Pray for one another! By: James Lantz
God’s love for His man is genuine and extreme as demonstrated through the giving of His only begotten Son to be sacrificed for the redemption of all who will embrace the Lord Jesus! We see God looking to His man to intercede for others. Abraham interceded for Lot to be spared from the judgement that came on Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses prayed for the disobedient descendants of Abraham who refused to take the good land that God had picked out for them. Numbers 14:19 CEV You are merciful, and you treat people better than they deserve. So please forgive these people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt. The Lord responds to Moses, I will forgive them as you have asked. But I promise that as surely as I live and as surely as my presence fills the earth, none of these people will live to enter that land. They have seen my glory and the miracles I preformed for them over and over again and still refuse to obey Me. Joshua and Caleb have fully obeyed Me and they will go in and possess the land. Ester put her life on the line for her people and God gave them a great victory! Ezekiel tells of a time when God’s people were in great wickedness and there was no one to intercede for them. Ezek. 22:30&31 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God. Heartfelt fervent prayers of the righteous avail much as God always desires to extend mercy to everyone He can, however, no one can receive eternal life by the faith and prayers of another
I desire mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
alone! Ezek. 14:20 Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. Our prayers for sinners could delay judgement opening up a larger window of opportunity for them to repent. One way that we are to pray for the lost today is to ask God to send forth laborers into His harvest field. In Lot’s case, he was a righteous man, but was pursuing the pleasures of this life and totally clueless to the imminent judgement coming on Sodom and Gomorrah. God is merciful to the just and the unjust! Stephen prayed that God would not hold the sin of murder against those who stoned him which included Saul of Tarsus.
Jesus brought us a new commandment, Love one another as I have loved you! The example that He gave is that He laid down His own life that we could have life. This is what separates us from the world. This is how people know that we are disciples of Jesus. John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Jesus said, those who keep My commandments are those who love Me! Jesus is the word of God and the word says that we are to pray for one another. We are all a part of Christs’ body and members one of another. Praying for one another is part of our protection. Eph. 6:18 ISV Pray in the Spirit at all times with every kind of prayer and request. Likewise, be alert with your most diligent efforts and pray for all the saints. Paul is a doer of this word and refers to praying for the saints earlier in this letter to the church. The King James translation includes the word supplication twice which is the kind of prayer that we pray for fellow believers. Eph. 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints Jesus set the example of praying for those who believed in Him while He was on the earth. Jesus prayer in the garden includes that the Father would keep us from evil, and that we would be one even as He and the Father are one, and that we would be with Him in glory. John 17:23 NLT I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. The Spirit of God had Paul write that we are to pray first of all for the saints, sinners, our leaders, and all men before we pray for ourselves. 1 Tim. 2:1&2 WNT I exhort then, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be offered on behalf of all men; including kings and all who are in high station, in order that we may live peaceful and tranquil lives with all godliness and gravity. As we increase in understanding and the knowledge of God it becomes more and more obvious how God rewards those who look to Him as their source and actively pursue His agenda. Our obedience to pray for all men opens the door for God to work good for us and provide an environment that allows us to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Jesus taught the same principles in what we call the Lord’s prayer in that we are to pray for the advancement of God’s kingdom before we pray for our own needs. Mt. 6:10&11 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. The Lord’s prayer is not some legalistic form for prayer but rather a prayer that disciples who have committed their life to God understand. Disciples understand that without God we are nothing, we have nothing, and we can do nothing but with Him we have eternal life and the help of Him who can do all things! The Lord’s prayer reveals the mind of God and is a revealer of the heart and priorities of His people. Those of us who believe that all things were made by Him, all things were made for Him, and by Him all things consists can take great joy in obeying the Master. Understanding that our physical bodies are part of the all things that consist in Him makes it a no brainer to do what He says if we want to be healed. We know that He is working all things for our good because we obey His commandments. Being righteous before God is the key to God answering our prayers! James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. We are still on the subject of praying for one another and that it is a key to receiving healing for ourselves. Praying for fellow believers is an indicator that we are obeying the new covenant law of love! Praying for others is cooperating with God’s law of seed time and harvest and we will get a harvest if we faint not. Praying for others is putting action to our faith. Faith without corresponding action brings no results.
Pray these anointed Ephesians prayers for the saints and for yourself! (Place your brothers name in)
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give ______ the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and that the eyes of _______ understanding be enlightened
1. that _______ may know what is the hope of his calling
2. and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
3. and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
* Our understanding of the richness of His glory in the saints and the greatness of His power working in those who believe will be greatly limited until we get the revelation of God’s plan for our life. ( TIP : PRAY THIS PRAYER FROM EPHESIANS 1:16-23 and the following one from EPHESIANS 3:14-21 )
I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant , according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
( Pray these prayers over and over for your brother and watch what God does )
