03/21/2018
How do we pray for others each day? I am not asking about those who have a specific need, and for whom we make intercession, but for our families, friends, those we don’t know yet, and even our enemies? Do you even think to pray for some of these?
“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,”
Ephesians 1:16-18 ESV
A few evenings ago one of my daughters and a granddaughter dropped by to pick up some clothing they had ordered from a neighbor, and while the ladies talked in the kitchen I retreated to another room where I was watching a documentary on a hiking trail in the Holy Land called ‘The Jesus Trail’. In a few minutes my daughter came into the room and asked me an interesting question, she asked “Dad, when you pray for me each day do you call me by name?” I thought a moment and said “yes, most of the time,” then she asked “what do you mean by most of the time?” To which I explained that sometimes I prayed for all of my children and grandchildren together. I thought this a good enough answer but she pressed on... “would you say that you prayed for me by name 90, 80, 70, or 50 percent of the time?” And as I tried to calculate an answer she spoke up again and said “I would take 80% as a good answer.” To which I easily said it was more than that.
How we pray for people in our lives is important. My daughter was reminding me that she desired that I not relegate her to being just one of a group, but that I lift her up individually by name as my daughter. She is right, and most mornings I pray for those in my life by name. I remember each family member, each person in need of healing, and each of those that God has placed in my path and asked me to pray for. Then, when I have exhausted my list, I pray for the groups which are too numerous to recall by name... friends, enemies, and the unknown. However, sometimes I am remiss in calling out the names of those I would normally refer to in this manner because of a pressing need I feel inclined to dedicate much more prayer time to... but this doesn’t happen often.
My daughter convicted me, and raised the importance of calling out those I love, and those who are close to me, by name... not 80% of the time, but in 100% of my prayers for them. Doing this means a great deal to those for whom we pray, and it means a lot to God because it lifts them personally up to Him. It is so easy to feel rushed, or so limited by time that we form groups like “my family” or “my children and grandchildren”, but the need to make time has been reinforced in me, and should be to you as well.
We often rationalize that God knows who we are praying for without calling their names individually, but If we took the logic we use in neglecting to speak names, then we could be tempted to extend that to our prayer itself. Yet, we are told specifically to pray continuously, and if the importance of praying.
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
Romans 12:12 ESV
And, there is another way in which a name is important as we pray.... prayers are answered when we call on a specific name... that name is Jesus:
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
John 14:13-14 ESV
Names are important, and even though we pray for those around us by their name, and we recognize the importance of praying for people in specific, there are those we don’t know, and have never met. Praying for the unknown and the unknown souls of sinners is important as well. Remember them in your prayers each day; to these souls pray the gospel is revealed, and that their hearts and minds are open to its truth.
“praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,”
Ephesians 6:18-19 ESV
So we pray, and as we do we call out those in our prayers by name, and we lift up our prayer itself in the name of Jesus Christ. We realize the importance of praying, and that we should pray without ceasing, because despite the fact that God knows our desire before we voice it... He wants to hear us say it; He wants to speak with us in person.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for desiring to hear my name. Thank you for not only knowing me by the flock I am in, but individually by the name I have been given. I am not merely one of your creations, but Rich Forbes, your child. Hear also the names I call out in my prayers Father, and know them as you know mine. Let me be a reflection of you as I call them out, and lead me to realize the importance of these names in identifying the self of each person for whom I pray. I pray for those I love, those I know, my friends, enemies, and them that are unknown to me, but in each case these are souls that you know intimately by name, and who are important to you as individuals. Help me Holy Father to see them as you do, and though I might call them “those unknown to me”, lead me to fully understand that this reference is not to a single unspoken entity, but many individuals who each have a life, a story, a name, and are loved by you. How great are you Father, and how great is your love that it encircles each of us, and whispers our name into our ear as we pray.
“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”
Isaiah 43:1 ESV
Rich Forbes