PRAY FOR OTHERS

Good Evening to all!

I admonish and urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be offered on behalf of all men. (1 Timothy 2:1) (To admonish means to advise, caution or encourage).

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Devotional:

When we pray, we both speak to God and listen to Him speak to us. One type of prayer is intercession, which is simply praying for someone besides yourself. It is crying out to God on someone else's behalf, taking their needs to Him in prayer, and at times hearing something from Him about their situation. Intercession is one of the most important kinds of prayer because many people do not pray for themselves or do not know how. Why? Because they have no relationship with God. There are also times when circumstances are so difficult, stress is so high, the hurt is too great, or things are so confusing that people do not know how to pray for their own situations. And, there are times when people have prayed and prayed and prayed for themselves and they simply have no strength left to pray.

For example, I once visited a friend who was in the hospital suffering with cancer. She had fought a valiant fight and prayed like a warrior, but she reached a point where she was not strong enough to pray the way she wanted to and she said, "Joyce, I just cannot pray anymore." She needed her friends to pray for her--not just to pray for her, but to REALLY prayer for her--to pray in her place because she could not.

I am sure there are people in your life who need prayer, people who need you to speak to God and hear from Him on their behalf. I encourage you to ask Him to show you who they are and to be faithful to pray for them.

God's Word For You Tonight: Be faithful to pray for people as God leads you.
Devotional Taken from Joyce Meyer's "Hearing from GOD Each Morning"

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My Little Take on this subject:

I cannot stress how important prayer is. I even heard my pastor say as an example, that even when people don't believe in "God" but pray to something else, some "higher being" when they are ill, that they feel better. It is because prayer gives them a feeling of hope. Can you imagine if people can pray to other things than God, than literally CANNOT heal them, or intervene in their situations, yet it makes them feel better, how much more can praying to a GOD that CAN do all of these things and more, make them feel?

Now, in my opinion, I think it is OUR RESPONSIBILITY as Christians to intercede for others. Not only for our friends that are sick or in some sort of dilemma, but even people we don't know. I have heard of someone getting the "urge" to pray for a specific reason, not knowing the person for whom she was praying, complete strangers, living across the world from one another. Later on this "prayer warrior" heard about a specific person clear across the world whose situation was changed because of what she prayed for. It kind of reminds of the "butterfly effect". A butterfly can flap its wings thousands of miles a way and send a ripple effect of events happening. The same goes for prayer.

I also think it should be up to us to let people know how "easy" it is to pray. There is such a stigma to prayer. A person goes into a church and hears someone saying an eloquent prayer, flowing with fancy words. That doesn't necessarily mean that we have to pray that way. Their words may sound pretty, but if you break it down, they are saying the same thing as we "down to earth mediocre educated people. (That is not a slight). I'm just saying that someone with a college education doesn't have any better chance of his prayers getting heard that ours who are high school drop-outs with a GED, or even an 8th grade education. He doesn't care HOW we say it as long as we SAY it. He just loves to hear from us.

My pastor was talking about the LORD'S Prayer last night, and brought it into light a way I had never thought about it. Now if you remember, the verse goes " and Jesus said, "this is how you should pray", and He started reciting the LORD'S Prayer. I have two points to make on this matter. The first being I never thought about it this way but by saying " thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are inviting Him into our prayers. We are asking Him to include Himself. As I have said before, God WILL NOT intervene unless He is asked. Now. That being said, it does not mean that you have to recite the LORD'S Prayer every time. Jesus was using this as a pattern. First to let God know that you know who He is, then the invitation to include Himself in your life and prayers and asking that HIS will be done, because He knows what is best for you, and then asking forgiveness and forgiving others, (repenting) ask our petitions (requests) and then praise Him. It sounds like a lot to remember, but really it isn't. We can just talk to Him like we're talking to a friend. It doesn't have to be formal, just heart-felt. There are a lot of times when I'm praying for someone, I just say "Lord, I thank you for being able to come boldly to your throne with my requests. Susie is so sick with cancer, and I know that You are the Great Physician. There is no job to big or too small to handle, because you are the Almighty God. I ask that You reach down and touch her with your healing power, according to your word "by your stripes she
is healed." In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen. Something as simple as that will get just as much notice from God as a long fancy prayer with big words. Just say what you need and mean , and mean what you say. There are all kinds of people out there who need prayers going up for them, and we can be part of helping them to get results.

The Bible says that God hears ALL of our prayers. It also says that His word will not come back void, so by sending up scripture such as "by your stripes she is healed, or according to your word, if ye abide in Me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you. In other words if we are living for God and know His word, than anything we ask in His name, He will do. So praying isn't hard. We need to help other people understand this. A child's prayer is just as important and heard just as quickly as an educated adult's prayer. We need to get this word out. Everyone needs to pray. Especially these days. We all need to pray for each other.

this brings me to my "Prayer Line". If anyone has a need out there, and wants prayer or has a prayer request for someone else, please leave me a comment, or e-mail me and I will post it on my Prayer Line. This way, when others read my blog, they can click on the Prayer Line tab and read the names and needs of people all over the blogosphere that are in need of our prayers. Please! Let your prayers be lifted! There is NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY PRAYERS.

Good Night to All and May God Bless.