Prayer is loyalty to God. Non-praying is to reject Christ and to abandon Heaven. A life of prayer is the only life which Heaven counts. — Bounds

Today we study a chapter from the work of E. M. Bounds.

Key Points

* Prayer is an obligation for those who are devoted to God, even more so than worldly success or wealth.

* Prayer is not merely a religious duty but a vital aspect of life, as important as breathing.

* Prayer is the means by which God’s will is enacted on Earth, allowing His kingdom to be established and His purposes fulfilled. It sanctifies daily life, secures forgiveness, and defeats evil.

* Prayer is not merely a one-sided conversation; it is a relationship between God and His children.

* Prayer is not only a religious practice but a way to please God and align with His will.

* Prayer is to be without ceasing.

Key Quotes

God is vitally concerned that we should pray. God does His best work for the world through prayer. God’s greatest glory and man’s highest good are secured by prayer. Prayer forms the godliest men and makes the godliest world.

There is nothing on earth nor in Heaven, for time or eternity, that God’s Son did not secure for us. By prayer God gives us the vast and matchless inheritance which is ours by virtue of His Son. God charges us to “come boldly to the throne of grace.” God is glorified and Christ is honored by large asking.

Biblical examples of how prayer can alter God’s purposes

* In Psalm 2

* In Psalm 72

* In Ephesians 3

* In Job

* In Revelation 8

* In Jonah

Conclusion

this chapter highlights the central role of prayer in the lives of those who belong to God. It portrays prayer as an obligation, a privilege, and a means of influencing God’s purposes and demonstrating loyalty to Him. Bound reminds us, and encourages all believers to embrace the profound significance of prayer and to intercede for the salvation of all humanity, following the example of Jesus Christ.

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Is there any work, higher work for the disciple to do than His Lord did? Is there any loftier employment, more honorable, more divine, than to pray for others? To take their woes, their sins, and their perils before God; to be one with Christ? To break the thrall which binds them, the hell which holds them and lift them to immortality and eternal life?

E. M. Bounds

Thank you for reading Epaphras Prays . This post is public so feel free to share it.

Taken from The Reality of Prayer by E. M. Bounds, pp. 13-16. Full text available: https://www.embounds.online/_files/ugd/06aa1c_544b127e41e34f5fad0cccca26659bfb.pdf

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Have you ever sat in a prayer gathering and there’s that one intercessor who just seems to go deep in petitions before the Lord? They don’t pray just on the surface, and you can tell they’ve spent plenty of times laboring in prayers.

That’s can be inspiring, or maybe discouraging, making our own praying seem a bit feeble, or so we think. It’s not about being eloquent, but about knowing the heart and will of the Lord. He hears all our prayers, but this type of praying comes with repeated time with him.

Still, I’ve found that being near, or listening to, others who pray well can be helpful as we grow in our own praying. So this time is a variety of prayer classics, I’ve selected from works readily available, full of prayers that we can echo and incorporate in our devotional praying.

As E. M. Bounds said:

“Prayer is our most formidable weapon, but the one in which we are the least skilled, the most averse to its use.”

Let’s grow greater in prayer skill! May these help teach us, inspire us, enlarging and encouraging us to go to the Father more often, longing to go deeper before and with Him:

A Disciple’s Renewal from Prayers of the Puritans

O MY SAVIOR, Help me. I am so slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to climb; I am in the foothills when I should on the heights; I am pained by my graceless heart, my prayerless days, my poverty of love, my sloth in the heavenly race, my sullied conscience, my wasted hours, my unspent opportunities. I am blind while light shines around me: take the scales from my eyes, grind to dust the evil heart of unbelief. Make it my chiefest joy to study thee, meditate on thee, gaze on thee, sit like Mary at thy feet, lean like John on thy breast, appeal like Peter to thy love, count like Paul all things dung.

Give me increase and progress in grace so that there may be more decision in my character, more vigor in my purposes, more elevation in my life, more fervor in my devotion, more constancy in my zeal. As I have a position in the world, keep me from making the world my position; May I never seek in the creature what can be found only in the Creator; Let not faith cease from seeking thee until it vanishes into sight. Ride forth in me, thou King of kings and Lord of lords, that I may live victoriously, and in victory attain my end.

LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY from With Christ In the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray

Blessed Lord! You have this day again given us another of Your wondrous lessons to learn. We humbly ask You, O give us to see aright the spiritual realities of which You have been speaking. There is the harvest which is so large, and perishing, as it waits for sleepy disciples to give the signal for laborers to come. Lord, teach us to look out upon it with a heart moved with compassion and pity. There are the laborers, so few. Lord, show us how terrible the sin of the want of prayer and faith, of which this is the token. And there is the Lord of the harvest, so able and ready to send them forth. Lord, show us how He does indeed wait for the prayer to which He has bound His answer. And there are the disciples, to whom the commission to pray has been given: Lord, show us how You canst pour down Your Spirit and breathe upon them, so that Your compassion and the faith in Your promise shall rouse them to unceasing, prevailing prayer.

O our Lord! we cannot understand how You canst entrust such work and give such power to men so slothful and unfaithful. We thank You for all whom You art teaching to cry day and night for laborers to be sent forth. Lord, breathe Your own Spirit on all Your children, that they may learn to live for this one thing alone--the Kingdom and glory of their Lord--and become fully awake to the faith of what their prayer can accomplish. And let all our hearts in this, as in every petition, be filled with the assurance that prayer, offered in loving faith in the living God, will bring certain and abundant answer. Amen.

For Friends and Relatives from PRAYERS of the EARLY CHURCH Edited by J. MANNING POTTS

O God, the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in heaven and earth is named, thou who hast set the solitary in families, grant to all members of this family and to all the members of our different families, that, according to the riches of thy glory, we may be strengthened with might by thy Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith; that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God; through the eternal Christ our Savior. Amen.

—Adapted: Ephesians 1:17; 3:15-19.

For Stewardship from PRAYERS of the EARLY CHURCH Edited by J. MANNING POTTS

O Lord God Almighty, who hast built Thy Church upon the foundation of the Apostles, under Christ the head corner-stone, and to this end didst endue Thy holy apostle St. Barnabas with the singular gift of the Holy Ghost; leave me not destitute, I humbly beseech Thee, of Thy manifold gifts and talents, nor yet of grace to make a right use of them always without any sordid self-ends, to Thy honour and glory; that, making a due improvement of all those gifts Thou graciously entrustest me with, I may be able to give a good account of my stewardship when the great Judge shall appear, the Lord Jesus Christ, who reigneth with Thee and the Eternal Spirit, one God, blessed forever. Amen.

—Barnabas.

Pray A Psalm

We can pray the Psalms, which is simply taking the Words of Almighty God as written by David or others and pray those same words back to God. When we do this, we are assured we are directly praying the will of God. And that means we can pray with confidence (1 John 5:14) that the Lord hears and gives.

We like to pray these as we imagine David must have, and we echo his words as our own prayer.

Happy is he whose resting-place is in the secret of the Lord, and under the shade of the wings of the Most High; Who says of the Lord, He is my safe place and my tower of strength: he is my God, in whom is my hope.

He will take you out of the bird-net, and keep you safe from wasting disease. You will be covered by his feathers; under his wings you will be safe: his good faith will be your salvation. You will have no fear of the evil things of the night, or of the arrow in flight by day, Or of the disease which takes men in the dark, or of the destruction which makes waste when the sun is high.

You will see a thousand falling by your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you. Only with your eyes will you see the reward of the evil-doers. Because you have said, I am in the hands of the Lord, the Most High is my safe resting-place; No evil will come on you, and no disease will come near your tent.

For he will give you into the care of his angels to keep you wherever you go. In their hands they will keep you up, so that your foot may not be crushed against a stone. You will put your foot on the lion and the snake; the young lion and the great snake will be crushed under your feet.

Because he has given me his love, I will take him out of danger: I will put him in a place of honor, because he has kept my name in his heart. When his cry comes up to me, I will give him an answer: I will be with him in trouble; I will make him free from danger and give him honor. With long life will he be rewarded; and I will let him see my salvation.

from Psalm 91:1-16 BBE

May we grow in skill in praying well

What’s a old prayer that you think we should pray along with? If you have a favorite, or one that is a go-to prayer, please share.

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Praying for myself is easy. Intercession for others is challenging, but praying for my enemies is the hardest. It is also the highest form of prayer. It is what Jesus Himself did and calls us to do.

This is difficult because it goes against our human nature, the pull of the flesh. When someone is hostile toward us, we want to retaliate, seek revenge, or somehow win. We want to see them get what’s coming to them.

But Jesus calls us to love our enemies.

