by Max Aplin
Prayer works. It must do or the Bible would not be full of commands to pray. Besides, anyone who has been a Christian for any length of time will testify to its effectiveness.
General prayers for people and things are beneficial, of course. But knowing how to pray specifically is also very important.
There are numerous places in Scripture where the author tells his readers to pray for him (and often for others too), and in most of these passages specific information is given about how they should pray: Rom 15:30-32; 2 Cor 1:11; Eph 6:18-20; Col 4:3; 1 Thess 5:25; 2 Thess 3:1; Heb 13:18.
I am convinced that this is something every Christian should be doing as a matter of habit. And we should also be taking on board those prayer requests that we hear, so that we can pray in an informed way. In a nutshell, every Christian should be a prayer information hub.
I can't comment on how well this is put into practice in churches in various parts of the world, but I can say that from what I have seen in the UK, not many Christians here seem to do this.
Perhaps there is unbelief as regards the power of prayer. Or perhaps people are too proud to ask others to help them. Or maybe Western individualism has a bad influence in this area. Whatever the reason, it is a problem.
If we believe in the power of God that comes through prayer, then let us all make the effort to frequently share prayer requests with each other, and let us do this without embarrassment or the feeling that anything is out of the ordinary. Of course, in some highly personal issues we will often want to limit the number of people we ask to those we trust and know well. But in other things, the more Christians who know about our situation and are backing us in prayer, the better.
Is something coming up in the next week that is out of the ordinary? Ask people in your church to take it to the Lord in prayer. Is there something troubling you? Ask some trusted Christian friends to pray. Have you heard bad news about someone? Send an email to a group of Christians asking them to pray about it.
Or consider organising a prayer information board in your church, online as well as hard copy, where people can place requests for others to read. Or how about including items for prayer on the sheet of paper containing church information that is commonly given to everyone who comes to a Sunday service?
Sharing prayer requests in this way is normal Christianity. Not to do so is weird and abnormal.
So as to practise what I preach, I would be grateful if those who read this could pray for me that the Christian articles I write will teach truth and not error, and that the people God wants to read them will do so. Thank you.
General prayers for people and things are beneficial, of course. But knowing how to pray specifically is also very important.
There are numerous places in Scripture where the author tells his readers to pray for him (and often for others too), and in most of these passages specific information is given about how they should pray: Rom 15:30-32; 2 Cor 1:11; Eph 6:18-20; Col 4:3; 1 Thess 5:25; 2 Thess 3:1; Heb 13:18.
I am convinced that this is something every Christian should be doing as a matter of habit. And we should also be taking on board those prayer requests that we hear, so that we can pray in an informed way. In a nutshell, every Christian should be a prayer information hub.
I can't comment on how well this is put into practice in churches in various parts of the world, but I can say that from what I have seen in the UK, not many Christians here seem to do this.
Perhaps there is unbelief as regards the power of prayer. Or perhaps people are too proud to ask others to help them. Or maybe Western individualism has a bad influence in this area. Whatever the reason, it is a problem.
If we believe in the power of God that comes through prayer, then let us all make the effort to frequently share prayer requests with each other, and let us do this without embarrassment or the feeling that anything is out of the ordinary. Of course, in some highly personal issues we will often want to limit the number of people we ask to those we trust and know well. But in other things, the more Christians who know about our situation and are backing us in prayer, the better.
Is something coming up in the next week that is out of the ordinary? Ask people in your church to take it to the Lord in prayer. Is there something troubling you? Ask some trusted Christian friends to pray. Have you heard bad news about someone? Send an email to a group of Christians asking them to pray about it.
Or consider organising a prayer information board in your church, online as well as hard copy, where people can place requests for others to read. Or how about including items for prayer on the sheet of paper containing church information that is commonly given to everyone who comes to a Sunday service?
Sharing prayer requests in this way is normal Christianity. Not to do so is weird and abnormal.
So as to practise what I preach, I would be grateful if those who read this could pray for me that the Christian articles I write will teach truth and not error, and that the people God wants to read them will do so. Thank you.
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