Standing StrongSample

Stand in Prayer

I love verse 18 of Ephesians 6! We are told to pray (in the Holy Spirit) all the time with all kinds of prayers. We are to continually pray for all the Church.

Now, I hope you are letting this word, all, really sink in. There’s a lot of all in all! This takes commitment! I don’t know about you, but I want to pray with more consistency. I want to grow in faith and in the content of what I pray for.

I believe the reasons many of us don’t pray more are because we don’t really believe our prayers will make a difference, or we’re too distracted, or we think that continual prayer is only assigned to church “prayer teams” — as if committed prayer is only a calling for a select few.

Years back, I took an amazing journey and dug into a personal study on the subject of prayer. After long, biblical word searches and reading numerous books on the topic, I was deeply changed. Prayer became a joyous passion for me — a priority — because I more fully understood how important it is and how closely it draws me to the heart of God. It’s all about drawing near to God, enjoying His Presence, and then conversing with Him. But sometimes I get distracted and lose out on this awesome privilege and calling.

My hope is that God will stir your heart as you’re reading today and you’ll begin afresh with a commitment to continual, daily prayers.

We stand strong because God is able to keep us standing, but please notice the importance of our prayers for one another in the verses of 2 Corinthians 1:8-11:

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

All of our prayers are needed! God longs to be longed for. For us to press in and plead for His mercy, power, healing, guidance, strength and wisdom. For us to trust Him. This means we ask and then are filled with His peace, knowing that He hears us.

We stand in prayer.

For further study: John 17 is a heartfelt prayer that Jesus prayed to His Father. As you read through it, notice the conversational flow He had. In light of this prayer, what mattered most to Jesus? What were His specific requests? How can you grow in your communication with your heavenly Father through Jesus’ prayer example?