Who do you pray for? What do you pray?

Who do you pray for? What do you pray? These can seem simple questions. But in many ways these questions are deep matters of faith. Perhaps the first prayers on my lips each day are for those in trouble, or who are ill. I pray for the church of God, and these days I pray specifically for St. John Lutheran during its vacancy and search for a new pastor. I pray for our leaders, civil and spiritual leaders. I pray for friends, and also for those who might be considered enemies. I go fervently to God concerning my own life of faith as a child of God. But, most of all I pray for my family, and loved ones.

When I pray for my children and grandchildren, and for those I love, my primary prayer is for faith in Jesus. I want them to know that Jesus is their Savior. I want my children to know that Jesus lived for them, died for them, and rose again. My desire is that they know God’s grace in and through the joys and the trials of life. My hope is to live in heaven with my loved ones.

But, when I pray for loved ones to know Jesus, what do these prayers look like? I was intrigued in recent weeks by a verse from Psalm 119. This Psalm tells the life story of a Jewish man of faith through the struggles of his journey as a child of God. As I read this Psalm, the writer makes statements of commitment, promising to serve the Lord faithfully. But there are also times of struggle. In the middle of this journey of faith, the Psalmist declares, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” (Psalm 119:71) No one ever wants struggles or afflictions. When we go through trials of health, or struggles in relationships, or when we suffer times of doubt in our faith, we often find ourselves in anguish because of the affliction. But, as we continue to cry to the Lord, He uses our struggles to strengthen us. That is what the Psalmist is saying.

I do NOT pray that God brings struggles on those I love. But, we are sinful people in a world of sin. We all face failure, pain, and suffering. We all need forgiveness. These life struggles point us to our real help, to our Lord and Savior. Our afflictions point us to the cross of Jesus! And, God works in our lives through these afflictions to teach us, to guide us, and to strengthen us.

Recently, in one of my morning devotions, as I was thinking about praying for others, I was encouraged to read from 1 Peter 1. God moved Peter to write to believers in Jesus who had been scattered throughout the Mediterranean world. These people of faith had faced trials and needed encouragement. Please read with me, Peter’s opening words. “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

I do NOT pray that those I love face trials in their lives. In fact, as Peter writes, by His power God “shields” His people who believe in Jesus. (1 Peter 1:5) I DO pray that God shields my children, my grandchildren, my friends and loved ones from the evils of this world. But then, when griefs and trials come, I pray these struggles act to refine us. (1 Peter 1:6-7) Trials can remind us what is really important — our relationship with our Creator and our Savior. As we walk through the struggles of life, the cares of this world can be burned away, and the love of God can be refined in our hearts, by God’s power. Therefore, I pray that God walks beside my loved ones through the fires of life and refines their faith so that they see His love even in their struggles. I pray that in life’s difficulties my loved ones are led to see and to believe in the cross of Jesus, so that they finally live in His love in heaven.

I mentioned a month or so back that I am again reading the Mitford books about Father Tim, his wife Cynthia, and those around them. Through the trials of life these fictional characters are quick to pray, even when all seems hopeless. They often refer to “Praying the prayer that cannot fail.” Ultimately that is what I pray.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches His disciples and also teaches us to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 b) I pray that God’s will is done in the lives of my loved ones, in spite of the trials of life. Paul does, after all, tell us what the will of God is. “God . . . desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3 b — 4)

I am often in prayer for my wife, for our three sons and our daughter. I pray regularly for my three grandsons and my three granddaughters. I pray for my friends and loved ones, for the church of God. I do pray that God would shield them from the evils of life. But, more than that, I pray God would see them strengthened in faith through the trials of life. “Thy will be done.”