Brethren, pray for us.

1 Thessalonians 5:25

“I felt my eyes flooded with tears, I was deeply moved to the point of helplessness and started to weep as I read the text message. The last text message came in after a few mins, it said , “Sis please pray for me.” All of a sudden I knew just what to do, I got on my knees right where I stood and started to cry unto God.” A few days later, Akos called me and I could hear the thrill of joy in her voice as she said “Sis, thank you for praying for me.” Disclaimer: This is a made-up scenario of the impact of praying for others.

Praying for others is one of the greatest things you can do for others. Unfortunately people underestimate the great impact of prayer and often take it for granted when people offer prayers. How often have we heard news or encountered difficult situations in life when we felt so helpless and could not figure out what to do. We tend to see prayer as the last resolve but in actual fact it should be first. Prayer should be the first response in every situation we face and we can help others and be a great blessing in their lives if we set our hearts to earnestly pray for them.

Jesus Prays for us

As Jesus Christ was preparing for his crucifixion, He spent a lot of time in the secret place interceding for his disciples and believers. Jesus prayed for the disciples to be kept by God. The disciples were entrusted with the great task to share the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus knew that this would not be an assignment without challenges so He asked God to sanctify them with the Truth. [John 17:6-26]. Jesus also prayed that all believers will be one as He is one with the Father. Jesus continues to pray for us that we will prevail in our faith as believers. [Romans 8:34].

Throughout the Scriptures we see people praying for others, the church prayed for the release of Peter from prison [Acts 12:5], Epaphras prayed for the church of Colossae [Colossians 4:12], Paul prayed for the churches [Ephesians 1:16, Colossians 1:3, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3a, 2 Timothy 1:3 etc.] and the list goes on.

This year, I want to entreat us to go more deeper in our giving to others by becoming intercessors. It is easy to do benevolent act or give gifts to people than to pray earnestly for them. Praying for others is one of the greatest expressions of God’s love for them.

This life is full of challenges and attimes we get so tired and do not know what to do, it is the earnest prayer of intercessors that sustains us. Also, we could get lost, deceived and strayed away from our commitment to God, a prayer of an intercessor becomes like the sword that cuts us out of the chains of this bondage.

I can attest to the prayers of others that has sustained me in times when I felt too weak to pray. In this year, let’s become intentional to pray for others. Let’s carry the burdens of our brothers and sisters to the throne of grace and trust God to intervene in their lives. Let’s make our brothers and sisters business’ our business and pray for them till they prevail and God’s glory will be manifested in their lives.