Praying for Others

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (James 5:16b)

Perhaps the two most powerful words in the English language are "I'm sorry." Surely the three most powerful words are "I love you". In my opinion, the four most powerful words are "I'm praying for you."

There are times when we need comforting, and knowing that someone is interceding to God on our behalf is the most encouraging knowledge at that time. Sometimes we tell someone else that we're praying for them, mainly because we can't find the "right" words to say at that moment, but in reality, those are the most encouraging words they can hear.

Of course, we don't have to wait until a friend or family member is in a crisis or in need of some encouragement in order to pray for them. There are a few people who I pray for daily, people who are very dear to me. I often pray about their jobs, their families, finances, etc., but lately I've been challenged to go deeper in my prayers for them. I am trying to follow in the pattern of Paul's prayer for the church at Colossae:

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints-- the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. (Colossians 1:3-12)

Paul prayed that his fellow Christians would:
-be filled with the knowledge of God's will;
-please God in every way;
-bear fruit in every good work;
-grow in the knowledge of God;
-be strengthened with God's power, in order that they may have endurance and patience; and
-joyfully give thanks to the Father.

I am trying to spend more time praying over these aspects of my loved ones' lives. Of course, if my loved one is sick, I pray for healing, but I can also pray that, through their illness, they will grow in their knowledge of God. I can pray that they will get out of a hostile work environment, but also pray that if God wills that they remain in that workplace, that they will learn patient endurance through that trial.

Here are a couple of challenges for you:

First, try praying the prayer in Colossians for those you regularly pray for.

Second, if God has laid someone on your heart to pray for, be sure to do it, but also be sure to let that person know that you're praying for them. Send them a note, write the prayer out in an email, give them a call--you may not even know what to pray for or why God has laid this person on your heart. But He never calls us to do something--including praying for someone--without a reason for it, so trust that even if you do not know what this person's prayer needs are, God does.