The Value Of Praying For Others

This devotional is by Justin Morton

Good morning and welcome to our daily walk!

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/2lvf9x

Charles Finney once said, "Nothing tends more to cement the hearts of Christians than praying together. Never do they love one another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each other's hearts in prayer." One of the best things you and I can do for another person is pray with and for them.

The reason praying for others is valuable is because it helps us built a strong relationship with that individual. When two people come together and talk about their struggles and problems, they are coming together to share and seek advice. When you pray with and for others, you are helping that individual deal with their problems and difficulties in a small way, but you are also showing that person that you believe God can help more than anything else. When you talk with, listen to, and pray with someone having troubles, you build a powerful relationship with that individual.

It is important that we always pray for others. Another reason this is important is because praying for others demonstrates our faith in God. In the book of Exodus, we see Pharaoh urging Moses to pray to God on his behalf asking him to lift the various plagues that are afflicting the Egyptians (Ex. 8:8-11; 9:28-29; 10:17-19). All three times Moses goes to God in prayer on behalf of Pharaoh.

Yes, Pharaoh did have the children of Israel as slaves, and yes, the plagues were punishment that God brought on Pharaoh for not letting His people go. However, when Pharaoh asked Moses to pray for him, he didn’t hesitate. One of the reasons he did this was, perhaps, because Moses understood the value of praying for others. By Moses praying to God, he was demonstrating his faith in God to Pharaoh. Moses was proving that God was the one who brought the plagues upon Egypt and He was the one who could take them away.

Praying for others is of great value. It is of great value because there will come a time in our lives when we will want someone to pray for us. There will come a time when we will find ourselves in a situation that is difficult and hard to bear. It will be during this time that we will want all the prayers we can get. Perhaps someone we love will be sick, maybe it will even be us who are sick. It really does not matter who or what it is, we will want others to pray for us. Janice Hughes once said, “Rich is the person who has a praying friend.”

The children of Israel provide us with a lot of good examples. One such example is found in Numbers 21 when God sent fiery serpents among the people. The people spoke against God and Moses, so God brought about these serpents as punishment. When the people were bitten, they would die. The people of Israel realized they were in a difficult situation. They went to Moses and asked him to pray to God that He may remove the serpents from them (v.7). The last part of verse 7 says, “And Moses interceded for the people.”

The children of Israel brought this punishment on themselves. They spoke against God and Moses, the man that God had chosen to be their leader. Moses could have held a grudge and said no. He could have sat back and laughed at the people as they died one by one. Instead, Moses did what the people asked him to do, he prayed. Despite the fact that he was wronged by these people, he prayed to God on their behalf.

Moses understood the value of praying for others. What about you? Do you remember those individuals who are struggling with personal problems in your prayers? Do you pray for those people who are sick and dying? Do you ask God to help those friends of yours who are living in sin to come back home? If the answer to any of these questions is no, then you, my friend, do not understand the value of praying for others.

It is my hope and prayer that everyday that you live you will take time to offer up prayers on behalf of those who are struggling and in need of them.

Thought for the day: “The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing; but it is the chief thing. The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time to pray." - S.D. Gordon

May God bless you in your daily walk!