Seeking the Blessing of God’s People
By Dave Butts
Two years ago I faced a terrible physical challenge—stage 4 mantle cell lymphoma. As grateful as I am for the good medical care I received, I am even more grateful for the many thousands of prayers brought before the Lord on my behalf. I’m in remission today. I walk daily in gratitude to the Lord, who heard and answered so many prayers.
When we think of praying for our fellow believers—the “saints”—often this kind of prayer takes prominence. Praying for the sick is an important part of any prayer ministry. James commands us to pray with faith for healing: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).
But praying for one another is much more than physical healing. Believers praying for believers is a key part of Kingdom ministry.
We’re Family!
The apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Gal. 6:10). Note that Paul urges us to focus special attention on doing good things for each other within “the family,” our fellow believers.
There is no greater act of goodness than to pray for someone. All kinds of prayers are good and beneficial, but it is time for the Church to pray for the Church!
Both Jesus and Paul modeled this. Jesus’ High Priestly prayer in John 17 focused almost exclusively on His followers. It was not a prayer for physical health but for Kingdom health: love, sanctification, unity, and spiritual protection. Without a doubt, Jesus believed in, and modeled, praying for believers.
In many of Paul’s letters to the churches, he wrote much about praying for those who had come to faith in Jesus. In addition, he asked them to pray for his own needs as he traveled about the world, preaching the gospel. Paul believed it was crucial for Christians to pray for one another.
Revolutionary Prayers
Paul’s practical instructions for praying for one another would revolutionize the Church today—if we practiced them. Here are Scriptures that speak the strongest to me as I pray for my fellow believers. Please take hold of these Scriptures and begin to pray them:
- “This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God” (Phil. 1:9–11).
- “Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph. 1:15–19).
- “I kneel before the Father,from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:14–19).
- “Since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Col. 1:9–12).
- “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones” (1 Thess. 3:12–13).
As you pray through these powerful prayers of Paul, consider the condition of the Church today. In so many places we find division, apathy, lack of spiritual knowledge, and spiritual immaturity. If a significant number of believers began to pray biblically for one another, we would see a healing of the sad condition of the body of Christ. It is as simple as asking the Lord!
Releasing God’s Power
Let’s look at the way Jesus prayed for His followers in John 17. Though much shorter than Paul’s many prayers, Jesus’ prayer reflects the same Kingdom focus that can transform the Church. When we learn to pray, along with Jesus, for His followers, we join Him in releasing God’s power.
Pray these prayers of Jesus on behalf of others:
- “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (v. 15).
- “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (v. 17).
- “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” (vv. 20–21).
Do you believe that Jesus prayed in the will of the Father? I certainly do! That means that when I agree with Jesus in prayer, I have assurance the Father is listening and will answer in His timing and His way.
Do your Christian friends need spiritual protection, holiness (sanctification), and unity? Ask—believing—and watch what God does with your prayers.
Advancing with Power
Step back for a moment from your own prayers and envision what can happen if thousands or even millions of believers begin to pray for one another. The will of God will prosper in the lives of Christians all over the world. God’s purposes will be poured out in abundance in the body of Christ. The Kingdom of Christ will advance with power!
I will never forget the scene my wife and I witnessed as one church blessed their newest member. At the conclusion of the service, a young woman came to the front of the church to be baptized. After her baptism, most of the church remained to greet her. The elders brought out the elements of communion and served her. Hair still wet from her baptism, she partook of the Lord’s Supper and then sat quietly while the elders prayed a blessing over her. What a powerful demonstration of love and acceptance for a new member!
Similarly, we read in Acts 2:42 that the early Church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” The life of a believer in Jerusalem was marked by an intimate relationship with the Lord and with other followers of Christ. Prayer for one another was a living demonstration of the life and love of Jesus in their midst.
God is calling us back to that simple but powerful way of life!
DAVE BUTTS is president of Harvest Prayer Ministries and the chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee. He is the author of several books available at prayershop.org.
