Pray For One Another Text: Selected Scriptures. Series: One Another. [#3] Pastor Lyle L. Wahl March 17, 2019 Theme: Praying For One Another Is A Great And Gracious Responsibility. Introduction. What do you think when you hear these words from one writer? At least I can pray for you is a statement God s people often make, but it s a statement that can be misleading. Prayer isn t the least thing we can do for people it s the greatest thing we can do! 1 Some people may think, That sounds good. It sounds right. But others might think, There s no opportunity for me to do something, so I ll just pray. Or, I don t have the ability or courage to do something, so I ll just pray. You see, if we are not careful we may view prayer as the least and last rather than the foremost and first thing we can do for one another. Pray for one another is the third one another statement we are looking at in this series. The Bible tells us that God knows everything. We can t tell Him anything He doesn t already know. Psalm 147 tells us His understanding is infinite. 2 It also tells us that God is allpowerful, that He decides what He wants to do and does it when and how He wants to. He has no rivals. He does not answer to anyone. In short, God is sovereign. We looked at this in some depth a few weeks ago. 3 God doesn t need us, nor our prayers. But, in His grace He has chosen to include our prayers in His sovereign work. He directs us to pray and promises to respond to our prayers. God instructs us through Paul to be praying always and that, through James, the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much (NASB). 4 We will never come close to fully comprehending this truth. Prayer brings us into the presence of God. It is a time when we seek to align ourselves, our thoughts and actions with Him, to then thank, praise, and worship Him, to bring our questions and requests to Him, and to ask Him to do His good and perfect will.
Today we are thinking about this one aspect of prayer, praying for one another, praying for fellow believers. Praying for one another is a great and gracious responsibility. God Gives Us This Great And Gracious Responsibility. Praying for one another is our great and gracious responsibility because, as we ve already noted, God commands us to do this. The apostle Paul wrote, Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere (NLT). 5 It was important to him personally, so he frequently asked people in the churches to pray for him. 6 Then, as James wrote about being patient, suffering and sick, he instructed believers to pray for one another. 7 Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 26 that in the body of Christ if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Part of suffering and rejoicing together is praying for one another. We have had a time of praise and prayer here each Sunday for some time, since long before Anita and I came here. It is our practice. You could say it is our tradition. But it is much more than a tradition. It is a time where we share and pray for one another as a body knowing it is a great and gracious responsibility. We also should continue that prayer individually throughout the week because we know something of the importance and value of praying for one another. Praying for one another is a great and gracious responsibility given to us by God. There are a good number of examples in the Bible of individuals who accepted this responsibility and took it seriously. Moses was a man who prayed for others. The people got tired of waiting when he was up on Mt. Sinai receiving the Law from God. Some suggested he was not coming back. 8 The people went to Moses brother Aaron, who then led them in an ungodly festival before the golden calf idol. God told Moses that the people had corrupted themselves by that, and that they were an obstinate people. He then told Moses, Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation (NASB). 9 Moses could have distanced himself from the people, but instead he interceded for them, he prayed for them. Listen to his prayer. 2
O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever (NASB). 10 God then spared the people in response to his prayer. Then there was the time when the nation rebelled not only against Moses but also against God and wanted to appoint their own leader to take them back to Egypt. 11 God told Moses, How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they (ESV). 12 But again Moses prayed for the people and God spared them. Moses leaves us an excellent example of praying for others. Even when the people disobeyed and rebelled against God and Moses, he kept on praying for them. He was committed to seeing God s patience, grace, and mercy to people who kept on turning away from God. He didn t write them off. Are we like that? Do we follow his good and godly example? We too should have that kind of heart of love never excusing sin, but always seeking, praying for God s best even for the obstinate rebel. We also see this in Jesus Himself, don t we. When He told the disciples that He would return to heaven, He also told them, And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever the Spirit of truth, whom the world 3
cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 13 As He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane before His arrest and crucifixion recorded in John chapter 17, Jesus asked the Father 14 to keep those who believed in Him that they would be one, that they would be united (verses 11, 21-23), to give them His own joy (verse 13), to keep them from the evil one (verse 15), to enable them to see His glory (verse 24), and to have God s love in them (verse 26). In Romans chapter 8 verse 34 Paul tells us that Christ is now at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us for you, for me. And the writer of Hebrews adds, He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (NASB). 15 The Bible tells us that our sins were fully, finally paid for by Christ s death on the cross and fully and forever forgiven when we placed our faith in Him. Now, as we face challenges, temptations and failures Christ intercedes for us with the Father. Do we pray like this for each other? One more example, the Apostle Paul. Paul prayed for other believers. He was always, constantly praying for all other believers. He did not stop giving thanks for them. He always prayed for them with joy. He told the believers at Philippi, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy. 16 In addition to giving thanks for them, he prayed for them to have God s love and joy overflowing in their hearts, to grow in Christ and be effective in their ministries. We will see some of this shortly. What an example for us! What a great privilege and responsibility we have! So again the question, Are we like that? Do we follow his good and godly example? Exercising This Great And Gracious Responsibility. So, how should we pray for each other? How should we exercise this great and gracious responsibility? What should we pray for? There are unique things for each believer we know, but there also are some things we should keep in our prayers for every believer. Let s take an overview of some of them. First, we can and should always be praying for all other believers to grow and mature spiritually. Every believer is on a life-long journey to being conformed to the image of Christ, to becoming like Him. As Paul wrote, God predestined believers to be conformed to the 4
