Why It Matters When Others Pray For You

I am always getting requests to pray for people, and I am thankful for it. We are a praying Church and I am glad when people share what is going on in their lives so that we can better pray for them. It encourages me that people trust us enough to share their struggles and believe that we will call on the name of the Lord for them…and indeed we do.

But there is another group of people I am thinking of…and it is those who find it difficult or strange to ask anyone to pray for them. I understand this. It can be intimidating…even embarrassing to ask for prayer. Yet there are some wonderful things that happen when we ask for prayer. My aim in writing this is to show you those Biblical benefits when we engage in prayer for each other. This is why it matters when others pray for you.

#1. Because it Produces Strength
We are not as strong as we sometime thing we are. God has not designed any of us to shoulder the burdens of life alone. When you try to do life by yourself and rely on your strength alone, you will find the journey far more weighty and difficult than it is meant to be. God has designed His people to help one another. Consider the wisdom of Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

#2. Because it Produces Humility
It is humbling to ask others to pray for you…and that is a good thing. Many of us feel the need to show ourselves to the world as someone who is in control and can handle anything life throws at us. When in reality, it is not our strength the Lord wants people to see. Instead, it is the strength of the Lord that should be on display. That strength is only available through humble praying.

So this is a good question to ask yourself. Do others see my strength or the strength of the Lord? Do you remember what the Lord taught Paul concerning his weaknesses? Once the Lord showed him the purpose of his weakness, Paul could then embrace weakness because he understood it was really producing strength…the kind of strength the Lord shares with the humble. Read carefully 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

#3. Because it Produces Accountability
James 5 teaches that if anyone suffers, they should pray. But it goes further by linking praying for one another with confessing our sins to one another. Now that may be one of the most uncomfortable Scriptures in the Bible. But do not neglect its value.

Do you have people in your life that you can trust to share your faults with? To ask them to pray for you and help keep you accountable. If you are someone who consistently struggles with the same temptation and the same failure, what you may be missing is someone to hold you accountable. We all need those people who will ask us the the hard questions. When you have someone not only praying for you, but walking with you through the sins that so easily ensnare us, it can be the difference between success and failure.

#4. Because it Produces Love for One Another
When I search the phrase, “Love one another” in the Bible, I do not find any scriptures in the Old Testament commanding this. However, there are multiple New Testament Scriptures. Why? Because Jesus told us this is a new commandment for His people.

Note John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” When I read this, I think of how I come to love many of the people I know. So often, it my love for people deepens by praying for them. See, it is through prayer that the Lord will so often develop a burden and a care for those I am praying for. Who are you burdened for? Who are you praying for? This is one of the many ways the Holy Spirit produces more love in our hearts for one another.

How Can I Pray for You? God has not called His people to be an island unto themselves. No! We are the Body of Christ. We are joined together, united through the Holy Spirit. Perhaps your are someone who needs prayer, but it is difficult for you to ask. I hope you will consider why it is important to ask others to pray for you. I hope you can see what the things it produces in your life. It may take putting your pride to the side. It may cause you to feel vulnerable. It may be humbling…but it is what God has designed and commanded that we pray for one another.