A dear friend of mine has double pneumonia. A dear friend of yours has cancer, or diabetes, or a child in jail, or a marriage on the rocks. We ask God to heal them and help them, of course. We want them to be well and happy, to have their pain relieved and their families restored. But let me suggest that if we stop there, we are barely scratching the surface of praying for one another. Sit with me in Paul’s classroom for a few moments. His letters are strewn with priceless gems of prayer for the people he’s writing to, and golden nuggets of instruction on how and what to pray for each other. In Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians and 1 Thessalonians I picked up these jewels:
- "Pray without ceasing" (continually, constantly, all the time, never stop), he says in 1 Thessalonians 5. And in Ephesians 6, “With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and stay alert in this, with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.” In order for that not to be vain repetition, we need more to say than “please heal Marty’s pneumonia.”
- Give thanks for the ones you love as Paul does in Ephesians 1. Thank Him for the influence they’ve had on you, the work they do, the light and salt they are in the community.
- Ask for their spiritual growth. This figures large in Paul’s letters, and memorizing some of these passages will be a great benefit in praying effectively: “For this reason we also… do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” is in Colossians 1, and “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength,” in Ephesians 1. Also “I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God,” from Ephesians 3.
- Pray that their testimony in the world and their work for God will be pleasing to Him. “That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work,” Paul says in Colossians. In Philippians he writes, “And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
- Pray for their endurance and strength, that they will be “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy.” While He is healing Marty, I pray that He will strengthen her, give her patience and joy even during her illness. This will make her a shining testimony to others of the power and glory of God, and of the peace He gives His children no matter their earthly circumstances.
I hope those who love me will occasionally pray for me this way. I want to glorify my Lord at all times, but I know that my testimony wobbles when all is not going smoothly. I covet the prayers of my brothers and sisters in Christ to strengthen me at those times. We can help each other, we can give glory to God, we can reap a great harvest for His kingdom if we give serious attention to deeper intercessory prayer, and take some time to learn to do it well and always.