Not only to love those who love us back, but to love those who would oppress us. To love political rivals, hostile neighbors, and even people who personally offend us—whether they be family, friends, coworkers, or neighbors. We are to do this just as Jesus forgave those who crucified Him. Because of His great love, He did not approve of their actions, yet justice was not ultimately denied. Instead, He demonstrated a love that seeks good for another and refuses the vengeance the world constantly pursues.

So, Jesus tells us to pray for those who persecute us. This brings them to Jesus, and we ask Him to have mercy and intervene.

We see this played out in real time with Stephen. As he was being stoned to death, he prayed for those killing him. We are called to answer unrighteous hostility toward the Gospel with a faithful witness instead of retaliation. Someone once said that praying for our enemies guards our hearts from bitterness and displays the grace God has shown us as sinners.

It could be loving someone else includes sending this to them:

This is the opposite response of the world.

It moves us from loving only those who love us back to loving those who would never love us at all. This is Jesus’s radical love—a deliberate act to do what was necessary for us as sinners. When we come to the Lord in prayer for our enemies, we align with God’s heart for not only our lives but theirs, too. We ask that He open doors for the Gospel, transformation, and reconciliation between us and those who oppose us.

Doing this reflects the very character of Christ, who shows love and mercy to all.

We were once enemies of the cross, opposed to the Gospel, but now, through His intervention and radical love, we are friends of God and friends of Christ. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls us to this higher life, a higher order that promotes peace and reconciliation rather than retaliation, revenge, anger, and division. We are to actively do good to those who oppose us, and it starts with praying for them.

I learned from a prayer partner years ago that it is nearly impossible to hate someone you are praying for. Prayer transforms our anger and hatred into love, filling us with the same compassion and kindness shown to us. I will never know how many people I have offended who, rather than retaliating against me, prayed for me. One day, I may learn of their kindness shown to me in the face of my hostility.

I have written about this before: Love is praying for our enemies. Based on Matthew 5:44, Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” This goes far beyond keeping the law; it goes deeper to the intent of the believer’s heart. We are to pray for them, which runs contrary to our nature and culture.

How much do we need to pray this way?

As I wrote in previous parts of this series, prayers for our earthly and temporal needs should be no more than 20% of our prayers, while intercession for others should be another 30%. This leaves half of our prayers for our spiritual needs: our own maturity and growth in Christ. These suggested allocations must be modified to make room in our prayer closet specifically for praying for our enemies.

How much time that takes depends on how many enemies you have. However, I believe the Lord is less concerned with duration and more with frequency. It is not about how long we pray for our enemies, but how often. It might be necessary multiple times a day: before sending an email, before lunch, while in a meeting, coming home from work, or on the way to church on Sunday morning. The opportunities are nearly endless.

While the time spent praying for those opposed to us may be only a moment or two, how much better would those encounters be?

How much more peaceful might our interactions be if we offered a prayer for them? Instead of thinking, “Lord, help me in this meeting,” turn that into: “Lord, bless this person in our encounter today. Let their eyes see Your love, grace, mercy, and compassion. Soften their hearts. Bless them in their difficulties, whatever is causing their anger or anxiety at home or work. I pray You would intervene for them. Help me to love them as You love them, and as You love me. Soften their hearts and soften mine as well.”

You might also take the approach of Charles Spurgeon. He said that if he disagreed with someone, he made it a matter of prayer that God would correct the other person or correct himself to bring a resolution to the dispute. Take an attitude of kindness, remembering that it is God’s kindness that leads to repentance.

Throughout Scripture, we see that the first action of love is to intercede.

We pray for those opposed to us, bringing them to Christ, asking Him to do what only He can do: change a mind, transform a heart, and advance His purpose. His will is to be done in their lives as well as ours. As Stephen said, “Lord, I do not hold this sin against them.” He forgave those who killed him.

Jesus says we should rejoice and be glad, for great is our reward in heaven. Peter tells us not to repay evil with evil, but with blessing. When someone does evil, we return a blessing by praying for them. This is part of our Holy Spirit-led, supernatural life as sojourners in this world. We extend Christ’s love toward the enemies of the Gospel, holding them up in prayer because this reflects the love of Jesus and manifests His reality to those around us. It may open doors for preaching the Word and sharing the good news.

Remember, we overcome evil with good.

