YOU Pray for Me!

Unfortunately, too many Christians allow prejudice to dictate who they ask to pray for them. In other words, they actively exclude folks from their prayer requests, because they have decided that they're NOT Christians - that God would never hear that person's petition! Even worse, some folks have decided not to pray for certain folks in need, because they're NOT Christians! This post will talk about how these notions creep into our consciousness and prevent us from enjoying the full benefits of prayer and God's ability to help whatever situations we may face in this life.

As a former member of the Worldwide Church of God, I regarded the membership of that Church as constituting God's true Church - everyone else was a "so-called Christian." As such, we thought of those folks as being a part of this wicked world and unworthy of God's intervention. Now, members would make prayer requests, and they would often be announced from the pulpit, but the pool of people praying for someone or something tended to be very local and small. Years later, I realized just how judgmental and narrow-minded my approach to other people and prayer had been.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Christ had instructed his followers: "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:1-5, ESV here and throughout) Notice that Christ is very explicit in his instructions about judging each other. Judgment is clearly above our paygrade!

Yeshua went on to say: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:7-11) Christ said that God wants us to seek him, and that he wants his children to ask him for help.

Even so, Christ's own apostles sometimes exhibited that same judgmental attitude which often afflicts us. We see this in a brief episode recounted in the Gospel of Luke. We read there: "John answered, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.' But Jesus said to him, 'Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.'" (Luke 9:49-50) Likewise, the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy that "'The Lord knows those who are his,' and, 'Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.'" (II Timothy 2:19) In short, anyone who calls him/herself a Christian and eschews evil is part of "the pack." In other words, God doesn't need us to sort out those who belong to him from among the ranks of the Christian community!

Moreover, Yeshua said that our obligation to pray doesn't just extend to those within the Christian community anyway! He said: "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:43-48) In other words, we CAN and SHOULD pray for folks outside of our faith circle!

Indeed, in Christ's model prayer, he told his disciples to pray for God's Kingdom to come, and that his will would be performed throughout the earth - just as it already is in heaven! (Matthew 6:10) Now, it should be obvious to everyone who is a Christian that this is a prayer for ALL of humankind - a prayer that everyone will experience God's goodness and mercy!

Finally, Yeshua assured his followers that prayer was a powerful tool in the hands of those who believed in it. In speaking about faith, Christ said: "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." (Mark 11:24-25) Notice, once again, that Christ reminded his followers to always be forgiving to each other if they expected God to forgive them and grant their petitions. In similar fashion, James wrote to the twelve tribes scattered abroad that "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." (James 5:16)

So, what about you? What's stopping you from asking for others to pray for you? More importantly, what's stopping you from praying for others? What's preventing you from asking for God's intervention in the lives of unbelievers, or to relieve the suffering extant in this present world? What do you think?