Sometimes people who pray for others forget that the best praying comes from the person seeking prayer.
Neil Anderson, author of Praying By The Power Of The Spirit, discovered this truth as a young pastor many years ago.
It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that people who minister to others in prayer have special access to God.
As a young pastor, Anderson would often pray for the person seeking his counseling, asking God's wisdom and direction for that individual.
He recalled sitting with one person in silence for 15 minutes, waiting for God's guidance.
"Then one day it dawned on me: Why should I ask for God's wisdom and direction on behalf of another person and then expect Him to tell me what the answer is? Why don't I encourage them to ask God for wisdom and direction?"
It is true, as Anderson notes, that an important part of prayer is praying for others. But there is no biblical basis for the person who is seeking prayer to remain silent while others pray for him or her.
"Children of God are invited to seek God themselves," says Anderson.
While he was teaching at Talbot School of Theology, a pastor asked him to counsel a young man who was hearing voices and suffering from many unresolved conflicts.
The pastor came with the young man and was delighted with the results of the three-hour counseling session - the young man left with no distracting voices or thoughts. Anderson says the "peace of God was now guarding his heart and his mind."
"Why? What had set this young man free was his prayers, not mine."
Sometimes, people ask others to pray for them because they feel God will not hear them because of their life-style or other moral issues.
Anderson says such people will get nowhere in their prayer lives if they hang on to their bitterness. But they will also not get around this problem by getting others to pray for them.
"The only effective prayer for [such people] is a prayer from their own repentant hearts."
"When Christians are encouraged to pray for God's guidance themselves," says Anderson, "the results are dramatic. The Lord brings godly sorrow, and the Holy Spirit leads them into all truth which is what sets them free."
It makes sense, too, when someone asks for prayer for a family member or friend. The person asking for prayer knows the family member or friend better than the pray-er and so can pray with greater insight.
I see this as a team approach: The prayer minister gladly joins in praying for the person seeking prayer and, at the same time, encourages him or her to pray for help from God, too.
God will always answer honest prayers, flowing from the heart.
Neil Anderson, author of Praying By The Power Of The Spirit, discovered this truth as a young pastor many years ago.
It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that people who minister to others in prayer have special access to God.
As a young pastor, Anderson would often pray for the person seeking his counseling, asking God's wisdom and direction for that individual.
He recalled sitting with one person in silence for 15 minutes, waiting for God's guidance.
"Then one day it dawned on me: Why should I ask for God's wisdom and direction on behalf of another person and then expect Him to tell me what the answer is? Why don't I encourage them to ask God for wisdom and direction?"
It is true, as Anderson notes, that an important part of prayer is praying for others. But there is no biblical basis for the person who is seeking prayer to remain silent while others pray for him or her.
"Children of God are invited to seek God themselves," says Anderson.
While he was teaching at Talbot School of Theology, a pastor asked him to counsel a young man who was hearing voices and suffering from many unresolved conflicts.
The pastor came with the young man and was delighted with the results of the three-hour counseling session - the young man left with no distracting voices or thoughts. Anderson says the "peace of God was now guarding his heart and his mind."
"Why? What had set this young man free was his prayers, not mine."
Sometimes, people ask others to pray for them because they feel God will not hear them because of their life-style or other moral issues.
Anderson says such people will get nowhere in their prayer lives if they hang on to their bitterness. But they will also not get around this problem by getting others to pray for them.
"The only effective prayer for [such people] is a prayer from their own repentant hearts."
"When Christians are encouraged to pray for God's guidance themselves," says Anderson, "the results are dramatic. The Lord brings godly sorrow, and the Holy Spirit leads them into all truth which is what sets them free."
It makes sense, too, when someone asks for prayer for a family member or friend. The person asking for prayer knows the family member or friend better than the pray-er and so can pray with greater insight.
I see this as a team approach: The prayer minister gladly joins in praying for the person seeking prayer and, at the same time, encourages him or her to pray for help from God, too.
God will always answer honest prayers, flowing from the heart.
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