10/13/2023
Are you in a situation that calls for more prayer than you can muster? Do you need the prayers of many, or at least a few righteous believers to intercede for you? Is your heart broken, your health waning, or your spirit down? Well maybe it is time to call out for help from the saints in your church, or seek the prayers of some faithful intercessors you trust.
“And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
James 5:15-16 ESV
When I was a boy I loved to watch westerns. Each one had a good guy and a bad guy; or a hero, a heroin, and a villain. One of the things I learned from watching these exciting shows was that if you are in a wagon train heading west and you are about to be attacked, then you circled the wagons and prepared to defend yourself. If possible, you also send a rider for help!
Facing adversity in our lives often calls for us to circle the wagons. It demands that we prepare to repel whatever force is about to confront us. Spiritually speaking this means that we need to call together those prayer warriors who can stand shoulder to shoulder with us and who will watch the places we can’t see alone, but even knowing this our natural instinct is to either hide or run, and to go it alone. We read scripture intended for everyday prayer, and apply it to times of great adversity. We are creatures of habit and one of our most dangerous habits when it comes to faith is to depend solely on ourselves.
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Matthew 6:6 ESV
This is wonderful scripture, and it is good to pray alone and to seek out God in our personal relationship with him, but in times of exceptional hardship it is to our advantages to ask others is they will join with us from their prayer closets too. Paul wrote of praying for one another, as a matter of fact he asked for prayer from others repeatedly It is our joint prayer that increases us exponentially, and brings amazing power to bear on the object of those prayers. In times of overpowering difficulty, or eminent attack, we need the safety of numbers and to circle our wagons of prayer against these odds. Asking each other for prayer should become as natural to us as sitting down to dine with one another, and we should do it again, and again...
“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.”
2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 ESV
And again...
“I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,”
Romans 15:30 ESV
So in our times of trouble, or when we see the storm clouds gathering on the horizon, it is comforting to know that there are those who will weather them on their knees before the throne of God with us. It is good to circle the wagons of prayer and prepare to fend off all danger by calling on the Lord together as one, and as we do, we should send a rider off to gather even more support from the Holy Spirit because the prayer in the Spirit brings great power to us… it is the spiritual Calvary.
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Romans 8:26-27 ESV
Reach out to Jesus, reach out to others, reach out to the Holy Spirit, and then reach out together to God. In this way the power of our faith is magnified beyond our wildest dreams and expectations, and when so called, our God stands in the midst of our wagons, and faces down our enemy with amazing power. Are we ready to join together in this way as we face great adversity?
Prayer:
Father, we thank you for the communion of saints and the power it brings to prayer. We thank you for hearing and answering even our weakest individual prayers, but we thank you more for our ability to come to you powerfully in unison with other saints during times of dire need and circumstances. You give us your grace and mercy Father, and you also give us the companionship of one another. It has never been your desire that we be alone; not in the Garden of Eden, not in our everyday life, and especially not in our dire circumstances. You use our joint prayer to demonstrate your wish for us to always be together. Your Word makes this clear Father when Jesus says:
““For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."”
Matthew 18:20 ESV
Holy Father hear our prayers as they rise up together. Hear our prayers Lord as they mingle with the smoke of incense prepared by angels and rise before your throne. Let our prayers please you and demonstrate our common need for your attention and rescue. Taste our tears, and hear our moans, our words of supplication, and our pleas for forgiveness, as we bring our needs to you. Act boldly, and swiftly Father on our behalf, and go before us as our strong champion in all causes. We praise you for the audience we have with you, and we praise you for interceding in our daily lives...come now Might God, and stand amidst our wagons of prayer. Fend off all harm and evil, and provide us with your comfort and rest; set a table for us in the midst of our enemies for we fear nothing with you at our side. Praised be your name always, but especially when we come before you as one.
Rich Forbes