Do you find it difficult to pray for others?

I need the Holy Spirit to remind me and convict me that interceding on behalf of others is a labor of love. It is an excellent work.

When people work, people work. When people pray, God works. [1]

Sherry used to sing to our children, “Call on Jesus when you don’t know what to do. Call on Jesus and He will take care of you” and “Turn it over to Jesus and you will smile the rest of the day.”

Giving thanks to God helps my prayer life. While giving thanks to God, I am reminded of His faithfulness to me in the past. Faith in God’s faithfulness fuels my prayers to God.

When Jesus began His prayer to raise Lazarus from the dead and when He began His prayer for food for the thousands of hungry people around Him, He began by saying, “I thank You…” It is precisely when the need brought to us is greater than we could ever meet that we should begin our prayer by saying, “I thank You, Father.”

The Apostle Paul thanked God for those he prayed for. I find that thanking God for the person that I am praying for helps me to realize their value to God, to others and to me.

We can thank God in advance for answering our prayers when we know that He intervenes in ways greater than we have asked or imagined.

Doubt says, “Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’” [2] Faith says, “When I pray to my Heavenly Father in the Name of Jesus I am praying to the God who made heaven and earth and sustains it all, and He has promised to respond to my requests.”

When Moses held up his hands in prayer, Israel prevailed, but when his hands became heavy, they began to suffer defeat. Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. Israel won the battle via answered prayers. [3]

That is how important prayer is! Keep praying.

We can pray for God’s will to be known and accomplished on earth as His will is done in heaven. We can pray for people to be kept from temptation and delivered from evil! We can pray for the Gospel to reach the ears of lost souls! We can pray for disciples! The enemy wants to snuff out Christ-bearers, the Lord wants to multiply them. We can pray for those in authority. We people by nature our sinful. Unless God intervenes, we will inevitably make bad decisions that hurt others and lead to tragic losses. We can pray for love, joy and peace in our lives!

Let us ask the Lord to help us pray! He knows it’s difficult. Peter, James and John fell asleep while Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He asked them, “Could you not watch with Me one hour?” [4] Imagine how much good would be accomplished if we His people prayed ceaselessly. Sometimes just in our head talking to God as we go about our day, and other times on our knees, praying verbally out loud to God for others.

[1] Hans Von Staden
[2] Job 21:15
[3] Exodus 17:11-13
[4] Matthew 26:40