Joyful Living Devotional - Day 9
Day 9 – Praying For One Another – Part 1
Philippians 1:19(NLT) For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.
Throughout Paul’s ministry, we see two things consistently: he prays for the churches, and he asks for prayer. Some of the most powerful prayers are Paul's prayers over the churches. (see Ephesians 1:15-23, 3:14-21, Colossians 1:9-14; 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12; Philemon 6 and Philippians 1:9-11)
Also in 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13(NLT) “How we thank God for you! Because of you we have great joy as we enter God’s presence. 10 Night and day we pray earnestly for you, asking God to let us see you again to fill the gaps in your faith.11 May God our Father and our Lord Jesus bring us to you very soon. 12 And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. 13 May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen.”
What powerful prayers! On days when you struggle to pray, simply open to these references and pray these prayers over your life and the lives of those you pray for. There are several instances where Paul asked the believers to pray specifically for him and his fellow missionaries. There are 8, to be exact, 9 if you include Philippians 1:19 (Ephesians 6:19-20, Romans 15:30-32, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, Colossians 4:3-4, 1 Thessalonians 5:25, 2 Corinthians 1:10-11, Philemon 1:22, Colossians 4:3-4). The themes we see in Paul’s request for prayer are Protection and Proclamation, as they relate to preaching the Good News of Jesus. 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 (NLT) Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. 2 Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer.
The deep partnership and intimacy Paul felt with the church in Philippi are also evident in the fact that, unlike in his other letters, he did not ask them to pray for him. He accepted their prayers as already offered simply by writing, “For I know that as you pray for me…” For Paul, the Philippian church praying for him was not something he needed to request but something he simply accepted as fact. He was not assuming they were praying for him; he knew them, and they knew him, and he knew that they would be praying for him.
Which then turns into his bold exclamation, “Your prayers and the Spirit of Jesus Christ help me…” Prayer is the most indispensable quality for all believers. Praying for one another should not be seen as a duty or a chore. It should be seen as a privilege. How wonderful to know that people are praying for us, praying for God’s protection, provision, purpose, and power working in us and through us. Our confidence should be the same as Paul’s because we know that when people pray for us, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus helps us be and do whatever is required of us.
Paul counted on the power of the prayers of the Philippians for his encouragement, strength, and ultimately his deliverance. We know that these prayers were answered because Paul was released from prison. There is power in the prayers of God’s people. There is power in your prayers for others. Our prayers outlive us. We see in Revelation 5:8(NLT) And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.
Every prayer you pray in accordance with God’s will is like incense before Him, noted and recorded in Heaven. As E. M. Bounds so succinctly put it: “God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed to death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God's heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; they outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.” - E.M. Bounds
This should motivate us to pray more, seek His face more, and ask our Heavenly Father to let His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven! Whose prayers can you count on? Who can count on your prayers?
Who are you partnering with in prayer? Who are you praying for, and who are you praying with? Paul had a relationship with the church in Philippi, born of the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus and the power of prayer, as seen in Acts 16. How much greater could the impact of the gospel be if we, the saints, prayed for greater boldness and effectiveness in preaching the Good News?
Could we see the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 (NIV), “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come,” if we partner in prayer to a greater extent? Paul asked for prayer in proclaiming the Good News of Jesus, so should we…
Prayer:
Philippians 1:19(NLT) For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.
Throughout Paul’s ministry, we see two things consistently: he prays for the churches, and he asks for prayer. Some of the most powerful prayers are Paul's prayers over the churches. (see Ephesians 1:15-23, 3:14-21, Colossians 1:9-14; 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12; Philemon 6 and Philippians 1:9-11)
Also in 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13(NLT) “How we thank God for you! Because of you we have great joy as we enter God’s presence. 10 Night and day we pray earnestly for you, asking God to let us see you again to fill the gaps in your faith.11 May God our Father and our Lord Jesus bring us to you very soon. 12 And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. 13 May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen.”
What powerful prayers! On days when you struggle to pray, simply open to these references and pray these prayers over your life and the lives of those you pray for. There are several instances where Paul asked the believers to pray specifically for him and his fellow missionaries. There are 8, to be exact, 9 if you include Philippians 1:19 (Ephesians 6:19-20, Romans 15:30-32, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, Colossians 4:3-4, 1 Thessalonians 5:25, 2 Corinthians 1:10-11, Philemon 1:22, Colossians 4:3-4). The themes we see in Paul’s request for prayer are Protection and Proclamation, as they relate to preaching the Good News of Jesus. 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 (NLT) Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. 2 Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer.
The deep partnership and intimacy Paul felt with the church in Philippi are also evident in the fact that, unlike in his other letters, he did not ask them to pray for him. He accepted their prayers as already offered simply by writing, “For I know that as you pray for me…” For Paul, the Philippian church praying for him was not something he needed to request but something he simply accepted as fact. He was not assuming they were praying for him; he knew them, and they knew him, and he knew that they would be praying for him.
Which then turns into his bold exclamation, “Your prayers and the Spirit of Jesus Christ help me…” Prayer is the most indispensable quality for all believers. Praying for one another should not be seen as a duty or a chore. It should be seen as a privilege. How wonderful to know that people are praying for us, praying for God’s protection, provision, purpose, and power working in us and through us. Our confidence should be the same as Paul’s because we know that when people pray for us, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus helps us be and do whatever is required of us.
Paul counted on the power of the prayers of the Philippians for his encouragement, strength, and ultimately his deliverance. We know that these prayers were answered because Paul was released from prison. There is power in the prayers of God’s people. There is power in your prayers for others. Our prayers outlive us. We see in Revelation 5:8(NLT) And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.
Every prayer you pray in accordance with God’s will is like incense before Him, noted and recorded in Heaven. As E. M. Bounds so succinctly put it: “God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed to death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God's heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; they outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.” - E.M. Bounds
This should motivate us to pray more, seek His face more, and ask our Heavenly Father to let His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven! Whose prayers can you count on? Who can count on your prayers?
Who are you partnering with in prayer? Who are you praying for, and who are you praying with? Paul had a relationship with the church in Philippi, born of the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus and the power of prayer, as seen in Acts 16. How much greater could the impact of the gospel be if we, the saints, prayed for greater boldness and effectiveness in preaching the Good News?
Could we see the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 (NIV), “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come,” if we partner in prayer to a greater extent? Paul asked for prayer in proclaiming the Good News of Jesus, so should we…
Prayer:
- Ask the Lord whom you can partner with in prayer. If you are married, start with your spouse.
- You have to be willing to be in community, to be known, loved, and supported, and to be prayed for and to pray with others. If you are not in community, what needs to change?
- Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in finding community so that you can both give and receive prayer.
- Pray for the specific needs of someone you know. Pray for them by name. Then reach out to them and ask what else you could pray for.
Posted in Joyful Living Devotional