Prayer: Praying for Others

Ephesians 1:16— [I] cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers—and the verses that follow (16-23), reveal something about the Apostle Paul that is most enlightening. We often think of Paul as the great church planter, the great theologian, and the greatest of all the Apostles. While all those are true, we often fail to see him as a great man of prayer. It’s amazing, in fact, to study his Epistles in this light and observe just how often we see him praying. While space prohibits our examining all the principles of prayer found in this passage (you can read them online), let’s look at a few.

First, prayer involves “intercession,” that is, praying for others. The more one studies Paul’s prayer life, the more humbled one becomes because we always see him praying for others, not himself. He not only said he was concerned, he showed he was concerned. Colossians 1:9-14 is another example of Paul’s intercessory prayer. He begins in verse 9 with, “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” Likewise to the Romans he wrote, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.”

How often is our prayer life centered only in ourselves, our needs and wants? As that great exposi­tor Alexander MaClaren challenged: “A man’s prayers for others are a very fair thermometer of his own religious condition . . . There is nothing colder than the intercession of a cold Christian; and, on the other hand, in no part of the fervid Apostle Paul’s writings do his words come more winged and fast, or his spirit glow with greater fervour of affection and holy desire than in his petitions for his friends. “

Indeed, Paul was ever concerned with what other believers needed. As he challenged Timothy, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men [without distinction]” (I Tim. 2:1). Scripture is filled with examples of God’s people praying for one another: Job prayed for his friends (Job 42:10); Moses prayed for Aaron (Deut. 9:20) and Miriam (Num. 12:13); Samuel prayed for Israel (1 Sam. 7:5, 9); David also prayed for Israel (2 Sam. 24:17), as well as Solomon (1 Chron. 29:18-19); Hezekiah prayed for Judah (2 Kings 19:14-19); Isaiah prayed for the people of God (Isa. 63:15–64:12); Daniel prayed for Israel (Dan. 9:3-19), as did Ezekiel (Ezek. 9:8); Nehemiah prayed for Judah (Neh. 1:4-11); Jesus prayed for his disciples (John 17:9-24); The Jerusalem Church prayed for Peter’s release from prison (Acts 12:5ff); Epaphras prayed for the Colossians (Col. 4:12); and on we could go.

This should challenge us to be praying for one another. As Puritan Matthew Henry encourages: “Observe, even the best of Christians need to be prayed for: and, while we hear well of our Christian friends, we should think ourselves obliged to intercede with God for them, that they may abound and increase yet more and more.”