Living Lessons on PrayerChikamu

God has given us the wonderful privilege of praying for others as He stirs our hearts through His living, breathing presence in us. Through our ongoing conversations with God, the Holy Spirit quietly moves us, through our thoughts, to pray for someone. Likewise, He moves others to pray for us. Unless we tell each other, these kinds of interactions are often unknown. 

When someone I care about comes to my mind, I like to talk briefly to God about whatever is going on in their life. I use that time to just talk to God and pour out whatever I’m thinking without being too concerned what is or is not “His will.” If my thoughts are along a line that I know is God’s will from the Scriptures, such as praying for someone to come to salvation in Christ, then that makes the prayer easier. Paul tells us here in Colossians to pray for others’ growth and wellbeing. Since we can know this kind of prayer is God’s will, we can believe that God will work to bring wisdom, understanding and good behavior to others’ lives. Once I prayed this kind of prayer for a very important person in my life. 

After a ten-year gap in communication, my daughter, Jodi, reconnected with her teen-age friend, Rick, whom she had met at Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama when she was 14 and Rick was 16. As they got re-acquainted, they began to talk about marriage. Through the years, since Jodi was a baby, I had prayed about who God would bring to her as her husband. I loved Rick and believed he was the kind of man for whom I’d been praying—except he was not a Christian. 

When Rick asked me for Jodi’s hand in marriage, I told him I thought he was just the one for her, but it would be best if he loved God and wanted to follow Him. As we talked, Rick shared that he had questions because he wanted to know what he was getting into. When I heard that statement from his heart, I felt in my spirit that he would receive Jesus. Sure enough, a few weeks later Rick told us he had asked Jesus into his heart. My joy was full.

Now that Rick was a believer, it was easy to sense God prompting me to pray that Rick would have all those things that Paul prayed for the Colossians in this verse. The answer to that prayer came a year or so later when Rick was chosen to be mentored by a godly man at our church. Along with other men, they met weekly for a year. Rick grew in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of God and the Scriptures. He grew in his walk with Jesus, pleasing Him as a father, husband, friend and worker. I see the fruit that Rick bears in his love for his wife and his two sons, the work he does to help others know Jesus and the kindness that flows from his heart. Rick is a great answer to prayer.

Application: 

Think of someone in your life who needs to be filled with the knowledge of God. Pray this verse aloud inserting their name. Lift them up to God. Thank God for the people who have prayed, or are praying, for you that you may not even know about.