PRAYING FOR ONE ANOTHER

Recently I experienced first hand how the prayers of friends and brothers and sisters in Christ sustain in times of sickness or trouble.

I was in hospital for an operation, which in itself was not very big, but the growth that was removed, turned out to be malignant!

It is a shocker to have that word spoken into your life! But, as I said, I could truly feel the weight and the effect of the prayers said on my behalf.

One of the prayers in the Bible which I have always loved was when David prayed to God and said words to this effect :

"Who am I, oh God, that you have brought me and my house thus far?"

I have borrowed his words many times when I have prayed towards God.

Sometimes we do not know exactly how we should intercede for one another. During this last week I was reading Colossians  and was struck by the prayer of Paul for the christians in that assembly :

            

                               To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in

                   Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.  We always thank

                   God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because

                   we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all

                   God’s people — the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for

                   you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message

                   of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing

                   fruit and growing throughout the whole world —just as it has been doing

                   among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.

                   You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful

                   minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the

                   Spirit. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not

                   stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the know-

                   ledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit

                   gives so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every

                   way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

                              being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you

                  may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the

                  Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people

                  in the kingdom of light. Col. 1: 2 - 12

^{It is our privilege and our responsibility to pray for one another and we do no more than our duty if we do it every day. I know that my mother, who will soon be 89, prays for each living member of her family by name, every night, and it is a comfort to know that my name also, is to be found in her prayers each time.}

^{Thank you, Lord, for the privilege to pray for one another. Please help us not to neglect this daily duty of love.}