Praying for Others

  I think a missing ingredient in many of our prayer lives is an active prayer effort toward other people. I believe when our prayers become less selfish it makes the power of the prayer more effective.

  For example, I think of Job when it comes to this. There is an interesting verse at the end of Job that speaks volumes on how our prayer life should look.

Job 42:10 – “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”

  That is amazing when you think of what these “friends” had done to Job. Job had lost everything and was battling major physical aliments. These “friends” came along to tell Job it was because he was a thief who robbed widows and was unrighteous before God (as well as quite a few other things). They got so harsh that God Himself came down and told Job’s “friends” to be quiet, or as God put it, “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” – Job 38:2.

  Yet Job’s captivity turned only when he started to pray for these “friends.” It was an attitude of forgiveness on Job’s part and an act of mercy with God. Yet that prayer of Job turned his life around.  He got up from his death bed and gained twice as much as he ever had before.

  How many times in your life have you been frustrated, feeling like you are getting nowhere, and that you aren’t receiving that which you ask for? Maybe, instead of filling your prayers with your own needs, start asking God for the needs of others. This one act alone will revolutionize your prayer life, and you will see new life breathed into it.