PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE | 10 Minutes TO POWERFUL PRAYER by STORMIE OMARTIAN

Prayer Focus 8

PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE

In each of our lives there are so many people who need prayer that it is hard to remember to pray for them all each day. I find that the best way to do this is to start praying for the people closest to you—your immediate family and friends. Then move beyond them to your extended family and acquaintances. Pray for the people you will see in your day or week—the people at work, at church, and at the stores or offices where you go. Ask God to bring to mind anyone who especially needs your prayers, and He will remind you of someone you might not have otherwise thought of to pray for.

Below is a list of people that will help you remember those you may want to pray for today. Don’t let this list become intimidating because it is not necessary to pray for every person each day. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you as you choose which ones to pray for and when. This list will help you to think of those who might need prayer more than others, and it will enable you to remember someone you might otherwise have forgotten. There is space below for you to write in any other people you especially want to

bring before the throne of God.

People in My Life Who Need Prayer

“Lord, today I pray for…” my husband/my wife my mother/my father my brother/my sister my son/my daughter my grandchildren my stepchildren

my son-in-law/my daughter-in-law my mother-in-law/my father-in-law my aunt/my uncle my cousins

my roommate

my close friends

my acquaintances/my casual friends my extended family members my neighbors

my pastor and church leaders the people I work with the people I see in my day

the people at the appointments I keep the people at my church

the people who are difficult to deal with the person I dread seeing

the person I find hard to talk to

the people I am aware of who need help the people I know of who need healing the people I’ve heard about on the news the person who is most on my heart today Other:

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

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Once you have prayed about a person, release him or her into God’s hands. That doesn’t mean you don’t pray about him or her again when you think of that person, but give yourself some moments of relief from that burden on your heart. Enjoy the peace of knowing you have surrendered that person and situation to God and He has heard your prayers and will answer in His way and His time.

If you ever find yourself becoming impatient when you don’t see your prayers for other people answered as fast as you would like, keep in mind that you are interceding for someone who has a will and a destiny separate from yours. Remember that you are partnering with God to see His will done. It’s your job to pray, and it’s God’s job to answer. You just need to do your job and let God do His. Trust Him to answer your prayers for others in the time and way He decides.

Good relationships are important to each of us. They build us up and edify us. They keep us balanced and accountable. It is not healthy to be isolated. You need people in your life who will stand with you and by you. You need solid relationships where the good in them rubs off o n you, and the good in you affects them in that same way.

Five Reasons Why I Need Good, Godly Friends

I need to know that someone loves me.

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17).

I need to learn how to be a good friend to others. “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).

I need someone I can go to for advice.

“Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel” (Proverbs 27:9).

I need someone who can help in times of trouble. “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up

his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

I need people with whom we can be good for one another.

“As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” (Proverbs 27:17).

In order to have good friends and relationships, we have t o be a good friend in a relationship. There are certain ways God wants us to conduct ourselves with people that always reap great rewards. When we relate to others the way the Bible instructs us to, we are investing in these valuable relationships.

Seven Ways I Should Relate to the People in My Life

Lord, help me to relate to others with love.

“Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22).

Lord, help me to relate to others with affection.

“Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another”

(Romans 12:10).

Lord, help me to relate to others with compassion. “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous” (1 Peter 3:8).

Lord, help me to relate to others with care.

“There should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another” (1 Corinthians 12:25).

Lord, help me to relate to others with a servant’s heart.

“You, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13).

Lord, help me to relate to others with forgiveness and kindness.

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).

Lord, help me to relate to others with peace.

“Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have

peace with one another” (Mark 9:50).

Good relationships are crucial to your well-being, but they can be too easily destroyed or damaged. I have found that it is much easier to protect them in prayer than to try to repair them after the damage has already been done. However, God can restore a relationship that has been strained, injured, or broken when you pray about it. If there is a problem in any relationship you have, or there is one that gives you great concern, ask God to help you reconcile your differences and bring healing.

Don’t leave any of your relationships to chance. Pray about each one. Bring them before the throne of God. And pray for those who are difficult to love as well. Remember, you always grow to love the people you pray for. As you pray, God gives you His heart of love for them.

PRAYER POWER

Lord, help me to always have compassion and love in my heart for others. Help me to treat everyone with affection, kindness, and care. Give me a servant’s heart. Help me to forgive easily and quickly. Enable me to be a peace-maker in every relationship that I have—especially with the people I live with or am closest to.

Lord, I lift up to You my family members. Specifically, I

pray                                                                               for

_______________________________________________

________________________________________________

I lift up to You my friends and acquaintances. I especially want to pray for ________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

I   also  lift   up   to   You   the   people  at   my   work:

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

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I  lift  up  to  You  the  people I   will  see  in  my   day:

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

The     person    most    on    my     heart     today    is:

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

For       that       person       I        want        to       pray

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

I lift all of these people to You and ask You to bless them today with Your love, peace, health, prosperity, and success. Pour out Your Spirit upon them and help them to know You better.

Lord, show me if I have any feelings toward anyone that are less than forgiving. Specifically I pray about

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

I confess any unforgiveness I have in me as sin. Deliver me and keep me free of all unforgiveness.

Lord, I ask that Your peace would reign in my most difficult or troubling relationships. Help us to come to a place of peace and unity. Where there has been a misunderstanding, I pray that You would bring clarity and reconciliation. Help me to be Your light to anyone who

doesn’t    know    You.     Specifically,   I     pray     for

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

Open this person’s heart to receive You.

Help me to choose my friends wisely. Give me discernment so that I can separate myself from someone who is dangerous or will be a bad influence. Bless every

relationship I have. Help me to be a good influence on all who know me. Teach me to be a good friend to others. Help me to never leave my relationships to chance, but to pray about them instead.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

WORD POWER

The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray. PROVERBS 12:26

Bear one another’s burdens, and

so fulfill the law of Christ.

GALATIANS 6:2

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should

sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. 1 SAMUEL 12:23

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. JAMES 5:16

Do not enter the path of the wicked, and

do not walk in the way of evil.

PROVERBS 4:14

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with

lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?

• CORINTHIANS 6:14-15

If there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. PHILIPPIANS 2:1-4