I believe the main way we overcome our fleshly desire to retaliate is by praying for those enemies of the cross—those who hate, mistreat, or criticize us, or who hold ungodly values. We do not repay evil with evil; we bless, and we do not curse. As Paul says in Romans 12, we are to rely on prayer and ask for God’s goodness to be showered on the other person.

At first, this can be difficult. Our minds and hearts do not naturally want good for those who have done us harm. That is why I said at the beginning that this type of prayer is hard. But this is the way of the Cross. This is the way of the Gospel. This is the way of Christians.

I believe this is the highest form of prayer precisely because it is the most difficult for us.

It is the highest because it requires a sacrifice.

We sacrifice not only our time but also our attitude of retaliation and vengeance. We give up our need to win and be right. It costs us something to pray for those who persecute us. For Stephen, it cost his life. For us, it may cost our pride, our selfishness, and our hard-heartedness. It may even require us to humble ourselves.

But this, brothers and sisters in Christ, is the way of Christ. So, rather than replaying situations repeatedly in your mind, thinking of what was said or could have been said, or plotting ways to pay someone back, go to our Father on your knees.

Pray for those who have done us harm. Ask that God would have mercy on their souls and bring about that which serves Him, honors Him, and brings Him glory. Ask for His love to be poured out, both in us and for others.

Want to join others praying this way?

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A Prayer Song

Lord! teach us how to pray aright,

Written in 1818,James Montgomery (b. Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1771; d. Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, 1854)who more famously wrote Prayer Is the Soul’s Sincere Desire on the same broadsheet at the request of the Rev. E. Bickersteth, for his Treatise on Prayer. This song appears in 227 published hymnals.

A Prayer Psalm

Psalm 77: 1-6a; 11

I cried out to God; I cried aloud to God to hear me.

From these words in a Psalm of Asaph, we also cry out in distress, in sleepless memory and hard questions, we remember. Lord, teach us to cry to You, to seek You, to remember You, and sing songs of deliverance in a spirit of prayer. Amen

A Poem of Thanksgiving

As we remember the glorious and merciful works of the Lord, then shall we offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving (Psalm 50:14).

I remember reading a devotional which pointed out that if the sun were to delay rising til noon, how crazy we’d all be. Imagine the cries of terror for relief! Then when it did shine, we would be so grateful for that blessing.

But when it does come on time day after day, we don’t consider the blessing as all. We neglect to think of the grace the Lord has provided by it!

And so it is with so many other blessings He provides us.

Right now, before moving on to the next thing today, give thanks. Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever. (Psalm 118:1) I ask for that which You provide, this daily bread, and give thanks for it. Amen

For all the blessing of the day

by F.E. Pasche in Daily Bread

For more on Gratitude, you might enjoy this podcast episode:

When we are stressed, angry, sad, or busy—even the idea of praying for just a minute or two is hard. If it’s hard to just begin, I suggest you start with TAG

Spread the blessing! Like seeds sown to the soil, this is how we grow as a fragrant garden to the Lord’s glory.

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In Scripture, there is one weapon given the Christian Church to bring the Lord’s aid, power, help, and deliverance in times of persecution and difficulty. We have this same divine weapon, which is often ignored and underused, and must be enlisted again and again.

Let’s study the biblical account of Peter's miraculous rescue from prison through the power of earnest church prayer, drawing theological insights from Alexander MacLaren's commentary.

So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.Acts 12:5

In the earliest days of the church, when the Apostles were proclaiming the good news, there was growing persecution against them in Jerusalem. Herod, the king, had James killed, then had Peter arrested and jailed, intending on having him killed following the Passover.

Peter was guarded by 16 soldiers and chained to two of them, one on each hand. But still he slept, and on the night before his trial in surely a kangaroo court, he was rescued. Awakened by an angel, who had Peter put on his shoes and gather his clothes, then led him past the guards and out of the prison to the street.

Peter went from there to where the disciples were, at Mary’s house. Why were they there? What were they doing? After seeing that James was killed, surely they were in fear for Peter, and, helpless against the authorities, they gathered in a private space and did the one thing available to them.

Peter had been in a secure place, three gates with continual guards at each and two chained to his arms. Herod was determined to have him executed and the people were in anticipation of it. And yet he slept, apparently unconcerned and unafraid.

He was kept in prison several days, and all that while the disciples were praying for him. What else but this could they do, or should they do? The king had his guards, and what did they have? Writes preacher Andrew MacLaren in his commentary, “but, they had prayer and they had Jesus Christ.”

