Have you ever felt as if you were carrying the burden of praying for your friends, your family, and your country alone. Intercessory prayer is hard work! Sometimes I feel an overwhelming responsibility and burden as pray for my family, my staff co-workers, people in my ministry, my accountability men's group, and for the lost. I never want to forget someone. I want to be keenly alert to pray in God's will for them. I want to be faithful even if I do not or cannot see results.
Yesterday's devotional in Experiencing God Day by Day spoke to the instruction Moses received from his father-in-law when he was trying to solve all the problems of the children of Israel by himself. Jethro told Moses, "The thing that you are doing is not good." (Exodus 18:17) Even though this story is about equipping others to be leaders, I think that the principle remains the same for prayer. Why should I feel the burden alone when I can get others involved? I know that we do that when we request prayer in a group. But, I am thinking more of prayer groups that really unify people in the Spirit to pray for others.
I have always admired the ministry of "Moms in Touch." Several groups of Moms meet in our church building during the week to pray for our schools, teachers, and children. These ladies pray in such a way that the Spirit brings a unifying synergy in their praying that touches the heart of God and influences the schools for His glory. Why don't we do that in praying for our country, our church, the lost, and each other?
I look forward to experiencing intercessory prayer in a fresh and powerful way as I explore ways to bring people together for this very important ministry.
Benny Stofer
Worship Pastor
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I’d like to add something here as well. When I read 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “pray without ceasing” I initially took that literally. However, I quickly realized it is impossible to pray 100% of the time 24/7. However, I do believe that this verse could also be about developing a mindset for prayer. Pray as much as you can. Find ways to pray more. Before I became a Christian I thought there were times in my life that were wasted. Things like standing in long lines at the grocery, waiting in traffic, etc felt like such a loss of time. However, after I became a Christian I realized that no believer looses time. There is no longer time wasted standing in long lines or waiting for anything else. We can use those opportunities to pray to our God and for others. In other words I found ways to increase my time to pray more often. I know I didn’t contribute directly to intercessory prayer with my comments but I wanted to share these thoughts since we’re talking about praying for others. Thanks.
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