Who Do You Pray For?

 

Today we begin to look at the book of 1 Thessalonians, a letter written by Paul to people who were following Jesus in the city of Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians 1 doesn’t contain a lot of content but I thought I’d continue with yesterday’s focus on prayer. Here is what Paul writes in verse 2: 2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, I think Paul was a pretty busy person. I think he had a lot of people in his rolodex (if you are under 30 a rolodex was a thing that contained little cards that had people’s names and telephone numbers on them). Yet Paul repeats again and again in his letters to these churches to whom he writes that he was praying for them. I wonder if we take this example seriously enough? Who do you pray for on a consistent and regular basis? How many people do you and I take the time to lift up to God in prayer on a regular basis? Are we willing to spend time talking to God and listening to Him about the people that we truly care about? May I encourage you to evaluate how you pray and who you pray for? I certainly don’t understand how prayer works and how effective prayer is on behalf of someone else. I suppose that my job is just to do it and to leave the results to God.