image of His Son. 17 We never arrive at that destination in our time here on earth. But when Christ comes again, or we see Him face to face in heaven, the Bible promises us we will like Him. 18 So, one thing we can always pray for every believer is to keep on growing and maturing spiritually. While it is fine and good to pray for this overall goal, we can get more specific in our prayers. First, even without knowing the details about the growth and struggles of another, we can pray as Paul did. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1, that is on page 1343 in the church Bibles. Beginning at verse 17 he prays that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (verses 17-19). That s a long sentence! Pray for enlightened spiritual eyes in order to have a growing, clear vision and understanding of the hope or certain future of God s calling and the experience of God s surpassing greatness to us. These are things we should be praying for others as well as ourselves. So pray these verses putting yourself in them, I pray that the eyes of my understanding will be enlightened. Pray these verses putting the name, the names of other believers, the people in other churches, in other parts of the world in this request. Next, turn ahead to Colossians chapter 1, page 1352 in the church Bibles. Go down to verse 9. For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light (verses 9-12). 5
Again, you can fill in yourself and the names of other believers in that first phrase. It might help to write out the individual points of this prayer in your own words. Just as it is fine to pray Scripture, it is fine to pray your own wording of these specific requests for other believers to grow and mature spiritually. Another thing we should be praying for, which is closely related to the first, is for other believers to live holy, godly lives. This deserves special attention because it is so important. Jesus prayed this for Peter. When He and the disciples finished the Passover meal on the night He was betrayed, Jesus gave Peter some insight into how He had been praying for him. Luke chapter 22 records Jesus saying, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers (verses 31-32, NLT). It could be easy to rush by these verses. But stop here for a moment. Think about all that Jesus knew was ahead of Him in the next hours. He also knew what was ahead for Peter and the other disciples in the next hours. Yes, Peter would deny Christ before the morning dawned. Christ did not want Peter to be overwhelmed by the guilt and grief of his sin. And so, while He faced the cross Jesus prayed that Peter would not be overcome but when he turned back to being the faith-filled follower that he would strengthen others by both the example of his journey and his ministry to them. Based on Romans chapter 8 verse 34 and Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 that we noted earlier, I believe Christ is praying for each of us in the same way. He is interceding for us with God the Father that we would not be overcome by the guilt and grief of our sins, but always turn back to faith and holy, godly living. Isn t that wonderful! Christ is praying that for you and me. We know only a few of the many temptations and struggles of others, even of people we know very well. We can and should always be praying for them to live holy, godly lives. It is part of our great and gracious privilege and responsibility. A third example of how we can exercise this responsibility of praying for one another is to pray for others to have effective ministry for Christ. The idea of having effective ministry is sometimes confined to pastors, missionaries and a few others. The reality is that every 6
believer is a servant, a minister of Christ. Each and every believer has been given spiritual abilities to carry out our ministries. Paul tells us a spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other (NLT), to which Peter adds, God has given each of you a gift from his variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another (NLT). 19 So, you and I should be praying for one another that we would have effective ministries. Paul prayed for other believers to be effective in their work for God. He told the church at Thessalonica, To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (NASB). 20 This is a wonderful prayer to pray for each other and also for believers beyond our fellowship. Paul, the great apostle, church planter, pastor, teacher and theologian also asked people to pray for him and his ministry. Paul asked the church at Thessalonica to pray that the word of God would spread rapidly and be glorified through his ministry. 21 Later while a prisoner for the Gospel in Rome he asked the church in Ephesus to pray that he would have boldness and the right words to speak for Christ there. 22 During that same imprisonment he asked the church at Colossae to pray that he would have an open door of opportunity and the ability to speak clearly of Christ. 23 As you pray for believers you know, and those you don t know, ask God to enable them to live worthy of their calling, to see and seize opportunities to speak and minister clearly and boldly for Christ so that He would be glorified. The next example of how to pray for one another is to pray for safety and deliverance. We know the importance of this for first century Christians and many others at various times in the church s history, including many in various parts of the world today. Each fall many churches observe a Sunday of prayer for the persecuted church, as we have done. This year the date set aside is November 3. 7
