August 06, 2025 | Be God's Family
Praying for One Another
Scripture: Hebrews 13:18-19(NIV)
18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. 19 I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.
Devotional
When I read Hebrews 13:18-19 and James 5:13-15 they talk about praying for one another (intercessory prayer). It immediately brought to my mind “The Come to Me Food Pantry.” I am an advocate there, and one open spot on the form that people fill out is “Prayer Requests.” Many people leave that part blank. Recently, I started asking if they had any prayer requests. I usually get a “no” or a “I pray every day.” I’ll answer “Then God is Good. We can praise him.” Sometimes they then express a prayer need and we pray over it. I am surprised at how serious some people’s troubles are, but they don’t ask for prayer. You and I know that God can make a difference in their lives.
I think a lot of us think of prayer as asking God for help for our needs, or our family’s needs and we don’t think of simply praising God for daily blessings or asking God to help others. Intercessory prayer is not a common style of prayer. I need to get better at it.
When we know of a soul that is obviously not a follower of Christ, do we ever start praying for them to find Jesus? Do we ask for that blessing daily? We can’t always be the person that causes them to come to Christ, but God can cause that hunger in them to get to know Him. We just need to be persistent in our prayers for them.
As a side note: We are putting together a PIT Crew (Pastor’s Intercessory Prayer Team) to pray for our pastors every day. I can’t imagine how God will respond to our prayers when ten people are praying for them every day for a month all year long. I do look forward to hearing the stories. The office can put you in touch with us if you want to join us.
Dear Loving God, guide us in our prayer life. Teach us to talk with you daily. Help us to remember to pray for other people when you place them in our minds. We love you, Lord, and we know you love us. Help us to pour out your love to others. Amen.
Poem
Prayer Life
Psalm 88
May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry.
Psalm 88:2
Forgive me, Lord, for selfish prayers
Which only my good seek
O, bring to mind the suffering
The weary ones, the weak
Forgive me, Lord, for shallow prayers
Which only scratch the surface
Which tumble thoughtless from my tongue
By rote or idle practice
Forgive me, Lord, for seldom prayers
The last thing on my list
Which oft forgotten, oft ignored
Crowded out by daily tasks
Instead, O Lord, build within me
A temple house of prayer
That, I, in constant fellowship
May with you burdens share
Instead, O Lord, may praise flow forth
An ever-growing stream
A constant, life filled dialogue
With true love as its theme