That was all, and that is more than enough. How ridiculous all the preparation looks when you let the light of that great ‘but’ in upon it! (MacLaren)

It was because of prayer, the earnest prayer made for Peter by the church that released him from the prison. How? Because the Lord God answered those prayers! His answer involved delay by several days and it involved an angel leading him straight out. This thing came to pass because of — or as a result of — Godly people praying.

It is not jerked out as an unconnected incident; it is set in a logical sequence. ‘Prayer was made earnestly of the Church unto God for him’ -and so when Herod would have brought him forth, behold, the angel of the Lord came, and the light shined into the prison.

It is the same sequence of thought that occurs in that grand theophany in the eighteenth Psalm, ‘My cry entered into His ears; then the earth shook and trembled’; and there came all the magnificence of the thunderstorm and the earthquake and the divine manifestation; and this was the purpose of it all-’He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters.’

The whole energy of the divine nature is set in motion and comes swooping down from highest heaven to the trembling earth. And of that fact the one end is one poor man’s cry, and the other end is his deliverance. The moving spring of the divine manifestation was an individual’s prayer; the aim of it was the individual’s deliverance.

A little water is put into a hydraulic ram at the right place, and the outcome is the lifting of tons. So the helpless men who could only pray are stronger than Herod and his quaternions and his chains and his gates. ‘Prayer was made,’ therefore all that happened was brought to pass, and Peter was delivered. (MacLaren)

Here is the strength of the weak. It is our armor, our defense, our power, help, aid, deliverance.

That is, by prayer, earnest prayer, by the church, to Almighty God. There may be a thing (or many a thing) coming against us and we are helpless against it, it is to strong for us, to risky and dangerous.

But. This tiny three letter conjunction is a key to help and rescue.

Please let others know about this by simply sending it to someone else.

So [this bad thing is happening and we are helpless], but earnest prayer [for help, grace, deliverance, strength, perseverance, etc] is being made to God by the church.

That’s it. Writes MacLaren, “If the Christian Church in its times of persecution and affliction had kept itself to the one weapon that is allowed it, it would have been more conspicuously victorious.”

The praying was earnest and without ceasing. Peter was kept several days and prayers were being offered. The delay tested their faith, but as the trial came closer, no doubt the intensity of prayers increased. They were continual, and importunate. The adverb implies the praying was fervent, strenuous, intense, not casual or occasional.

When Peter came to that place there were many people gathered together praying (v 12). These church folk — while they praying for Peter’s rescue, saw the answer to their prayers! Standing right in front of them!

Brothers and Sisters, may it be so for us in our day. Gather the church — because of whatever difficulty is happening, and pray, fervently to God. Whatever evil it is that comes against us, we cannot solve it, fix it, change it, heal it, vote it, buy it, or do anything…

But pray.

O, let us pray in this way, and join our prayers with those of the text, that perhaps those around us facing great difficulty be rescued, or those imprisoned [by sins] would be set free into the grace and love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

A free subscription would help tremendously for this to reach more people to pray.

Does the church today pray this way? Does your church? If so great! If not, why not? Please let us know in the comments below

It’s been said there are four types of churches. In one, the people say “we are building our church,” in another, they say “God is building our church,” and a third says “we are building God’s church.” Only the one says “God is building His church.”

That’s what Jesus said, “I will build my church.” He is the builder, architect, carpenter, master craftsman, and capstone. Jesus is building His church, and He uses people to do it. We are the Body, He is the Head.

Like every good builder, who has workers and equipment for the project, His people are the laborers who do the work, and prayer is a primary tool we use to do it. He is the designer, He has a master plan, He gives out assignments, and we labor in the ministry, the harvest field, the prayer room.

"Men are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men who the Holy Spirit can use – men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not come on machinery but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men – men of prayer." E. M. Bounds

​The laborers who build a house are framers, drywall specialists, lay carpet, run electric or water lines, landscaping and so on. And each has specific tools for the jobsite and keep them in top shape.

Would a master bricklayer allow his trowel to get rusty, a carpenter his saw to get dull, a plumber lose his wrench? Of course not.

Neither should we allow our prayers to lose their sharpness, nor let our primary building tool get rusty from lack of use. And do not fret over not having the newest or latest gadget or power gizmo for building.

