It’s funny how God’s timing works sometimes. We’re continuing our series on BFFs (biblical friends forever), and this week, we’re exploring how true BFFs share your load. What does that mean, exactly?
It means, they pray for you.
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal. 6:2).
This is a touchy subject for me because I’ll be the first to admit that prayer does not come naturally for me. (Can I admit that here?) I know a lot of people who are natural “prayer warriors” and I aspire to be like that some day. But for now, I still struggle with it. My inclination is to “do” instead of pray.
But years ago I was very convicted about something specific about my prayer life. I caught myself telling someone “I’ll pray for you,” knowing full well that I probably wouldn’t.
How hypocritical.
God gave me a holy talking-to that day and now I do not throw those words around loosely. If I see a need on Facebook or through email and want to encourage my friend with those sweet words “Praying for you!” I do it right then. I don’t put it on a list for later. I promised it. I do it.
And recently it seems I have so many friends who need prayers. One has lupus. One’s son has leukemia. One just lost her three-day-old daughter. One is about to make a cross-country move from New York to Hawaii. One’s marriage is falling apart. Two are pregnant after struggles with infertility.
The list goes on.
But there is one person in the Bible who I look to when it comes to praying for my friends. He’s this week’s biblical role model of a great friend, and you probably haven’t thought of him in this light before: Paul.
You know, the guy who used to persecute Christians? You wouldn’t think he’d turn into a great friend, but he did. When you read the letters he wrote to the various churches he visited, he often mentions how he is praying for those he met. He is genuinely concerned about their spiritual growth and prays for them with prayers that address their current situations.
I’ve often used these prayers for my friends (and my kids and my family members) when my own words seem inadequate. I go to Paul’s prayers and I use them as a guideline for my own.
Perhaps they will help you too. Here are four prayers I’ve formed from Paul’s. Just insert the name of your friend in the blank and lift her up to the Lord whenever He prompts you.
Forget the friendship necklace. This is what your BFFs really need!
I pray for ____________, that out of Your glorious riches You may strengthen her with power through Your Spirit in her inner being, so that You, Jesus, may dwell in her heart through faith. And I pray that she, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is Your love, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that she may be filled to the measure of all the fullness in You. (Eph. 3:16-19)
And this is my prayer for __________: that her love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that she may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. That she would be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes only through You, Jesus—all to Your glory and praise. (Phil 1:9-11)
I want to lift up ____________ to you. I pray you would fill her with the knowledge of your will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And I pray this in order that she may live a life worthy of you and may please you in every way: that she will bear fruit in every good work, that she will grow in the knowledge of you, that she will be strengthened with all power according to your glorious might so that she may have great endurance and patience, and that she would joyfully give thanks to you, who have qualified her to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. (Col. 1:9-12)
With this in mind, I constantly pray for ___________, that You may count her worthy of Your calling, and that by Your power You may fulfill every good purpose of hers and every act prompted by her faith. I pray this so that Your name, Lord Jesus, may be glorified in her, and her in You, according to Your grace. (2 Thes 1:11-12)
Q: How do you pray for your friends?
Read the entire BFF Series:
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