Praying for Others
Praying for others is God’s will for us. God doesn’t want to destroy His people. He
says that “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”. God desires for us to
pray for others. When Israel kept fallen into sin, God told Ezekiel “her priest have
violated My law, and have profaned My holy things, they have put no difference
between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the
unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am
profaned among them. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up
the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy
it, but I found none” (Ezekiel 22:26,30).
Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah; Abraham negotiated to same
them, but even though he negotiated with God to save them if there were 10
righteous among them, there was not 10 righteous among them and so Sodom
and Gomorrah was destroyed (Genesis 18:23-33). The fact that Abraham was
able to negotiate with God to save them, should be an eye opener for us.
Moses prayed for Israel after they made the calf and worshipped it. God was
going to destroy them (Exodus 32:9-10) “and the Lord Yahweh said to Moses, I
have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff necked people. Now therefore let
Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them;
and I will make of you a great nation”; but Moses pleaded to God to spare them
(Exodus 32:30-32) “and it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said to the
people, you have sinned a great sin and now I will go up to the Lord Yahweh;
perhaps I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned to the Lord
Yahweh, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them
gods of gold. Yet now, if You will forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray out of
Your book which You have written”. And even though God plagued the people
because they made the calf, He didn’t destroy them.
The apostle Paul prayed a similar prayer for Israel (Romans 9:1-3, 10:1) “I say the
truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit
that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the
flesh. Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved”.
Moses was told to have Aaron pray for the people so that God’s name would be
upon them (Numbers 6:22-27) “and the Lord Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.
Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, on this wise you shall bless the children of
Israel, saying to them. The Lord Yahweh bless you and keep you. The Lord
Yahweh make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord Yahweh
lift up His countenance, upon you, and give you peace. And they shall put My
name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them”.
Jesus even tells us to pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:43-45) “you have heard
that it has been said, you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I
say to you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. That
you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He makes His sun
to rise on the evil, and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”.
Jesus prayed that we all would become one, that the world might know that the
Father sent Him (John 17:18,20-21) “as You have sent Me into the world, even so
have I also sent them into the world. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
also which shall believe on Me through their word. That they all may be one as
You Father are in Me, and I in You that they also may be one in Us, that the world
may believe that You have sent Me”.
The apostle Paul teaches us how to pray for others by his examples in his prayer
for the churches, making mention of them in prayer (Ephesians 1:17:19) “that the
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding,
being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding
greatness of His power to us-ward, who believe, according to the working of His
mighty power”. And (Ephesians 3:14-19) “for this cause I bow my knees to the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is
named. That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be
strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in
your heart by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love. May be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breath and length, and depth and height.
And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled
with all the fullness of God”.
He prayed a similar prayer for the Colossians (Colossians 1:9-12) “for this cause
we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that
you might be filled with. Strengthened with all might, according to the knowledge
of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That you might walk worthy of
the Lord in all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the
knowledge of God. Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power to
all patience, and longsuffering with joyfulness. Giving thanks to the Father which
has made us meet to the partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light”.
In fact as you read all his letters to the churches you will see that he prayed for
each of them. His prayer was for their understanding, wisdom and revelation to be
refreshed and increased. In Galatians he tells us “brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering yourself, less you also be tempted. Bear you one another burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ”.
The apostle James tells us to pray for each other (James 5:14-16) says, “if any
sick among you? Let him, call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall
save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they
shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for
another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
avails much”.
The apostle John says in I John 5:16 “if any man see his brother sin a sin which is
not to death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not to death.
There is a sin to death, I do not say that he shall pray for it”.
When we pray using the word, we know that we are praying the will of God, and
when we do this we are praying the prayer of faith. We are believing the word of
God and acting upon it. After all (II Peter 3:9) says that God is not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
We are told to pray for our leaders (I Timothy 2:1-4) “I exhort therefore, the first of
all, supplication, prayers, intercession, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.
For kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of
God our Savior. Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge
of the truth”.
In praying the prayers for others as the apostle Paul did, we can pull down the veil
off their eyes (II Corinthians 4:1-7) “therefore seeing, we have this ministry, as we
have received mercy, we faint not. But have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but
by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in
the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom
the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not; less the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine to them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your
servants for Jesus’ sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us”.
As you study (II Corinthians 10:3-5); the New Living translation says, “we are
humans, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons to
know down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.
We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We
capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ”.
As we pray for others, we are doing the will of God. We have been made
ambassadors for Christ (II Corinthians 5: 17-20) “therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself; not imputing their
trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray
you in Christ’s stead, be you reconciled to God”. We are in the army of the Lord,
enlisted to bring others to God. And praying for them, we come against their belief
system, pride and plans, by asking God to enlighten their eyes to His plans for
them.
