Thursday, September 6, 2012

Pray For Those Around You

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” -- John 17:20-21

It just blows my mind that while Jesus walked this earth in human form He prayed for me. Me. And you. And you over there. He prayed for all of us who would come to believe in Him as Lord and Savior. That is just so awesome!

I believe so strongly in the power of prayer. It just works. God hears us when we cry out to Him. God answers us when we turn to Him. And God welcomes us when we come to Him on behalf of those around us.

Who have you prayed for today? Have you asked God to heal a friend? Have you pleaded with Him to touch the heart of a co-worker? Have you asked for His peace to surround someone you love?

We have something so powerful available to us. Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we are able to go before God and ask anything. Anything. Knowing that He will answer us.

You’re right. We don’t always like the answer. We want healing and God doesn’t intervene. We want someone to stop drinking and God doesn’t intervene. We want our financial struggles to dissolve and God doesn’t provide us with a blank check.

So we give up. We turn away. We refuse to accept responsibility for our own decisions, instead blaming God for refusing to fix a mess we created. We don’t see the bigger picture. We don’t understand free will and a fallen world. We’re hurting and we want God to make the hurt go away. We get angry when it doesn’t.

God never said we wouldn’t hurt in this world. In fact, the Bible tells us that we will. Sin is rampant and Satan is alive and well. What God promised was to always be with us. God promised to walk with us, to strengthen us, to care for us, to grant us His peace.

And God promised to hear us when we call out to Him for ourselves or for those around us. So whom have you lifted up in prayer today? Maybe you need God’s help, His healing, His peace. Or maybe you have friends or relatives with needs. Or maybe, like me, there are youth that you pray for every day because you want them to always feel God’s Presence in their lives.

Whatever it is, don’t waste an opportunity to go to God in prayer. It is such a privilege. Jesus prayed for us and now we should pray for others, just as He taught us to do.