘ Pray also for me’ (Ephesians 6:19); ‘pray for us’ (1 Thessalonians 5:25), and at the end of the letter to Philemon he writes, ‘And one thing more: prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.’ (v.22 emphasis mine).
Paul believed that prayer for himself and his ministry was important. He knew that the secret to the effectiveness of his mission was connected to people praying for him. If the Apostle Paul needed the prayers of God’s people, then I dare say that every one of us, however much we have our life together, or how productive we are for the Lord, needs to be prayed for.
So, who do you know who needs your prayers? Can you commit to praying for them regularly?
And who do you know who does not appear to need your prayers? The reality is they do. Can you commit to praying for them in just the same way? When we do so, we are, in a sense, right there with them. As Paul told the Christians in Rome, when they prayed for him they were joining his ‘struggle’ (Romans 15:30), in his work for the kingdom of God.
Prayer
Loving Father, thank you for the opportunities to pray for others. Please bring to our attention those who need our prayers and give us the commitment to pray consistently for them. In faith, we ask for blessings on behalf of those we pray for, in Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Barry Robinson
About the writer:
Barry Robinson is a minister in Grace Communion International and Regional Pastor for Southern England, the Midlands, and Wales
Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA
Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm
Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church