Others 

 

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

Ephesians 6:18

 

There really isn’t much else I can add or explain further with the scripture in this post. Ephesians 6:18 is pretty clear. Paul charges the church to pray for believers everywhere.

 

Is that something we naturally do? On Sundays are we praying for pastors of other churches to come alive and be on fire for God? Are we praying that for our own? Are we praying for each other and that we use the gifts given to us by The Spirit to build God’s kingdom (1 Corinthians 12:7)?

 

How about the global church? Are we praying for them? Are we praying for the ones in prison for Jesus? Are we praying for the families of the martyred?

 

Am I?

 

God has been showing me that I have not prayed for my brothers and sisters in Christ like I should. I do every now and then but my prayers have mainly been filled with: I need this, heal that in me, keep me from this, strengthen this in me. Which is good! Hear me say that it is good to pray for yourself and your own relationship with Jesus but is it always about you? Do you, do I, only pray for ourselves and let that be the end of it?

 

Most of the time, it was about me and me only. I’ve even seen this in my teaching about Jesus! So many times I have wanted to be the one with the right answers and I would never stop to tremble at the reality that I can hear the Holy Spirit speak through someone else. How many lessons has God tried to teach me that I missed because I was thinking about how I would have worded it or how I would’ve said a certain line differently? 

 

Solution: be on my knees and tremble at the reality that the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God, dwells and is active in the lives of every Christ follower and to pray earnestly for every believer around the world. Christ prayed that we (believers) would be one as He and God are one (John 17:22). How can that happen if we aren’t even praying for one another?

 

Where are we making life about us rather than about others?