Sabbath: Prayer Power ~ Interceding for Others
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Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Rev. 12:7-9, Eph. 6:12, Heb. 7:25, Eph. 1:15-21, Dan. 10:10-14, 1 John 5:14-16.
Memory Text: “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16, NKJV).
The New Testament church members felt their need of prayer. “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31, NKJV). Notice, the disciples prayed. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and then they spoke the Word of God with boldness or confidence.
There was a direct relationship between their prayers, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and powerfully proclaiming God’s Word. “The disciples … did not ask for a blessing for themselves merely. They were weighted with the burden of the salvation of souls. They realized that the gospel was to be carried to the world, and they claimed the power that Christ had promised”. — Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 37.
When we seek God and intercede for others, God works in our own hearts to draw us closer to Him and gives us divine wisdom to reach them for His kingdom (James 1:5). He also works powerfully in their lives in ways we cannot see or even fully understand to draw them to Himself (1 John 5:14-17).
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 25.
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One of my repeated themes about prayer is that it is really about conversation. We need to leave time in our prayer life for God to answer. I don't mean that you should sit in a trance-like state with a blank mind waiting for an epiphany, but rather an active state of think about what God wants you to do. When praying an intercessory prayer for others, ask God to provide you with an insight into how you can be God's hand in helping that person. God is not a magician; he works with and through you and others.
I just prayed for you. Pray for me too. Tx.
Thank you JC. May you be blessed and be encouraged as we study together.
Thanks, again! (As everybody else) I'm specially in need of prayer! My life has changed a lot since the begining of this pandemic. And family is at focus!
What has helped you in your communication with the LORD as a friend and as your King?
One way that has helped me is to write down my thoughts, meditations on a text, praise for blessings and requests for others and myself.
Lam 3:22-26 His mercies are new every morning,so He provides something new to talk about each morning as long as I listen to His various ways of communicating with me.
Dear Shirley, I just prayed for you. Pray for me too. Thanks.
Dear JC, thank you, I have asked the LORD to guide and protect you.
In the examples in the Word of communicating with the LORD on behalf of others we see they are specific, the person is named and a particular blessing is specified.
This encourages me each day to claim a different promise for specific people on my prayer list.
The author said something extremely powerful and important. He spoke of what happens when we pray and it’s true whether we are praying for ourselves or for others. God works in our own hearts. I have at times wanted to stop praying for something because it seemed clear the answer was no. I don’t like nagging or repeating myself. I’d prefer to ask once and get the answer. I would get frustrated at times. I would pray and ask God to just let me know so I can stop wasting time asking for something He is not going to give me but I had the wrong idea of what prayer is for. Communication with God is never a waste. I don’t think we fully understand just how powerful prayer is. God could do things Himself but has chosen to include us. Prayer is power. God transforms us when we pray. He moves on the hearts of those we pray for and so much more.
Prayer shouldn’t be just asking for things. It’s a conversation. We should tell God how happy we were when this or that happened. Thank Him for being there with us, allowing us to experience that joy. Praise Him for taking care of us even when things didn’t go the way we’d hoped. For waking us up each morning. Thank Him for the people in your life that have had a positive influence on you. Even those who give you opportunities to practice patience and love. We should want to speak to God about everything and anything not just petitioning Him.
I just prayed for u. Pray for me 2. Thank u.
the effective prayers needs more righteous people so first we need to be righteous and to pray harder for us and for others and wait because God has three answers 1.yes 2.no and 3. wait
When we take time out to pray for others is a demonstration that we care about them. It is important to pray for others because through our faith God can intervene in their situation. Some people may not have faith in God and hence God can act through ours. There are many things which we cannot do for people but only God can.We recognise that we are limited but God is capable in doing much more for them than us.Interceding for other is an opportunity to put our faith in action.It helps to increase and strengthen our own faith.It is a blessing to pray for others.
John 17:1-6 - is the powerful conversation of Jesus with His Father. Prayer is the only form of mind-communication that flesh has when approaching the Father; even this is conditoned by that we are told to pray in Jesus' name.
I am sure that Jesus prayed all the time, not just when He was in distress or needed something to be accomplished. All that we think or do is to be for the Glory and Honor and Praise of the Father. We mindfully, consciously come into His Presence when we pray.
Prayer to me is a state of being, though. We are always in the presence of God. Prayer does not bring us closer to God; it just makes us more focused on our relationship with and our dependency on our heavenly Father.
Prayer-communication is the ongoing, underlying frame of mind and disposition of the heart. We can speak our thoughts out loud, but God knows the thoughts of man and the intentions of his heart. He knows us, and He knows what we desire before we ask. Matt.6:8
Matt.6:9-13 is the Lord's Prayer. I always thought that this 'template-prayer' helps to get us into the right 'frame of mind'as it openes our heart.
