Praying for other people

Today I received a question from someone about the best way to pray for someone else. A good question, because the Bible is clear that we should indeed do so;

But, how? Or how not? To explain it, I had her study a few lines from the “Lord’s Prayer.” Let’s first look at the entire passage:

Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
(Matthew 6:9–13)

This time (she didn’t have much time, so we couldn’t make a complete Bible study out of it), I presented her with the following: when we read this part, can we say in our prayer for someone else: “God, I believe You are going to do this today!”?

Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Saying in a prayer for someone else that “God is going to do something,” or “that you believe God will solve X or Y today,” is therefore a no-go based on that Bible verse. Because we do not know what God’s will is. We do not know what His plan is.

If you do that in a prayer for someone else, where that person might even be present, what are you doing? You are “selling” something… that you cannot “sell.” And that always leads to a bad purchase, a disappointment, betrayed trust… not only in your prayer… but also in God. Oops… So: don’t do it.

Another example we see in the Lord’s Prayer is this one:

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Suppose the person you want to pray for suffers from the consequences of drug use and does not want to stop using drugs. You could pray for God to take away those consequences, but that is not the solution. That person has committed sins (drug use), does not want to stop, and is facing the consequences. Asking God to remove the consequences for that person’s sin would be strange… wouldn’t it?!

With that Bible verse in hand, it is better to pray that God draws that person to Him, causing them to repent and stop sinning, so that the consequences of that sin also stop.

And finally (because she had to leave for another appointment), we looked at this part:

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Only God can act. Not you, and not your beautiful words. Only He has the power and the glory forever.

That gives peace when you pray for someone else. It is up to Him, not you. You can ask God through prayer, but at the end of the day, it is His will, His power, and His glory forever.

Amen

And yes, there is MUCH more regarding this theme, but unfortunately, time was limited. I concluded with a prayer for her:

Dear God, here we are today. Today we have learned more from You: that we ourselves do not have the power, but You do!
Let us be humble in our prayers, because we must trust in You and in what You do.
That we do not make “promises” in prayer that we cannot fulfill, since it is Your will that will happen.
Give X wisdom when she prays for others.
Give X Your love when she does so, so that she can bring people, step by step, closer to You.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!

And with that, X got on the tram, off to her next appointment.