Who is on Your Prayer List?

Prayer is the greatest form of communication to ever exist. Without a doubt, phones are useful, it is nice and comforting to receive a letter, and text messages are convenient, but the truth is, all of those things pale in comparison to prayer. After all, prayer is a direct line of communication with the Lord (Matt. 6:9), prayer is something that God wants to hear (1 Pet. 5:7), and prayer is effective (James 5:16). Every aspect of prayer elevates it to the highest and greatest form of communication. With that being the case, we would be wise to ask the question, “Who is on our prayer list?”. What does our communication with God look like from a day-to-day basis? Certainly, there are a number of things that could and should be mentioned in our prayers, but let’s consider four groups of people every Christian should add to their prayer list.

First, every Christian should pray for their brethren. In Colossians 1:3 Paul said, “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.” In the book following he would say, “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers” (1 Thess. 1:2). Truly, when we examine the New Testament, we notice it was a common practice to pray for the brethren. The question is, could the same be said of us?

Second, every Christian should pray for those who are sick. When you think about it, the sick are probably the most common individuals on our prayer lists. Every week the sick are listed in the bulletin, their names are mentioned from the pulpit, and updates are given regularly. Therefore, it’s no surprise at all we pray for those who are sick, but did you know this is a Biblical principle? In James 5:13 the Bible says, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.” A verse later the text would say, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him” (James 5:14). Praying for those who are sick is good in the eyes of God, and its something we need to make a practice of in our everyday life.

Third, every Christian should have the government officials on their prayer list. In 1 Timothy 2:1, 2 Paul said, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” It would be fair to say, the government officials are probably not the first ones we would add to the prayer list, but God says differently. Christians are to be those who pray for their government, and notice it doesn’t matter who is in authority. You see, whether we agree with the president or not, we need to be praying for him.

Finally, every Christian needs to pray for their enemies. In Matthew 5:44 Jesus says, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” More than likely, we do not have many enemies in our lives like the ones Jesus is referring to. However, there are people who do not like us, and there are some who do not have good relationship with us, and Jesus says we need to pray for these people too.

Prayer is the greatest form of communication to ever exist, yet we often do not utilize it to its full potential. Who is on your prayer list? As Christians we need to make sure we pray for our brethren, the sick, the government, and our enemies to pray the way God intended.