Intercessory Prayer

This is one of my devotion's that I received several months ago, but I thought it was very fitting for life as I am living today... 

We need to be constantly in this state of mind for those that we love... for those in our family... for that homeless person as they stand on the street corner...

Where are our thoughts during the day... Let them be in this, for there can we do a small work for His glory... 

Until next time, 

Jean

 

Intercessory Prayer

I pray for them . . . which thou hast given me.
John 1 7:9

When our congregation meets for midweek prayer meeting, someone often requests prayer for ”each other." I am sure this request is given with noble intentions, but I often think this is a rather impersonal way to pray for the brotherhood. Granted, we might not pray for each person in our prayer group by name because there are certain rules of conduct we should follow, such as considering our allotted prayer time and allowing others in our group to have enough time for prayer, also. How then should we pray for "each other"? In John 17 we see Christ praying to the Father for his disciples (and for us). His prayer provides guidelines we do well to follow.

In John 17:15, Christ prayed that His followers would be kept from evil. Every Christian faces temptations to sin. We must intercede for others, so that they can also be kept from the results of those temptations. In verse 21, He prayed that we would have unity, as He had with the Father. Since disunity hinders our walk of faith and our witness to the unsaved, we must pray for unity among the brotherhood.

Other New Testament passages give us more guidelines for praying for each other. Ephesians 5:20 tells us to give thanks always for all things, and we certainly ought to thank God for each of our brothers and sisters in Christ. James 5:14 tells us to pray for each other’s healing: physical, spiritual, and emotional.

Finally, James 1:5 tells us to pray for wisdom, and this is a request we should make not only for ourselves, but for each member of the brotherhood.

Marcus Yoder


Bible Reference: John 17