For a while now, I have been paying attention to people’s prayer requests. Before I make my statement, let me say that I do not believe that it is wrong to pray for our personal wants and needs or to pray for others! However, the vast majority of the times our prayer request are “give me” prayers. Help me with my finances, help me with my job, and please give me this and that. During prayer request time, the majority of our requests are for others: my friend, my co-workers daughter, a friends-friends-cousins family, etc. Again, we should pray for personal needs and we need to pray for others. The problem is often we use these request to avoid the real need: a change in us! It is rare that I hear someone ask for prayer for them self and for God to work in them, in their situation. A request like that would make us venerable, it would give others a hint that we may not be the ‘got it together’ Christian. It is risky to ask others to pray for us as we need to be better at . . . ? What would they think if they knew I needed prayer to help me control my tongue, or learn forgiveness, or respect my husband, or stop cussing, or stop drinking, or control my eating, or develop a thirst for God, or open my Bible, or improve my attitude, etc? How long has it been since you heard a prayer request like that? How long has it been since you gave a prayer request like that?
We are told to carry each other’s burdens. How can we do that if we don’t know what they are? Christian friends are to help us grow, encourage us, share testimony with us, feel with us! Do you have support from Christian friends? If not, is it because they don’t know what YOUR need is?
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2
2 comments:
Praying for myself is easy. The hard part is asking others to pray. I have some friends that have asked if something is wrong and I have just said can you pray for me...I haven't given a cause or opened up to them about anything. I know they they are probably just asking God to help me what the unknown situation. It is hard to open up and share our "real" problems.
Tonya--have you ever seen Louie Giglio's series called Prayer Remix (I think)? It is an incredible message on how we pray and how we might remix our prayer life.
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