Praising His name is the first step and acknowledges that He is the Authority governing the affairs of heaven and earth.
The petition to provide for our daily needs is the acknowledgement that everything we depend on for living comes through His Love and Grace.
We are asking for His Mercy, recognizing that we owe others to be treated rightly. We understand that, without God's providence, we are open to the powers of darkness and ask Him to protect us from them.
Again, our first and last expressed thought is about His Glory, and His rightful Authority to rule in His Kingdom.
References about prayer are found throughout the Scripture. They are powerful reminders what it means to be part of God's heavenly family.
1John5:14; Mark11:22-26; Matt.6:6-8; Matt.18:19,20; James5:13-18; Luke5:15,16; Rom.8:26,27; Luke11:9-13; Matt.21:22;
Prayer is the time when we consciously experience that our spiritual life is intertwined with our physical life. God is with us always - Heb.13:5; Phil4:6,7
The Fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Prayer Power ~ Interceding for Others
The Lord uses certain people to intercede for others. E.g Abraham interceded for Lot and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses was used to intercede for the people. Jesus was used to intercede for the disciples and for us, Paul interceded for the people in different cultures, Nehemiah, Ezra, etc.
Many people can’t pray for themselves, they become discouraged and disappointed when they pray and things don’t occur according to what they liked. They give up and that’s where Satan wants us. Sometimes people only pray for their friends and not for their enemies, intercession is inclusive. It has no boundaries. Bible says to pray for the government/ those in authority. 1 Tim 2:2. It never says pray for them only if you like them, or that is your party.
Many times I am awakened to pray for people, don’t know who or why. All I know is being led by the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
More thoughts came to mind regarding the Omnipresence of the Holy Father through the indwelling Holy Spirit. I want to make sure that we understand clearly that prayer is constantly expressed through our thoughts as well as our emotions, and not just during the time of a formal prayer setting.
I want to go so far and say that every thought we think, may it be for good or ill, is a form of prayer. 2Cron.7:14
Compassion, though unformed or expressed with words, reaches the heart of God. Rom.8:24-27.; v.27: 'the Spirit maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God'.
Psalm 139:1-24 - v.23: 'Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts': v.24: 'And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting'.
Matt.9:4 - And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, "wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?"
Matt.2:8 - And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, "Why reason ye these things in your hearts?"
We always want to approach God with a clean heart and mind - Psalm51:10;
Intercession is a blessing for us as much as it is to those for whom we pray. It is a divine privilege afforded us by God through which the Holy Spirit works connecting us to the Seat of Mercy and Grace.
With our faith strengthened we make our petition demonstrating our care and concern for our fellowmen and we too receive a blessing.
When Job prayed for his friends he was tremendously blessed. Intercession therefore can be seen as unselfish prayer ministry that works vertically and horizontally. Here God acts on our faith on behalf of those whose faith might be particularly weak or those who just cannot pray for themselves.
Praying for others is faith that works through love moving the Hand of the Omnipotent God.
Confessing our sins one to another and then praying for others brings healing to both parties.
This means our prayers must have no selfishness.
I must confesses this got me thinking of the many times I prayed and did not remember to pray for other people, could this be the reason of no "healing" in our lives?
I agree that Abraham was greatly blessed after interceding for others and so should we. Its quite an eye opener for me.
I am requesting prayers for my coworker whose son has covid 19 and she has a weak immune system so please lift her up in prayer her name Is Raquel.
What's is the sin that leads to death according to 1 John 5:14-17
The sin that leads to death could be thought of as the sin that a person refuses to confess to God. How can we pray that God will give life to someone who refuses to confess his sinfulness to God, especially when it is obvious to others? Verse 21 is telling: “Guard yourselves from idols.”
An idolater is someone who puts something in the place of God. In this case, the person has put himself in the place of God in that he has decided what God has declared as sin, is not. It is not reasonable to pray that God would give such a person eternal life (that is, “give life”).
Nevertheless, we can pray that God will work to deliver such a person from the evil one, softening his heart to repentance and confession, at which point prayer for his eternal life would be appropriate.
Just a thought.
As we become "partakers of the Divine nature", our concern/care for others will become part of our prayers, just as we see in the prayers of those found in scripture. Moses, Elisha, Daniel, Jesus, the apostles, etc, all exhibited the love of God for their fellow man. I'm sure many here, if not all, have this experience daily.
Intercessory prayer is our starting point for serving others as God opens the way. True intercession does not end with our prayers if there is anything we can do. The great commission is "Go ye", not merely "pray ye". While we cannot "go" without prayer, what good is our prayer if we don't "go", as far as it is possible? I believe the main focus for such prayer is for the wisdom, power and ability to labor for the lost effectively. Why else would God place the burden on our heart?