Category Archives: Interceding for Others

Interceding for Others

Prayer Challenge: Set People Free From Their Own Anger And Bitterness

We are continuing our weekly extra post on Fridays. Today I am challenging each of you to join me in a prayer challenge. Please read along to find out more.

For much of my life I have underestimated the importance and power of specific, righteous prayer for individuals and groups of people that need help to be set free from slavery to sin and deception. As I continue to grow in my walk with Jesus, I become more and more aware of how important prayer is and intercessory prayer on behalf of others in particular.

Over the past few weeks I have encountered multiple individuals that have basically been hostile toward me for no justifiable reason, other than their own bitterness and hatred. They are like a volcano looking for an excuse to erupt. The anger and bitterness they hold consumes them and suffocates their joy. It creates separation between them and God and between them and other people who might actually want to be courteous and kind to them.

I would love to say that I have a wonderful and pure response each time someone unleashes their anger at me, but I do not. I have found myself having to deliberately fight my sinful, selfish desires to respond to their hostility in kind… to “win” on the issue. Instead I have swallowed hard, sought guidance and patience in God’s word, and determined to answer in a way that is more in accordance with God’s word, but requires humility instead of pride on my part. Praise God that I was able to do so on the last few rounds. It has not always been that way for me.

As I experienced both of the recent incidents aimed at me, I found myself remembering times in the past when I acted with similar unwarranted hostility and anger toward others. It was sobering to admit that I had come from that place and realize that I must continue to choose Christ daily to avoid sliding back to that place. I must exert willpower to respond God’s way rather than allow myself to backslide to respond to hostility in kind. I am a work in progress… and always will be. Praise God for bringing me this far.

I invite each of you this week to think about someone that you know struggles with anger and bitterness in their life. Please lift them up to the Lord in prayer every day this week as often as you feel you can. Pray not for revenge or to be proven right … pray instead for them to be set free from bondage to anger and bitterness. Pray for God to do a work in them… not for your glory but for God’s glory. Pray for them by name. They may never even know you prayed for them, but God does… and a righteous prayer matters to God. It can be powerful.

Pray in the name of our gracious Lord, Jesus Christ.

May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with all of you!

To pray with us regarding additional prayer requests or submit a prayer request, please visit our website Prayer Requests section.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? If you die today, do you know for sure that you would be with God in heaven? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Interceding for Others

Prayer Request: God, Please Open The Eyes Of the Deceived

We are continuing our weekly extra post on Fridays. We have now expanded from “HFJ News”, providing updates and information about our website and other online resources, to also include prayer requests from our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

I am grieved that so many allow themselves to be deceived by the world, by Satan, that homosexual behavior is to be accepted and considered normal. Scripture could not be more clear, but even some who read and respect scripture allow themselves to be deceived on this point. It is a despicable sin according to the Bible and clearly destructive toward what God calls us to do. Many are allowing themselves to be separated by God through unrepentant sin. Please pray with me for God to open the eyes of the world and those who choose this behavior so that they would recognize it as sin and repent. Pray further that true Christians would receive all people who pursue the truth of Christ with open arms to share the good news of Christ. Help us as followers of Jesus to show love to others without compromising the truth of God’s word. Our only true enemy is Satan, himself. May God set people free from Satan’s deception in this area and may they find God’s open arms waiting to welcome them to Him once they repent of their wrong behavior and turn toward Him.

Pray in the name of our gracious Lord, Jesus Christ.

May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with all of you!

To learn more about what God says about homosexual behavior in the Bible, visit HFJ website devotional category Homosexual Behavior.

To pray with us regarding additional prayer requests or submit a prayer request, please visit our website Prayer Requests section.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? If you die today, do you know for sure that you would be with God in heaven? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Interceding for Others

Pray for Rejoicen Salvation in Trinity Orphanage in Nepal

We are continuing our weekly extra post on Fridays. We have now expanded from “HFJ News”, providing updates and information about our website and other online resources, to also include specific prayer requests for our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

This week I would like to ask for your support in praying for our Christian brothers and sisters in Nepal. In particular there is a Christian orphanage named Rejoicen Slavationin Trinity Orphanage. Not only are there specific needs for operating the orphanage and taking care of the children, but they face persecution against Christianity. There is concern that Nepal will not remain a secular nation and instead fall back to being a Hindu Kingdom. Pray with us that God would lift up His people in Nepal and encourage and strengthen them… that He would provide and protect them. Pray in the name of our gracious Lord, Jesus Christ.

