When someone asks you to pray for a friend of theirs and you don’t know the person, what are the first words you say in your prayer? Do you ask God to cover the person with prayer for the situation they are experiencing? Do you say what you were asked to pray for and ask God to grant it? I have changed how I pray for people I do not know personally. It is easy to pray for someone I know and to ask God to give them healing or strength, or whatever they are needing in that moment. But when it is someone, I don’t know, I ask God first if they are a Christian. If they are a Christian, then I ask God to give them strength, healing, wisdom, or whatever I have been asked to pray about. But I also ask God that if they are not a Christian to give them many chances to come to Jesus, that is first and foremost important in my mind. God uses tragedies and crises to bring people to Him. Far too often it is the only time they will think about God. The second thing I pray for is the person who has asked me to pray for the one I don’t know. That person can have an influence in the situation that I can’t have. So, I pray for wisdom and strength and opportunities for that person to be with the one in need of prayers. Then I pray for the person and their situation.
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:2-6, (New International Version or NIV).
We are to be people who pray. We are told to pray with thanksgiving in our hearts. I count it a privilege to pray for others. My prayers are not long, rather they are concise and to the point. I talk a lot of things over with God in my prayers and they come all day long rather than waiting until one specific time to pray. I watch for things to pray about, and I am thankful for the many answers to my prayers. But I think that when praying for someone I don’t know, but have been asked to pray for, it is important to pray for an open door to speak of Jesus for the one who has asked me to pray for the stranger. You ask me to pray for someone with cancer and I will pray for them, but I will also pray for you to have the opportunity to speak to them about Jesus and to show them God’s love. Paul asked the Colossians to pray for opportunities to speak about Jesus. We can do no less.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:5-8, (NIV).
I pray in the privacy of my home and when I drive if I am alone. I think that where we pray is important to be alone and in a quiet place. I am the only one home most of the day and so it is easy for me to pray while I am doing my daily tasks. As someone comes into my mind, I say a prayer for them. If someone asks me to pray through our church prayer chain, I can stop and do so immediately. God already knows what the need is, I don’t have to speak elaborate words to tell Him. Many religions chant basically one or two words over and over again. God isn’t impressed with that, so keep your words short to say what you are praying about.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Romans 8:26-27, (NIV).
There have been many times when I don’t know what to pray for or how to proceed with praying. It is during those times that I ask the Holy Spirit to intercede on my behalf. There have been times when words fail me, and I know that the Holy Spirit is praying what I can’t say. This is comforting to me. I know that the prayers of the Holy Spirit will be in line with God’s will when I can’t clearly see what I am to do or what I am to ask for. Sometimes when praying for strangers, I rely upon the Holy Spirit to get my words right before God.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. “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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:13-23, (NIV).
Jesus prayed for His disciples. He prayed that God would protect them from Satan. He prayed that they would have joy and that they would know the truth always. Jesus prayed for you and me too, that we would also know the truth and that we would realize that we don’t belong to this world, but to the heavens. We are to spread the good news just as the disciples did. Jesus prayed for unity, and I see so many factions within Christianity these days, but unity in Jesus is still achievable. We are all part of the same body, but we don’t all have the same function (1 Corinthians 12:12-31).
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-23, (NIV).
Your first words should always be a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the opportunity to pray for another person. Pray continually in an attitude of prayer. Rejoice in all things and you will live a much brighter tomorrow.
Until next time…Katherine
Katherine Speaks 