Being P.R.A.Y.E.R.F.U.L.Smakprov

"R is for Relationships"

Even if you consider yourself a loner, everyone has a relationship with someone – and those relationships need prayer management.

Factor out family and significant others for the moment; I’ll discuss how to pray for them in the next lesson. The relationships I want you to think about are those you have with everyone else: friends, co-workers, neighborhood kids, customers, and everyday church-folk.

Consider the everyday relationships you have established with these people. How would you describe them? Would you say they are good and mutually beneficial? Are they wholesome and edifying? Would you say they are healthy?

Here’s a better question: how might these people describe their relationship with you? (Think on that one for a moment.)

However you just answered those questions, know that there is a standard by which we should measure our “relationship status,” and that standard is Jesus. Jesus’ relationships were grounded in love and so, too, should our relationships be. The best relationships always have love at their core: love through service (Galatians 5:13); love through stewardship (1 Peter 4:10), which is to say using the gifts God has blessed us with to help one another; and love through sacrifice of our time, talents, and, yes, even our treasure. (1 John 3:16-18)

Notice that, with each manifestation of relational love, Jesus can be found: showing us that even God is not above serving the needs of others (Mark 10:45); reminding us that much is expected of those whom God favors (Luke 12:48b); and admonishing us to share our blessings, not hoard them. (Luke 6:38)

Is love at the center of your relationships? If it is, then pray that God will continue to bless and nurture those relationships to your benefit and His glory. But if you can think of even one relationship wherein love is void, then pray to the Father, right now, that He will teach you how to foster His love in the midst of that broken relationship.