As children of Yahweh, who is the great I AM, and the Beloved Triune God, we are called to pray for one another! There will be times when other souls will desperately need and require you to intercede and stand in the gap for them, while your believing faith stands on the promises, while expecting God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Then there will be times during your trials that you will need and require others who believe, to bombard heaven for the needs of your life. We are the body of Christ, and it is our God-given privilege and responsibility to lift up and support one another through prayer. We are also called to show compassion and pray for those who are ignorant of God’s ways or stray from them, because in our humanness, we are all clothed in weakness. Also, Jesus even taught us to pray for our enemies, for this will keep us from getting hardened by hate or bitterness, and we will be transformed into the likeness of our heavenly Father!
While in prison, Paul requested that God’s people would, “Pray passionately in the Spirit, as you constantly intercede with every form of prayer at all times. Pray the blessings of God upon all his believers. And pray also that God’s revelation would be released through me every time I preach the wonderful mystery of the hope-filled gospel” (Eph.6:19-20tPt). Paul, a mighty man of God is requesting prayer for the ministry, and true growth in the spiritual Kingdom of God will continue! He understands that the support of intercessory prayer is a vital necessity in ministry!
Regarding healing we are told in the Word of God, “Are there any sick among you? Is anyone among you sick? Then ask the elders of the church to come and pray over the sick and anoint them with oil in the name of our Lord. And the prayer that is of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him. The earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man makes power available-for tremendous power is released through the passionate, heartfelt prayer of a godly believer (James 5:14-16tPt).
I need to clarify that sometimes there is a sickness that leads to the end of a soul living in their human body. Many times, during this type of sickness, God will prepare that soul to receive eternal life through Jesus Christ, and return to God, while giving the family time to let go and release their loved one to leave this earth and return to heaven. When we embrace Jesus Christ and receive the gift of salvation, our soul will never die. “We will discard our mortal “clothes” and slip into a body that is imperishable. What is mortal now will be exchanged for immortality. And when that which is mortal puts on immortality, and what now decays is exchanged for what will never decay, the Scripture will be fulfilled that says: Death is swallowed up by a triumphant victory! So death, tell me, where is your victory? Tell me death, where is your sting?” (1Corinth 15:53-55tPt).
Yet sometime we just don’t know what to pray, but we are told, “The Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words. God the searcher of the heart, knows full our longings, yet he also understands the desires of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit passionately pleads before God for us, his holy ones, in perfect harmony with God’s plan and our destiny” (Romans8:26-27tPt).
Jesus is always the perfect example for us to follow. In John 17(tPt), Jesus beautifully prayed a powerful, heartfelt prayer for his disciples, spoken in deep love: “For all who belong to me now belong to you and my glory is revealed through their surrendered lives. Holy Father, I am about to leave this world to return and be with you, but my disciples will remain here. So I ask that by the power of your name- protect each one that you have given me and watch over them so that they will be united as one, even as we are one. I pray that they will experience and enter into my joyous delight in you, so that it is fulfilled in them and overflows. I have placed your Word within them. I am not asking that you remove them from the world, but I ask that you guard their hearts from evil.” Then He interceded for us: And I ask not only for these disciples, but also for all those who will one day believe in me through their message. I pray for them all to be joined together as one, even as you and I, Father, are joined together as one. I pray for them to become one with us.” Jesus longs to unite us into the oneness of God’s love!
So, let us learn to pray for one another, for this is the will of God through Christ Jesus concerning us! ff