We do not face social, financial or legal persecution for living for Christ here in Canada. But we are engaged in a spiritual battle, a war waged by Satan s forces against God and His people, against us. In the first days of the church, King Herod had the apostle Peter arrested and thrown into jail. He planned to execute him. 24 The Bible tells us the church banded together and kept praying earnestly for Peter. On the night the king was going to bring Peter out of jail to be executed an angel came to Peter and woke him up. Peter s chains fell off and the angel walked him past the guards, through the gates and out of the jail. Peter went to the house where people were praying for him. The servant girl answered his knock, and then ran to tell the rest he was there. They thought she was crazy until they saw Peter. In His sovereign power, plan and grace, through the prayers of believers, God protected and delivered Peter. Paul also was protected and rescued by God through believers joining him with their prayers. 25 Paul had confidence that as they continued to pray for him, God would continue to protect and deliver him until his mission for Christ on earth was complete. 26 We pray for safety for one another in travel. We should also be praying for safety and deliverance in living and ministering for Christ. Sovereign God does not always keep us from dangers and disasters. The Bible, history and tradition indicate that all the disciples were killed for Christ, with the exception of John. Chapter 11 in Hebrews tells us that many believers were delivered by God while many others suffered and killed for God. We don t understand all the reasons for this, but we do understand that God provides security and deliverance and that we are to pray for it. The last example of how we can and should be carrying out our responsibility of praying for one another is to pray for healing and health. Always remember, never forget, God is the healer. He told the grumbling people of Israel, I, the LORD, am your healer (NASB). 27 He is the healer, our healer. It is part of who He is. He does not change. That does not change. All true wholeness and health, restoration and healing ultimately come from God. Turn to James chapter 5. That is on page 1389 in the church Bibles. Let s pick it up at verse 13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders 8
of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit (verses 13-18). When we are sick, we are to pray. When we are sick and weak, or want support from others, we are to let them know and they are to pray. Here, specifically, the elders of the church are called to pray not because they are better or more powerful than others, but because they are God s selected leaders. When the elders come to God in righteousness and faith, God hears and heals. We know from other parts of Scripture that this is subject to the will and timing of God. We don t know everything we would like to about how God uses our prayers for healing and responds to them, but we do know that we are to pray in faith for healing. In the second verse of the apostle John s third letter he tells Gaius, the recipient, Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul (ESV). While this is not a promise, it is a prayer. We too can pray for one another that God would be gracious in giving success and good health. We know from Scripture that lack of success and health is not always, or even regularly the result of sin. Jesus said a man had been born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him (NASB), and not because of any sin. 28 Paul suffered many hardships. He tells us, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong (NASB), 29 and that I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am (NASB). 30 The point here is that we are to pray for one another, to pray for healing and health. Conclusion. Think once more about the last part of our opening statement, 9
Prayer isn t the least thing we can do for people it s the greatest thing we can do! 31 God has given us this great and gracious responsibility of to praying for one another. As you think about it with Him now, thank Him for this responsibility and privilege. We don t understand how it all goes together, but we can thank Him for it. Thank God for all the people who have been and are praying for you, even though you do not know everyone who is praying for you let alone all their prayers for you. Take a look at your prayer life. What is the pattern of your prayer life? Last week I cited a six-point check list for loving others in deed and truth. One point was I am praying for other Christians at least as much as I pray for myself. 32 How are we doing on this? As you bring requests to God, are you praying for other believers with the same sincerity, intensity and faithfulness you have in praying for yourself and those closest to you? Be a prayer warrior for fellow believers here in our church, in your family, for your friends and for believers around the world. 1 Warren Wiersbe. Caring People. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2002, page 27. 2 Psalm 147:5; see also Isaiah 40:28; Hebrews 4:13. 3 1 Chronicles 29:11-12; Psalm 62:11; 115:3; 135:6. See the last sermon in the recent Genesis series, Ending of the Beginning. 4 Matthew 7:7-8; Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:2; James 4:2; 5:16. 5 Ephesians 6:18, NLT. 6 Romans 15:30; 2 Corinthians 1:11; Ephesians 6:19; Colossians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 3:1. 7 James 5:16; context: 5:7-18. 8 Exodus 32:1-25. 9 Exodus 32:10, NASB. 10 Exodus 32:11-13, NASB. 11 Numbers 14:1-25. 12 Numbers 14:11-12, ESV. 13 John 14:16-17. 14 Context: John 17:9-26. 15 Hebrews 7:25, NASB. 16 Philippians 1:4, 9-11; see also 2 Corinthians 13:7, 9; Ephesians 1:16; Colossians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12; 2 Timothy 1:3; Philemon 1:4, 6. 10
17 Romans 8:29. 18 1 John 3:2. 19 Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:7-31; Ephesians 4:7-16; 1 Peter 4:7-11. 20 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, NASB. 21 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2. 22 Ephesians 6:19-20. 23 Colossians 4:3-4. 24 Acts 12:1-19. 25 2 Corinthians 1:11. 26 2 Corinthians 1:8-11; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-3. 27 Exodus 15:26, NASB. 28 John 9:3, NASB. 29 2 Corinthians 12:10, NASB. 30 Philippians 4:11, NASB. 31 Wiersebe, page 27. 32 Gene Getz. Loving One Another. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook / Victor Books, 2002, page 25. 2019 Lyle L. Wahl Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture marked (NASB) taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. 11