Pray for One Another

When we have opportunities as believers in Christ to go before the Father on behalf of others, we can be faithful and responsible to pray for them.  And, sometimes we will be directed by the Holy Spirit
to pray for someone personally, one-on-one, maybe even face-to-face. Jesus taught in Matthew 18:
18 Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

There is great power as a child of God comes before the Father in the name of Jesus.  And, that is multiplied as we pray with others.  I think it can also be meaningful to another person to know that he or she is prayed for and perhaps prayed with.  When we call on the Lord together - in agreement - we can grow in confidence and unite in faith.  We can make sure that we are faithful to pray in response to those who share their requests with us.

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We have been given the enormous opportunity and responsibility to bear the burdens of another and 

to lift others in prayer. James chapter 5 states:

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. 

17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

This past Monday, June 29, was commemorated as the Day of the Christian Martyr, an effort in which Voice of the Martyrs participated.  It is designed to call attention to the persecution of Christians around the world. The ministry website shared a story the other day about a doctor in Australia who prayed with a patient.  It says:

The patient, a Christian teenager, who suffers from anxiety was admitted to emergency following a severe panic attack.

The patient’s father asked the doctor if he would talk to her and also pray with her. The patient gave her permission.

The following week, the patient’s mother, who is separated from the father, contacted the hospital and filed the complaint against the doctor. He is currently under investigation.

The ministry organization asks for prayer in this instance.

And, the Daily Mail website shared the story from a few months back; some good news about another doctor who prayed with a patient.  The article says:

A Christian doctor who risked losing his job for offering to pray with patients has been cleared of any wrongdoing after being subjected to a three-month probe over an anonymous complaint.

Dr Richard Scott, 59, was investigated after the National Secular Society (NSS) claimed that a 'highly vulnerable' patient 'felt discomfort at the use of prayer'.

The case was taken up by the General Medical Council, despite the NSS admitting it did not know who the complainant was and that they had received the allegations second hand.

According to the story, in a radio interview, Dr. Scott "spoke about how he sometimes used his faith to help patients with depression and anxiety."  He said, "I always go through three elements: does somebody need tablets, would someone benefit from counselling, and as an option I offer the possibility of Christianity..."  He related that a lady had "converted to Christianity" the week before the interview.

The doctor had been contacted by the General Medical Council, or GMC.  The Daily Mail reported:

He welcomed the ruling but slammed the GMC for taking on the 'extraordinary' case.

'The GMC should have seen this as a vexatious complaint, i.e. from someone with an axe to grind,' he said. 'It should never have escalated.

'They could have contacted me and I would have written back and it would have been over and done with - instead quite extraordinarily they took it to the very top level of fitness to practice.

'I'm glad they came up with the right answer.'

The article quotes Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, who said: "The outcome of this case not only gives reassurance to Christian doctors and professionals across the UK that they can share their faith in the workplace, but also clear guidance on how they can share it without fear of losing their jobs."

I am thankful for medical professionals who take a holistic approach, who recognize that there is a spiritual element that can be deployed in health matters.  They see beyond the temporal or physical and embrace the power of prayer.  In obedience to the Holy Spirit, we can make sure that we are sensitive to open doors to pray with or for somebody.  Some settings are more conducive than others, so discretion is important, but we know that we serve a powerful God, who desires to show Himself faithful...

...and it can mean so much to a person to know that he or she is being prayed for.  At Faith Radio, our staff meets every weekday morning to pray for a variety of requests - a number of them are health-related, but there are so many others as well.  Our ministry team also sends out cards that let people know they are the recipients of prayer.

When the impossible comes and/or discouragement sets in, we can look to God for answers and for hope.  Our agreement in prayer can help to shift our focus and raise our expectations.  Even when the answer doesn't come when or how we think it should, still we can find encouragement and peace to know that God is with us and we can relate that presence to another person, including someone who doesn't know Him.