03/06/2018
Over the past few days many of you have prayed for me as I have battled to throw off the head and chest cold I have been suffering with, but today I wish to pray for you, and ask that you join me by praying for me and those around you. My prayer today is not for your physical body, but rather for your spirit and faith. Have you ever prayed such a prayer? If you haven’t then you are missing the greatest opportunity in prayer... to pray for the will of God to be manifest in all its power within another person.
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:14-19 ESV
This was a prayer that Paul wrote to the Ephesians. I wonder how many times he prayed it’s substance before he finally penned it, and sent it to them for their edification. How many times did he pray for the spiritual wellbeing of others before praying for their physical lives? The degree to which Paul loves the churches, and those in them, astounds me. Do you love those around you enough to pray such a prayer? When you think of Jesus speaking the second greatest commandment, did you think it was rooted in the physical world, or could you see that it begins in the spiritual, and merely bleeds over into what we do in this world?
“And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."”
Matthew 22:37-40 ESV
Once, as I prayed for my family, I was praying for their salvation, for the Holy Spirit to draw their souls to Christ as their savior, and God as the one true God in their lives, and as I did, I prayed for their wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, and many other things that might increase their faith and allow them to live full and prosperous spiritual lives in their faithfulness. This prayer was wonderful, and it thrilled my soul as I prayed it. Then I began to pray for my friends and enemies, and as I prayed for them I did so for their salvation. As I prayed I realized that the vigor with which I had prayed for my family was lacking. I asked for many of the same blessings, but held back some so that my family might come before them, and it convicted me. I was discriminating between souls... I was placing some before the many.
I share my father’s name with all those in my family. This is the name that was given him by his father, who received it from his, and so and so forth. We are all members of the Forbes family, but let’s revisit Paul’s words again:
“I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named”
Paul says immediately that we are all the children of our heavenly Father, and we share a common name. Suddenly I realize that my family on earth is just a reflection in microcosm of my family that is in heaven. This means that as I pray for you, and you for me, we should feel the family connection, and see the family resemblance; not in our outer coverings, because all the world sees those, but in our very spirits.
Today as we love one another in prayer, let’s feel the family connection, let’s love each other as we love ourselves. Let’s be one family with one Father, and pray every blessing that we would pray for our own earthly children on one another as brothers and sisters in Christ; one family of God, without discernment.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for all of my brothers and sisters who share your name as I do. I thank you for their prayers these past days as they have prayed to you for my physical healing, but most of all Holy Father, I thank you for their prayers that have asked for my spiritual strengthening, my faith, and my journey with you.
This morning Heavenly Father, I thank you for the blessing that such a large, robust, and diverse family is to me. I ask that your Holy Spirit surround, and fill, each one of them, and that your hand be upon them always. I ask that you forgive them their sins Merciful Father, as they humbly come before you, and that you hear me now as I say that I forgive them of any trespass they might have committed against me. In this way Gracious Lord I am walking as Jesus taught, and straightening the road for my family as they journey through this life towards your kingdom. Give each of them wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, and creativity, that they might prosper your kingdom by bringing many souls to it. Provide for them this day, protect them from all temptation and harm, and shield them against evil in its many manifestations. Lift up their faces to you Father, and as they seek to see you, let their eyes rest upon your Son Jesus Christ through whom they must come as they sojourn in faith towards you. Give them strength for the pilgrimage, give them perseverance to overcome all obstacles before them, and keep their stride steady and without falter as they climb the mountain to where you are. For those who are at journey’s end, I ask that your Peace, and rest greet them, and that they dine in joy at your table forever... praising you, and lifting up the family name in glory before you and all creation.
Rich Forbes