Prayer works. It must do or
the Bible wouldn’t be full of commands to pray.
Besides, anyone who has been a Christian for any length of time will
testify to its effectiveness.
General prayers for people and things are useful, of course. But specific prayers are also very important.
Biblical examples of
prayer requests
There are a number of places in Scripture where the author tells his
readers to pray for himself or for himself and others.
At times a general request for prayer is made.
In 2 Corinthians 1:11, for example, Paul tells the church in Corinth
‘. . . as you help us by your prayer for us. Then many people will give God thanks on our behalf for His grace given to us through the prayers of many.’
And in 1 Thessalonians 5:25 he instructs the
Thessalonians:
‘Brothers, pray for us.’
In other passages specific information is given to the readers
about how they should pray.
In Romans 15:30-32 Paul tells the church in Rome
‘30 Now I urge you, brothers, . . . to fight together with me in your prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and be refreshed in your company.’
In Ephesians 6:18-20 he tells the Ephesians:
‘18 Pray in the Spirit at all times with every prayer and request. And with this in view be alert with great endurance in all your requests for all the saints 19 and for me, that I may be given words when I open my mouth, to make known with boldness the secret of the good news, 20 . . . Pray that I may proclaim it boldly as I should.’
In Colossians 4:2-4 Paul says to the Colossians:
‘2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 At the same time pray for us too, that God would open for us a door for the word, to speak the secret of Christ, for which I am in prison. 4 Pray that I would make it clear in the way I should.’
In 2 Thessalonians 3:1 he says:
‘Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on and be glorified, just as it was with you.’
And in Hebrews 13:18 -19 the author tells
his readers:
‘18 Pray for us. . . . 19 And I especially urge you to do this, so that I may be restored to you more quickly.’
Doing the same
Asking people to pray for us and others is surely something that every
Christian should be doing as a matter of habit.
And we should also be taking on board the prayer requests we hear, so
that we can pray in an informed way. We
could sum this up by saying that every Christian should be a prayer information
hub.
I can’t comment on how well this is put into practice in churches
in various parts of the world. However, in
the UK
Perhaps there is not enough belief in the effectiveness of prayer. Or perhaps people are a bit too proud to ask
others to help them. Or maybe Western
individualism has a bad influence in this area.
Whatever the reason, it is a problem.
If we believe that God really does answer prayer, however, we
should all be making the effort to frequently share prayer requests, both for
ourselves and others. And we should do
this without embarrassment or the feeling that anything is out of the ordinary.
Of course, in some highly personal matters we will often want to
limit the number of people we ask to those we trust and know well. But in other things, the more Christians who know
about our situation and are backing us in prayer, the better.
Some concrete examples
Is something coming up in the next week that is out of the
ordinary? Ask people in your church to take
it to the Lord in prayer.
Is there something troubling you?
Ask some trusted Christian friends to pray.
Have you heard bad news about someone? Put a post on Facebook asking people to pray,
or send a group email.
Or why not consider organising a prayer information board in your
church, online as well as hard copy, where people can place requests for others
to read? Or how about including items
for prayer on the sheet of paper containing church information that is commonly
given to everyone who comes to a Sunday service?
Sharing prayer requests in this way is normal for Christians. Not to do so is strange and abnormal.
So as to practise what I preach, I would be grateful if those who read
this could pray for me that the Christian articles I write will teach truth and
not error, and that the people God wants to read them will do so. Thank you.
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