Jesus Prayed For Me Series

JESUS PRAYED FOR ME

Tonight, on this second watch night, we greet you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. We count it all joy that the LORD has watched over us and has counted us again among the living. We give honor tonight to GOD, to the highly esteemed pastor of this great church, Pastor Myers, and to all of the officers, members, visitors, and friends. I believe that on last night I became caught up in my emotions that I completely overlooked protocol. But Romans 13:7 tells us to render honour unto those to whom honour is due. Therefore, we honour all of you.

On last night we began these series of messages centered around the theme verse, which is Philippians 1:19. The King James Version of this verse is printed on the front of your program. But on tonight, I want to read and share with you the New Living Translation of this verse. The verse reads as follows: “For I know that as you pray for me and as the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will all turn out for my deliverance.” (Read twice)

On last night, we looked at the “For I Know” section of this passage and established that knowing something means to believe something. And from Romans 10:9 we established a message by asking the question, “What Do You Believe.” On tonight, we’d like to proceed a little further in our study and look at the section that says “as you pray for me.” So if you have your Bibles tonight, we would like for you to turn with me to the Gospel according to Dr. Luke:

Text: Luke 22:31-32

31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Subject: JESUS PRAYED FOR ME

About a month or so ago at New Jerusalem, the choir began to sing a song with the lyrics, “Somebody prayed for me; had me on their mind; took the time and prayed for me. I’m so glad they prayed. I’m so glad they prayed. I’m so glad they prayed for me.” Have you heard of this song? The song goes on to say that my mother prayed for me; my father prayed for me. And yes, even JESUS prayed for me. It is a high spirited type of song, but I had never envisioned or thought of this song as a shouting song until that day. Because on that day, we got to singing that song and all of a sudden the next thing I knew there was some shouting going on. There were some hearts touched by the spirit of the LORD and we personally realized and understood that our own personal successes, our own personal achievements, even our own personal well-being can be directly contributed to the prayers of somebody else. Have I got a witness?

You see, there were times when we didn’t know anything about praying for ourselves. We didn’t know anything about sending up some timbers and expecting a blessing. We didn’t know why grandma would go into that old hallway closet and shut the door behind her and stay in there for a little while. And some of us still don’t know.

We go to bed and don’t praise God for letting you make it through the day. You don’t get up in the morning and just thank God that your bed was not your cooling board. Am I right about it? You eat breakfast and don’t pray. You eat lunch and don’t pray. You eat dinner and don’t pray. And all the while you haven’t choked on a fish bone. You haven’t drank any deadly poison. And it has nothing to do with luck. And it sho’ nuf has nothing to do with you. But somebody took the time and got down on their bended knees and prayed to GOD on your behalf. Have I got a witness?

Yes, somebody prayed for you. This type of prayer is called intercessory prayer. The word intercessory is a derivative of the word intercession, which is "an entreaty in favor of another, especially a prayer or petition to God in behalf of another.” In other words someone else steps in and talks to God on your behalf. It’s almost like when you have job references or credit references who will step in and say a little something on your behalf that will benefit you.

And the first thing that we must note is that intercessory prayer is a selfless act. It is something that is done solely for somebody else. There is no personal benefit or gratification that comes from it. There is no pay for praying for somebody else. There are no awards or accolades for praying for somebody else. And yet, it is our duty and responsibility as Christians to pray for somebody else. James 5:16 tells us to pray one for another. And if the Word of God says it then we should do it. Am I right about it?