The workers of God’s building project are likewise involved in lots of ministry work, and the builders God uses will mainly be people who pray. This is our primary tool for our jobsite. Indeed, the early church was birthed from a prayer meeting—120 in the upper room; the early disciples continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. The apostles gave themselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

Don’t keep this to yourself!

Did not Paul live on his knees before the Father in order that believers in Ephesus might know the length, width, height, and depth of the love of God, and be filled to the measure with all His fullness?

Didn’t also Epaphras strive constantly in prayers — laboring for those in his assembly of believers in Colosse to stand firmly in the holy Word of God and be mature?

All the plans we have, the ideas, the programs, the marketing, the ear-tickling message, the new carpet, or big name conference speaker will keep a lot of folks busy—and proud, but will not hold a candle to the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous, which does avail much.

So do not be discouraged by others who think little of your devotion to praying. May it instead fuel your zeal, encourage your commitment, and strengthen you in the labor of it. God sees, God hears, and God rewards. He is using your praying to build His church, even if nobody else knows.

Go to your pastor and elders and tell them you want to have a regular prayer meeting. Don’t wait for them to start one, do that yourself. They probably don’t want to have yet another program they have to lead, so you be the leader. Ask them to attend, but you schedule it, invite people, have helps or lists to hand out, open the prayer time, close the doors, etc.

Be the laborer in God’s hands and the tool of prayer He uses to build His church right where you live, work, fellowship, and be one mighty in prayer.

If prayer is our building tool, how do we use it, or keep it in tip-top shape for His service? That’s the subject of many articles in this newsletter. If you want a place to begin, try here, the Table of Contents

If this blesses you, please signup for more and support people to pray. That support is invaluable, but your praying even more.

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This is the third in our series on personal prayer time.

It Part 1, we covered that our personal needs and wants likely take up a significant portion of our prayer time — the right here, right now, temporal desires, needs, and wishes that we make known to God. It’s all well and good to do that, but I suggested we spend too much time there. Let’s make that twenty percent of our prayer time rather than eighty.

In Part 2, we discussed our devotional prayer time for our real need — our spiritual need for maturity and growth, walking closer to the Lord, and more fully and diligently obeying Him. We need to pray for these things, and we see so much of that in Paul’s prayers. I suggested that at least half of our devotional prayer time should be spent on praying for our own spiritual maturity.

Sharing this is a great way to introduce a friend to prayer

That brings this third section: to intercede, or pray on behalf of others — to go between, or advocate for, someone.

We talked about this in the article called “What Is Intercession?” In Mark, a group of people brought a deaf man to Jesus and implored Him to lay His hand on him. They implored Him — they asked the Lord fervently to do something for the person who was deaf. This imploring is intercession. We see this several times throughout the Gospels, where others asked on behalf of someone else.

Intercession, then, is going between on someone’s behalf. Job interceded for his friends. The Lord says, “I will accept him, that I may not do with you according to your folly, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” We see this again and again throughout Scripture, and what a privilege it is to pray for others.

Alistair Begg calls it an amazing privilege “to pray for others — to be able to come before the living God and seek Him on behalf of someone else.” Learn more about that in the article “Intercession Is a Privilege.”

Charles Spurgeon, who commends intercessory prayer at length in this article, points to Job being restored after he prayed for his friends. What will the Lord do in us, and through us, when we imitate this example of Job by prarying for our friends? We recognize, as Spurgeon points out, that interceding for others comes from having the love of Christ in us for others. It opens our soul beyond just ourselves. It softens our nature toward those around us, and we use the grace God has given us to plead for the blessings He gives to others.

Abraham wrestled with God over a depraved city. Moses cried out on the mount, “Spare them, O Lord.” Samuel, Solomon, Hezekiah, Elijah, and Jeremiah all interceded in their time — and, of course, Jesus did too, many, many times, in the garden and from the cross. Intercession is not selfish praying for ourselves, but selfless praying for someone else. It stirs that same brotherly nature in us, flowing from the grace that God has given to us.

Spurgeon puts it directly: “Do you go into your prayer closet, and in the face and presence of God, think of none but yourself? Surely the love of Christ cannot be in you, for the spirit of Christ is not selfish. No man lives unto himself once he has the love of Christ in him.”

He makes an appeal to intercessory prayer — that we actually do it. It’s the very least we can do, and if we won’t do even that, we have little hope of doing anything greater. Most of us have had others praying for us all through our lives. We, in turn, pray for others: that they would come to faith in Christ, and they would grow in faith in Christ. We can pray for their temporal needs, yes, and for their spiritual needs.