Study by: Harriet Bond
Date: February 9, 2010
Praying for others is God’s will for us. God doesn’t want to destroy His people. He
says that “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”. God desires for us to
pray for others. When Israel kept fallen into sin, God told Ezekiel “her priest have
violated My law, and have profaned My holy things, they have put no difference
between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the
unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am
profaned among them. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up
the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy
it, but I found none” (Ezekiel 22:26,30).
Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah; Abraham negotiated to same
them, but even though he negotiated with God to save them if there were 10
righteous among them, there was not 10 righteous among them and so Sodom
and Gomorrah was destroyed (Genesis 18:23-33). The fact that Abraham was
able to negotiate with God to save them, should be an eye opener for us.
Moses prayed for Israel after they made the calf and worshipped it. God was
going to destroy them (Exodus 32:9-10) “and the Lord Yahweh said to Moses, I
have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff necked people. Now therefore let
Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them;
and I will make of you a great nation”; but Moses pleaded to God to spare them
(Exodus 32:30-32) “and it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said to the
people, you have sinned a great sin and now I will go up to the Lord Yahweh;
perhaps I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned to the Lord
Yahweh, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them
gods of gold. Yet now, if You will forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray out of
Your book which You have written”. And even though God plagued the people
because they made the calf, He didn’t destroy them.
The apostle Paul prayed a similar prayer for Israel (Romans 9:1-3, 10:1) “I say the
truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit
that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the
flesh. Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved”.
Moses was told to have Aaron pray for the people so that God’s name would be
upon them (Numbers 6:22-27) “and the Lord Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.
Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, on this wise you shall bless the children of
Israel, saying to them. The Lord Yahweh bless you and keep you. The Lord
Yahweh make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord Yahweh
lift up His countenance, upon you, and give you peace. And they shall put My
name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them”.
Jesus even tells us to pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:43-45) “you have heard
that it has been said, you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I
say to you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. That
you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He makes His sun
to rise on the evil, and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”.
Jesus prayed that we all would become one, that the world might know that the
Father sent Him (John 17:18,20-21) “as You have sent Me into the world, even so
have I also sent them into the world. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them
also which shall believe on Me through their word. That they all may be one as
You Father are in Me, and I in You that they also may be one in Us, that the world
may believe that You have sent Me”.
The apostle Paul teaches us how to pray for others by his examples in his prayer
for the churches, making mention of them in prayer (Ephesians 1:17:19) “that the
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding,
being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding
greatness of His power to us-ward, who believe, according to the working of His
mighty power”. And (Ephesians 3:14-19) “for this cause I bow my knees to the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is
named. That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be
strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in
your heart by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love. May be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breath and length, and depth and height.
And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled
with all the fullness of God”.
He prayed a similar prayer for the Colossians (Colossians 1:9-12) “for this cause
we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that
you might be filled with. Strengthened with all might, according to the knowledge
of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That you might walk worthy of
the Lord in all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the
knowledge of God. Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power to
all patience, and longsuffering with joyfulness. Giving thanks to the Father which
has made us meet to the partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light”.
In fact as you read all his letters to the churches you will see that he prayed for
each of them. His prayer was for their understanding, wisdom and revelation to be
refreshed and increased. In Galatians he tells us “brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering yourself, less you also be tempted. Bear you one another burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ”.
The apostle James tells us to pray for each other (James 5:14-16) says, “if any
sick among you? Let him, call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall
save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they
shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for
another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
avails much”.
The apostle John says in I John 5:16 “if any man see his brother sin a sin which is
not to death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not to death.
There is a sin to death, I do not say that he shall pray for it”.
When we pray using the word, we know that we are praying the will of God, and
when we do this we are praying the prayer of faith. We are believing the word of
God and acting upon it. After all (II Peter 3:9) says that God is not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
We are told to pray for our leaders (I Timothy 2:1-4) “I exhort therefore, the first of
all, supplication, prayers, intercession, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.
For kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of
God our Savior. Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge
of the truth”.
In praying the prayers for others as the apostle Paul did, we can pull down the veil
off their eyes (II Corinthians 4:1-7) “therefore seeing, we have this ministry, as we
have received mercy, we faint not. But have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but
by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in
the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom
the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not; less the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine to them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your
servants for Jesus’ sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us”.
As you study (II Corinthians 10:3-5); the New Living translation says, “we are
humans, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons to
know down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.
We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We
capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ”.
As we pray for others, we are doing the will of God. We have been made
ambassadors for Christ (II Corinthians 5: 17-20) “therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself; not imputing their
trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray
you in Christ’s stead, be you reconciled to God”. We are in the army of the Lord,
enlisted to bring others to God. And praying for them, we come against their belief
system, pride and plans, by asking God to enlighten their eyes to His plans for
them.
Study by: Harriet Bond
Date: February 9, 2010