Thank You!

May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with all of you!

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? If you die today, do you know for sure that you would be with God in heaven? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Faith / Trusting God, Interceding for Others, Peace / Rest, Prayer, Righteousness / Serving God, Salvation, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, Study the Word

Prepare for Battle – Know The Enemy

In Ephesians 6:10-18 Paul provides us important guidance about the reality of spiritual warfare.  Too often Christians dismiss spiritual warfare and focus only on the things we can see and touch. This leaves us vulnerable to Satan’s attacks. If we do not recognize the true enemy, we will struggle to win against him.

      10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,  15and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

      18With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Some key points upon which to reflect:

  • Our strength comes from the Lord, not ourselves
  • The devil is real and he has strategies he uses to lie, cheat and destroy. He will use more than one strategy against us.
  • Warfare does not always take place in physical world, sometimes it is in the spiritual world. Don’t believe me? Read the book of Job.
  • Just putting on one or two pieces of the armor of God is not enough, we need to put on all of them.
  • Prayer and a relationship with Jesus is necessary! Jesus tells us to pray daily and to pray specifically to not let us yield to temptation, and to be rescued from the evil one. Matthew 6:9-13
  • We are to stay alert and pray for others in addition to ourselves. Pray for those preach the gospel that they would preach boldly!

Let’s explore what it really means to put on the full armor of God.

Truth can simply be defined as the real facts about something.  Surprisingly the world today proposes that truth is relative when it comes to God or how we live… “True for you but not for me”, etc. This is no more accurate than saying “If I do not believe in gravity, I will not fall off a ladder.” Gravity is true whether or not I believe in or accept it. God lovingly and in great detail shares truth in the Bible and reveals it in the world around us. There is absolute truth.

Righteousness is characterized by living consistently with God’s standards of morality, justice, virtue, etc. As God’s standard is Himself, it is a lofty bar. We will never achieve it to perfection but He is the standard and reference point none the less. We should keep our eyes on Jesus and keep changing to be more like Him.

The peace that comes from knowing the good news is not a promise that we will avoid conflicts and trials, but rather an affirmation that when we have relationship with Jesus Christ we know He is with us in this life and that we have eternal life on the other side of this world. We can have peace through the mightiest storms.

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Hebrews 11:1. In this context Paul reminds us that we must trust in God even when we are under attack by Satan. Just because we can not recognize how God is working in the situation does not mean that He is not there. We can be confident He is with us.

Salvation is deliverance from sin and its consequences, which is death. It is not enough to know or acknowledge Jesus Christ. Even Satan and his demons due that. By asking and accepting Jesus into our  lives and repenting from our sinful ways we receive salvation through grace.

The sword of the spirit, or word of God, is what Jesus Himself used to defeat Satan when He was tempted in the wilderness. Matthew 4:1-11. We must know the word of God before the attack comes just as a soldier must train and be prepared before he goes to battle.

To be effective we must understand and use all of this equipment daily. It ceases to become “something we do” and becomes “how we do everything” in our lives.

Remember to heed Paul’s warning and guidance for prayer. The battle is not ours alone, but the Lord’s!

      18With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? If you die today, do you know for sure that you would be with God in heaven? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

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Interceding for Others, Prayer

Where Two Or Three Gather As My Followers, I Am There Among Them

Continuing in Matthew 18 where Jesus was speaking about how to confront a fellow believer when they sin, Jesus provides strong encouragement to come together as believers and pray.

Matthew 18:19

19 “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 For where two or three gather together as my followers,[h] I am there among them.”

God puts special emphasis on the value of believers coming together to seek Him in intercessory prayer. We need not have big numbers to be important… even two or three is sufficient. From broader context of scripture we should remind ourselves not to take the statement too literally. God’s power is not a vending machine that we can all bring our selfish desires to in order to get what we want.

However, the prayer of a righteous person will be consistent with and reflect the will of God and will be answered even though sometimes it is not answered in the specific manner we expect. When we are seeking Him, submitting to Him, and praying for help to walk in His will and accomplish His goals then He will provide what we need, no matter how big the need.

I challenge each of you, and I am taking the challenge myself also, to seek more opportunity to come together and pray in small groups for our needs and desires but also for God’s will to be lived and His name to be honored through the lives of believers across the world.

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