The Practice of Prayer (3)

“Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.” Matthew 6.10-13

Us, that is
We don’t get very deep into the Lord’s Prayer until we are reminded that all our prayers should be, first, about God and His greatness and mighty works, and then about our neighbors.

Notice that Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day…” Us, not me. While us certainly includes me, it’s a good idea, following Paul’s instruction to put others first (Phil. 2.4-11), to intercede for others before we begin supplicating the Lord for our own needs. When we come to prayer, having confessed our sins and given abundant praise and thanks to God, I think it’s a good idea not to allow ourselves to become the centerpiece of our prayers. We’ll get to the grace we need soon enough. Jesus taught us to pray for others, and praying for others is one of the most important things we can do to show our neighbors the kind of love we’d like for ourselves.

The “daily bread” your neighbor needs – your spouse and children, neighbors, co-workers, prayer partners, all kinds of people – will be in some ways similar and in some ways different from your own needs. You can use general prayers to focus on the people in your Personal Mission Field, and you can pause over each person for whom you pray, listening for the Spirit to bring to mind some specific need each one might have.

Praying for lost people
Some of the people you see and spend time with each week will be unbelievers. They don’t know the Lord, but He loves them nonetheless. He wants us to love them, too, and we can nurture His love for them in us by bringing their needs to the Lord in prayer.

Think about the unsaved people you’re likely to see during any given day. Thank God for putting them in your life. Pray for their general daily needs, and that God might even use meeting those needs to remind them of His love and care for them. Every unbelieving person knows God (Rom. 1.18-21). Most unbelievers don’t like to think about Him, and some even work hard to suppress any thought of God whatsoever. But He’s always at work on their behalf, always revealing Himself around them, and always available for them to catch a glimpse of Him. Pray for the lost people in your life, that something from their environment (you?) might strum a chord of the image of God in which they’ve been made, perhaps leaving them a little more open to the Lord than before.

Pray also that the Spirit of God would woo your lost friends and acquaintances, as they wonder at something beautiful in the environment, some act of kindness on your part, or some particularly good gift or situation that comes their way. Pray for opportunities to show them the kindness of the Lord, to initiate a conversation that might lead to talking about spiritual matters, or even to share some word of witness or testimony with them.

We need to pray for lost people, because praying for them will help us to love them more, prepare us to talk with them about the Lord, and perhaps move the Spirit of God to make them open to the Good News about Jesus.

Praying for believers
Each of us will have plenty of believers in our Personal Mission Field as well. As you pray during the morning watch, think ahead to the Christians you’ll have contact with during the day. Pray in general for their daily needs, and specifically about the needs of each one, as you are aware of those.

Three things to pray for each believer in your life, as well as for all believers generally, are (1) their sanctification, (2) the situations in which they find themselves each day, and (3) the service they minister to the people around them. Use Scripture to guide you in praying that your fellow believers will continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3.18), that they will keep focused on Jesus as they go through their daily situations (Heb. 12.1, 2), and that God will equip them from His Word for those good works of service and ministry that will find them working their own Personal Mission Field (2 Tim. 3.15-17). Pray that the Lord will keep them from the evil one, and help them in seeking and advancing His Kingdom. Take the time to mention to your Christian friends that you pray for them, and encourage them to share particular prayer requests with you. Be sure to pray for those requests, and to follow-up as appropriate.

During your time of intercession, remember to pray for public officials (1 Tim. 2.1-8), the persecuted Church and believers and ministries around the world, and for the progress of Christ’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Stake out a broad horizon for your prayers of intercession, asking the Lord to shower His grace into the lives of those you are called to serve, and throughout the world.

For reflection
1.  What is your present approach to interceding for others in prayer? Has this article given you any new ideas?

2.  Why is it especially important to pray for those in your Personal Mission Field?

3.  How could you spread your prayers of intercession for others throughout the day, in order to help in hanging your day on prayer?

Next steps – Transformation: What can you do to make your prayers of intercession more specific and more a part of your prayers throughout the day? Talk with a Christian friend about this question.

T. M. Moore
Each of our “next steps” exercises is tied into goals and disciplines involved in working your Personal Mission Field. If you have not yet identified your Personal Mission Field, watch the brief video showing you how to get started right away (click here). Learn how to work your Personal Mission Field by finding a friend and signing-up for our Mission Partners Outreach.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.