Tips When Praying for Others

Over the years I've prayed for and ministered to a lot of people.  It's something I love doing. 
Here are a few suggestions when praying for other people:

Pray appropriately.

Different situations demand different prayers. You would probably pray differently for a stranger in the mall than you would a close friend at a home group.

Call to mind the person's worth.

Remember, Jesus left His place in heaven and came to earth as a babe in a stable for this very person.

You are a minister of the new covenant.

We are called by God to be bearers of glad tidings, ambassadors of His kingdom, and ministers of His new covenant. (II Cor. 3:6)

Pray with faith the things you "know".

As you begin to pray, pray what you know in your heart, as little or as much as that may be.

Leave out your opinion.

Ask God to make it clear to you what He is saying to the person.

Don't be surprised by opposition from the enemy.

Realize there is a spiritual war going on. Often there will be distractions that try to draw away your attention or the person's you are praying for. Keep focused!

You don't have anything to prove.

Just pray and don't feel like you have to apologize or explain if it "doesn't work". Leave the results to Him

The person should leave feeling loved.

If the person leaves your presence feeling loved, you can't go wrong.

Remember, it is always right to pray.

Take back whats stolen; restore whats been ruined

A friend asked me some questions about future events and what I thought was going to happen.  As I later re-read my answer to him I realized it reflected some of my core beliefs: 

1) we are to do the work of the Kingdom until he returns… and that’s all that really matters about ‘dates & times” and 

2) we are called to ‘take back’ what the enemy has stolen and restore what he’s ruined.
 Here is part of that conversation:

(his questions are italicized)

Do you believe something big is coming soon? 

Define ‘something big’ and ‘soon’ J… see below.  Without a doubt, we live in the ‘end times’ as both Paul and John said.  I do think there will be larger and larger events that happen… which I believe are opportunities for the church to demonstrate Christ-likeness.

Has God shown you anything along those lines? 

In 1983 I had a vision where Jesus actually appeared to me. It was a life changing event. “I’m coming soon” was His literal words.  In the vision I saw many ‘end-time’ things, some very disturbing.  As you can imagine I felt ‘soon’ meant in the next month or two.  Now I understand that ‘soon’ in light of eternity may be different than my understanding BUT [this is key for you] he’s making it feel urgent to you for a reason!  What that reason is, is what you need to figure out.

If so, do you believe that the Church can turn it around, or is it inevitable? 

I believe the church is to do the work of the Kingdom (ie preach the Gospel, heal the sick, release the captives, etc) until He returns. Period.  Good times, bad times, doesn’t matter.  So we must be about our business whether the economy we live in is in a depression or a bull market, or if we’re at war or peace.  The church is called to ‘take back’ what the enemy has stolen and restore what he’s ruined.  It gets back to the core theology of the Kingdom.  At least as I understand it. Geo. E Ladd’s theo textbook is the classic on this and the way I understand and view the coming of the Kingdom.  That shapes my view of everything from healing and deliverance to eschatology.  We’ll discuss this more sometime…    

...by the glory of the Father: Romans 6:4

Something I've never noticed in this verse before but the Holy Spirit highlighted to me recently... 

 ^"...just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father..."
Rom 6:4


In the Old Testament we see God's glory mentioned often:

• As God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt his manifest glory protected them in 'a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.'  
• it covered Mount Sinai when Moses went up to get the 10 commandments
• at the dedication of the temple Solomon built it was so think the priests couldn't minister but had to go outside

The glory was the tangible, visible presence of God and can be seen as part of his covenant love. It was God's covenant love that brought the people of Israel up out of Egypt.  It was his presence that protected and led them.


Fast forward to the Resurrection of Jesus and according to Paul in Romans we see that same covenant love in action; the saving, delivering power of God's glory as the power that raised Jesus from the dead.