Join Me In Praying

I URGE YOU FRIENDS BY OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST AND BY THE LOVE THAT THE SPIRIT GIVES: JOIN ME IN PRAYING FERVENTLY TO GOD FOR ME. Romans 15.30.

One of the greatest things you and I could do for each other is to pray. We all need prayer. If you want to know how much others need your prayer, just think of how much you pray for yourself! Yet, do you consider praying for others a great necessity? At the very beginning of this new month, I pray for you all the great prayer of the apostle Paul, which you will read below.

In today’s Bible text, you see how earnestly the great apostle Paul himself pleads for fervent prayer on his own behalf. Doesn't it reveal to you how important to him was the intercessory prayers of the believers. He was a prayer warrior himself. He prayed much for himself and for all others as we shall see below. But he realised that ‘self-prayer’ though important, was not enough! From him we learn the need to pray for others and also to request prayers from others.

At our weekly Home Fellowship, one of the things we enjoy the most and everyone appreciates is the intercessory prayer! Each one tells of his or her need and someone prays for them. We intercede on behalf of our unsaved relatives and friends. We pray for people who are sick or in distress. When God answers our prayers, it is reported for thanksgiving.

The Bible exhorts us to “pray for each other” (Ja 5.16). The apostle Paul mentions in his many epistles that he “prays always”, “prays constantly” and “prays earnestly” for the believers. He prayed for all kinds of needs. Most importantly, he prayed for their spiritual welfare and progress. At a time when believers are least concerned about their spiritual needs and cherish only physical and material blessings, how important it is for godly fellow Christians to intercede for them! My wife is a prayer warrior. She prays a lot for all sorts of people, known to her and even unknown. She makes use of her sleepless hours at night profitably by engaging in intercession!

Every time I read the prayer of the apostle Paul for the Colossian believers, I am thrilled and even fascinated by it. It is no surprise that I have learned it by heart and made it my choice prayer for my fellow-believers all over the world and all my devotional readers like you!

“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” (Col 1.10-12).

A number of my devotional readers from all over the world send me emails thanking me for my relentless efforts which are a blessing to them. They assure me of their prayers. Dear believer, follow the apostle's example and start praying for me and for others!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me to find the time to pray and intercede for others as much as I pray for myself. Some of their needs are greater than mine. Be merciful to them. Amen.