Praying for yourself VERSUS Praying for others

My attention was brought to something, a lot of people know the usefulness of this but shy away from it – Praying for yourself versus praying for others.
When we are going through stuff in life, the only thing we think about sometimes is how happy and relieved we’ll be if only God answers our prayers. We are consumed by our own needs and pain and we yearn for a breakthrough. That, in itself, is not a bad thing, after all God promises to answer when we call. But how often do we pray for others?

I was sitting in church the other day and two people were talking about someone else and her many vices. One of them concluded by saying, “Let’s just be praying for her now”.
The other replied by saying “Pray? Have I finished praying for myself?”

Sounds familiar huh? Yeah I know. I have said it too many times at some point in my life. But what exactly does the scripture say about this. Let’s have a look:

James 5:16 - 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.(NKJV)

We quote the latter part of this scripture a lot and forget the former. But actually the Bible talked about the effective fervent prayer in reference to praying for one another. In other words, when you say that heartfelt prayer for one another, it brings much power that is dynamic in its working. Do you see that? When I spend time praying for someone else, the prayers get answered, the person’s life gets changed and vice versa. This also means that a lot of the “problems” we face could be sorted not by our own prayers, but by the prayers of others.

Can you imagine that kind of life? Where you are so sure someone somewhere has got your back covered in prayers, just the way you are covering others? Life would be so much sweeter, as we would be more united. And unity fosters victory. You can be sure the devil would be "minced-meat" a lot faster! That is what I call true Christianity. Remembered Jesus prayed for peter.

I love this song by JUANITA BYNUM. It is titled “I need you” and best sums up this post. Listen, be blessed and honestly pray…..for others.

 
Shalom. By Dedy.