Praying for others is an act of selflessness, of giving ourselves to the ministry of the Lord, pleading God’s grace for our friends.

So, to that end — what do we pray for others?

We pray according to the pattern we find in the letters of the apostle Paul and others, as they interceded for the people of God. Some call these “apostolic prayers,” because the apostles wrote them in the epistles. They were praying on the churches’ behalf. Many times Paul says, in effect, “I bow my knees to the Father,” praying to the Father in Jesus’ name that the Spirit of God would work in the people he’s praying for what only He can do.

For example, look at Romans 15 and pray that our God of steadfastness and encouragement would grant us to live in such harmony with one another; and that the God of hope would fill us with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit we would abound in hope.

There are many of these prayers throughout Scripture, and they’re covered in a three-part series beginning with the article “According to the Letters.” If you don’t know what to pray for others, I suggest you comb through these articles, and you’ll begin to see, in the epistles, the very prayers Paul was praying for the people of God. At the very least, we can start there — because we know that if it is in God’s Word, and we pray God’s Word back to Him, it is already His will, and He will answer according to His Word and according to His will as we ask on behalf of others.

I don’t have a specific recommendation for how much of our prayer time should be spent on intercession for others. Surely generous time be spent interceding for family, friends, neighbors, coworkers; for pastors, elders, missionaries; for the unsaved, for our enemies, and so on. If you prayed twenty percent for your felt needs and fifty percent for your spiritual needs, you could devote at least the other thirty percent to intercession.

I’m not saying those are hard-and-fast numbers — not at all, just suggestions. There are times as the Lord leads when it might all be intercession, and that’s fine. But you get the idea: our prayer time does not specifically or exclusively focus on ourselves, but also on behalf of others.

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Are you going through the motions?

Maybe you’re praying consistently, asking God to help you with this or that, but often wondering if it’s making a difference.

I hear it often from other Christians, “I asked God for something, and He didn’t answer.”

Maybe it’s because we’re asking for things we want, like we talked about last time in Personal Needs and God’s Will. Or maybe we’re just bored, going through the motions like a checklist at the grocery store. Not really feeling it, just asking anyway because it’s what we’re supposed to do. But that’s the wrong motivation.

So here’s a hard truth: Prayer isn’t about getting things we want from God; it’s about getting God Himself.

In this episode, we

* Acknowledge a reality that most of our prayer time is consumed by “circumstances and situations.”

* Introduce a counter-Church truth: While earthly needs are real, they are secondary to spiritual realities.

* See what Paul actually prayed for in his letters

* Define what God is really seeking for His people.

We’ll also cover

* Devotional prayer as the engine of growing up

* The Content of our prayer: How do we pray for maturity?

* Specific requests from Scripture

* The Purpose: Why do we do this?

Key Quote

It leads to the new birth, strengthens faith, and promotes contentment that rises above circumstances.

— J.C. Ryle

* The result and transformation

* Characteristics of maturity

Mature believers reflect, depend on, and live for Christ in a way that “speaks to the world.”

Sharing does two things: It help us grow to a new audience, and it helps the person to whom you share it with.

One Final Thought:

The people of God need these promises answered more than they need prayers for health, job, or comfort. These are eternally more important. I suggest at least half our prayer time should be spent on this alone.

Prayer Resource:

* 7 Devotional Prayers for Personal Growth

Question:What is one "earthly circumstance" you’ve been praying for that might be keeping you from praying for the spiritual maturity you actually need? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Scan through any prayer request chat board and you’ll find that the bulk of prayers are for personal needs — our temporal needs, right here, right now.

Our personal prayer times are also like this.

I don’t have any scientific data, just my own experience and observation — but a safe estimate is over half our prayers are for these temporal needs: circumstances we want relief from, or a specific outcome we desire. Applying the eighty-twenty rule, it might be as much as eighty percent of our prayers go toward health, work, blessing and relief, healing, safety in traveling, or making a right decision — the right house, the right school, the winning scholarship.

And we should pray about these things, because doing so involves the Lord in the circumstance. But where is our focus? Are we praying according to His will — which is good, pleasing, and perfect — asking Him for the outcome He most desires for our good and His glory? Or are we simply asking for what we want?

