Praying for You

“I’m praying for you.” A phrase that carries so much weight and meaning. Sometimes it’s something that’s said when we don’t know what else to say or do for a person. But hopefully, we mean it. We are actually praying for those in need.

Being missionaries far from home, we believe that the prayers of the Church, of our brothers and sisters in Christ, have carried us through difficult times and have been catalysts for provision and protection. We also believe that the prayers of the Church open doors and hearts to the Gospel of Christ.

I don’t claim to know the mystery of how prayers work (we can’t make God do anything, He has His plans and will fulfill them, so why us?), but I know that they do. But here are a few things I do know about prayer.

Prayers are how we talk to God. In the Psalms, David cried out to God when he was in distress, when he was angry, when he was excited and happy, when he was in deep sorrow, and when he was afraid. He took all of his emotions, needs, and circumstances to God and laid them before His feet and in the end, declared, “But as for me I trust in God.” and “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.”

Prayers are how we wage war. After setting us up for battle with the full armor of God, the apostle Paul tells us to “pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of requests. With this in mind keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:18) We put our armor on, stand firm, and then we pray.

Prayers are how we intercede for one another. To intercede basically means to get involved on behalf of someone else. It means to be in someone else’s business. We go to God asking Him to intervene on behalf of others. This interceding was the job of the priest. The people took their sacrifice to the priest and the priest offered it to God on their behalf. At one point the first Levitical priest, Aaron, physically stood in the gap for the people of Israel. In 1 Peter 2: 9, we are told that we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation…” We are to be priests. We bring people before the throne of God and intercede for them. We ask for salvation, for protection, for God’s will to be done in their lives.

Prayer works best when we pray according to His will. So, we all agree that God is good, right? That He knows best, right? That He has a plan? So, why don’t we pray for that plan? Too often we forget about God’s plan and pray for God to bless our plans. God is so much more likely to say yes to something we know He already wants to do. He wants your family and friends and neighbors to come to faith in Him; He wants to heal marriages and broken homes, He wants to restore; He wants to establish His throne in our hearts. He wants peace and unity in the Church. He wants to reveal Himself and His heart. He wants to heal our land. He wants holiness and goodness for us. A great way to do this is to actually pray the Scriptures. A good place to start? “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” or “Not my will, but Yours be done.” Even Jesus made a request, but then submitted to whatever God wanted. We can ask whatever we want, but remember, this is a conversation, not a wish list. We are talking to the God who has the power to change everything.

Prayer changes us. As we pray God’s will, as we talk to Him, our hearts and minds are changed and transformed. As we have conversations with God, we come to know Him. We allow Him to speak to our hearts through Holy Spirit and through the His Word. We even come to listen for God’s voice in the wisdom of His people.

Prayers are always heard because we are His children and He loves us.

We are praying for you. We know this is a hard time. None of us have ever had to live through anything like this before. We are praying for your safety and for your provision and for your peace of mind. Most of all we are praying that God will use this time to make Himself known to those who don’t know Him. God often makes Himself known through His Church… and that’s you. So we are praying that the love and truth of Christ will shine through you and that you will have the right words to say at the right time as you fearlessly make known the Gospel of Christ. We are praying that as you lift Him up, He will draw more people to Himself.

We pray these things for you, please pray for us, too.