Three words that can mean so very much to a heavy, hurting heart in a world full of care and stress.
How many times has someone told you that they were praying for you? How many times have you told someone that you were praying for them? How many times did they or you really pray as promised?
Even when the promise to pray is not kept; those three words bless weary souls. How much bigger the blessing when the promise to pray is actually meant and practiced?
In I Samuel 12:20-25, Samuel warned the people of Israel to continue turning aside from empty things of life and serve the Lord with all their heart, because the Lord had chosen them to be a people for Himself. Then Samuel adds this: “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should ‘sin’ against ‘the Lord’ by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and right way.”
- The things of this world are empty, without profit and deliverance; they cannot fulfill the desire of the human soul to connect to God.
- God created Israel, and He created you and I for Himself; and He has done great things for each of us, which should motivate us to serve the Lord faithfully.
- Samuel, as the Prophet and Judge of Israel, considered it his duty to ‘pray for Israel’; and if he failed to do so, he considered it a ‘sin’ against the Lord.
Job’s fortunes were restored when he prayed for his friends who had falsely accused him. (Job 42:10)
Paul instructed Timothy, as a young preacher, to make supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for all people. (I Timothy 2:1)
James teaches us to ‘confess’ our own sins, and then to pray for one another, that our health may be restored. (James 5:16)
Jesus taught us to love our enemies, and to pray for those who persecute us, because He makes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and the rain to fall on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:43-45)
Paul said that we are members of the Body of Christ. (I Corinthians 12:27, Ephesian 5:30)
When a virus or a disease attacks our bodies, our immune system defends us against millions of bacteria, microbes, viruses, toxins, and parasites. Just think of what happens to the body once it dies. Once a body dies, its immune system shuts down; and all kinds of bacteria and parasites attack the body and take it back to dust.
When you get a cut, all sorts of bacteria enter your body through the break in the skin. A splinter is a foreign object inside your body; and your immune system responds immediately. Inflammation and pus show us that something is wrong and needs attention to restore health.
A cold or flu is a visible sign that your immune system is working to battle the germs that you have breathed into your lungs. A mosquito bite itches and turns red, showing your immune system is working. Germs in food die in our saliva or stomach acid and never cause us food poisoning.
You could say our immune system is praying for us each second of each and every day of our lives.
There are 100 billion cells in the brain, and that many more in the human body. It is interesting that our cells produce biophotons, which are optical or ultraviolet photons. Scientists have found that biophotons in a growing plant increases the rate of cell division or growth in other plants as much as 30%.
This ‘light’ is 1000 times less intense than the naked human eye can detect. Researchers have found that the body glow rises and falls during the day, indicating that light emission is linked to the body clock and its metabolic rhythms fluctuating during the course of a day. Faces glow more because of the exposure to sunlight.
We Westerners have relegated talk about energy and light auras to Eastern or New Age teachings, but now scientists are finding that there is indeed an energy flowing from your cells, through your blood, into all of your tissues and organs.
If we remove the connection of the New Age and Eastern stigma for this knowledge, and examine it through the eyes of Scripture and the Truth that is in Jesus Christ, we come to the realization that there is power and healing in the act of praying for others, and others praying for us.
Jesus said that He is the Light of the world. (John 8:12) Later, He told the disciples and, thus, those who believe in Him as their Savior, that we are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14-16) John says that God is Light and that there is no darkness in Him at all. (I John 1:5)
In the beginning the world was full of darkness, and then God said, “Let there be ‘Light’!”
Jesus came to earth as God manifested in the flesh, and thus as the Light of the world. He breathed onto His disciples and commanded them to receive the Holy Spirit, which is Light flowing from God into our human spirits. (John 20:22)
Jesus informed His disciples that when The Comforter came to them, they would be clothed with ‘power’, or ‘energy’, from on high. (Luke 24:49)
“When the Day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.” (Acts 2:1-2)
The devil takes that which is good and corrupts it. It takes that which is truth, and twists it into a web of deceit. The fact that there are counterfeit hundred dollar bills proves that there are genuine hundred dollar bills also. The devil cannot create; he can only duplicate and imitate what God has already created for good.
Samuel said that he needed to pray for his people Israel, as obedience to his God, and as a means of instructing them in the good and right way. His praying released the energy and light of the Holy Spirit upon his life as a prophet and as a judge, into the minds and hearts of the children of Israel. The Holy Spirit brought illumination and instruction, guidance and provision, protection and deliverance, as the children of Israel chose to respond and obey God’s teachings.
Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, He teaches us about Jesus Christ, and what is sin, what is righteous, and warns of the coming judgment when we all will stand before our Judge and Creator. (John 16:2,8)
Laban told Jacob that he was blessed by God because of him being in his life. (Genesis 30:27)
The face of Moses radiated a light so bright, from being in the Presence of God on Mt. Sinai, that he had to put a veil over his face to be able to communicate with the children of Israel. (Exodus 34:29-35)
Old timers told stories of a Glory Cloud hovering over worship services as the people prayed and worshipped God. People who pray hours at a time have a radiance about their countenance, and a peace that surrounds them, from spending time alone with God. David prayed for God to lift up the ‘Light of His countenance’ upon him and Israel. (Psalm 4:6)
When we spend time alone with God, He releases His Light, which is energy within us, and just as the blood carries life to all the tissues and organs of our bodies, so the Holy Spirit carries His Light and power throughout our spirit and soul, refreshing us and giving us new strength and hope and spiritual health that also blesses our physical bodies and those around us.
So the next time you say that you are going to pray for someone, actually take a few minutes to pause and say a prayer for them, with the knowledge that you are indeed releasing the light and power of the Holy Spirit to bless and intervene in their life. And when someone says they are praying for you, pause and thank God for their prayers, and receive the light and power from Him to carry on in the face of difficulty.
Praying is as simple as shutting out the distractions around you, opening your mouth, and saying what is on your heart to God, knowing that He understands when you can’t even find the right words to pray. (Romans 8:26) Sometimes, all we can do is groan, and even then God uses it to bless others and ourselves.
Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest to your souls. (Matthew 11:28)
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength and mount up with wings as eagles! (Isaiah 40:31)
I’m praying for you, and I ask that you pray for me, without ceasing. The more prayers for each other, the more protection we have against the darkness that is trying to overtake our world. When Christ returns, there will be light shining forth from Jerusalem that the whole world will be drawn to, and animals will not harm, and mankind will beat their swords into plowshares. He is the Light of the World, and we are the biophotons of His Spiritual Body. I am blessed because of your prayers, and I trust that you will be blessed because of my prayers for you.