How do we define God’s answer to prayer? A previous article on this topic points out that it is according to His will, to His word, and in His timing, not necessarily our own. Usually it’s beyond our comprehension. But very often, we are the ones telling God what it is we want Him to do for us, as though He were a giant vending machine in the sky. We must remember that He answers us according to His will.

Please take a moment right now to send this to a friend and help them with praying.

It is very necessary for us to pray for temporal needs, like when we are having troubles in this life, as talked about in Prayer and Trouble. However, we should do so in the right way — and it should not occupy significantly more time than praying for the other focuses of prayer we see in Scripture: devotional prayer, intercession, and prayer for our enemies.

We also need to recognize the distinction between a prayer need and a prayer want. Needs are those things we feel are physical necessities — health issues, job loss, legal or academic trouble for children, marriage problems, or facing difficult decisions. Wants go beyond necessities and survival — I want this, I want that…

We tell the Lord the desires of our heart, yes. But as we draw near Him, we learn it’s not about our desires. The more we pray according to the Word and His will, the more we discover the desires of our heart are Him. He is the desire of our heart.

Try this: evaluate how much time in your prayer closet is devoted to praying for what you want versus what the Lord wants. Make a short list of your prayer themes. Are you focused on your needs, your wants, your outcomes — most of the time, or all of the time? What else might you be focused on? Be honest with yourself. I was. Even after all these years of intercessory praying, I’m shocked at how much time is spent praying for my own personal issues, more than the other prayer focuses I see in Scripture. And share your observations.

That’s it for this time. Next time in this series, we’ll discuss other focuses for prayer — devotional praying for our own spiritual maturity, intercession for the needs and spiritual needs of those around us, and praying even for those who are opposed to us.

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Praying for each other is a blessing. During our devotional times, it is natural to focus primarily on ourselves. In fact, we should focus even more on our own spiritual needs (we’ll discuss that in another newsletter).

For now, our attention is on praying for others: intercession. We do this even without a specific request. Your close associations are likely already on your list, but expand it. Include those you don’t interact with regularly—even those you may not like.

Often, when others know you pray, they ask you to pray for them. And so we should. Ephesians 6:18 instructs us to petition for all the saints—a command modeled by our Lord and by Paul.

In this way, we bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). It is an act of love to pray for someone and bring their cares to Jesus. We go before the throne of grace to ask for grace, mercy, healing, or help for someone else. This is intercession: like a bridge, we go over, between a person’s circumstance and the Lord, to ask on their behalf.

As members of the Body of Christ, pray for your fellow members. Scripture is full of examples:

* Abraham prayed for Ishmael.

* Moses prayed for Miriam’s healing after her leprosy.

* Samuel prayed for Saul.

* David prayed for deliverance from the plague.

* Solomon prayed for wisdom to govern the people.

* Job interceded for his children.

* The Psalms are full of such prayers.

The New Testament offers countless examples through the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles. Numerous stories of intercession run through the entire Bible.

What an awesome privilege, and responsibility, to pray for one another!

You likely have a friend, neighbor, coworker, or family member going through a tough time. Maybe they are sick, unemployed, or struggling in a relationship. If they are unsaved, pray for their salvation.

Take a second right now, and pray for one person you know. Now, share this article with them or with one other person who prays.

Zero in on that one person.

* Pray that they would know the Lord.

* Pray that they would grow in grace, blessing, peace, and love.

* Pray for the one with whom you are at odds (Matthew 5:44).

“No man can do me a truer kindness in this world than to pray for me.”— Charles H. Spurgeon

Perhaps you’ll pray with them—before or after church, at their home, office, or in the hospital. But likely, if they haven’t asked, you’ll be praying for them in your own private time. Many people we pray for may never know we did so.

Encourage your church to schedule a recurring time each week or month for the fellowship to meet specifically for prayer. Don’t wait for a specific request; just pray for those you know are in need.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father (Ephesians 3:14, ESV).

Paul went to the Father in prayer for the church at Ephesus, asking that God would:

* Strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.

* Dwell in your hearts through faith.

* Root and ground you in love.

* Give you the strength to comprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ’s love.

* Fill you with all the fullness of God.

That is Paul interceding. And that is exactly what we are called to also do.

Amazing that Epaphras Prays has subscribers from 45 states! But that means there are 5 states needing someone praying. If you are in Arkansas, Hawaii, North Dakota, Vermont, or Wisconsin, consider becoming a Subscriber and be an intercessor in your state.