Summary: Often our prayers for each other consist of focusing on each others needs... but as vital as that kind of prayer can be, there is a more important prayer we can lift up for each other.

OPEN: A preacher by the name of Larry Davies shared that during one worship service, he asked: "Are there any prayer needs today?"

· One person mentioned a neighbor who was sick.

· Another spoke of a couple with financial problems.

· A young man asked us to pray for the family of a friend’s grandmother who recently died.

After hearing what seemed to be all the requests I said, "If there are no other needs then let us bow our heads and pray."

Shortly after beginning the prayer, I felt something tugging on my pants leg and at the same time heard a loud whisper: "Preacher! Preacher! "I ’needs’ something too!"

Still speaking, I slightly opened one eye and took a peek.

A little boy was on his hands and knees below me, tugging on my pants leg as hard as he could and earnestly whispering: "Preacher, I ’needs’ something too!"

I could hear giggling in the background as the boy continued tugging on my pants and was by now speaking loudly: "Preacher, I ’needs’ something!"

"Oh no!" I thought to myself. "In my arrogance and pride, had I ignored the needs of a small child? Maybe he knew of someone who was ill that we needed to include?" Feeling guilty and ashamed, I stopped the prayer and gently asked the young boy:

"Yes son, what do you need?"

"Preacher, I ’needs’ to go to the bathroom!"

APPLY: The Bible tells us we "needs" to pray for one another, and because we realize that… we are praying church. We have prayer chains. We have a special time of prayer during worship … AND I know that there are many who pray for others all the time.

That’s the way it ought to be. For Jesus said, "My house shall be called a house of prayer." Matthew 21:13.

We work at being a "house of prayer" And that’s what we always "needs" to do.

I. Several weeks ago, when I started planning this series on prayer I was really focused on THIS sermon.

I had all kinds of ideas on how I would present it and what types of prayer I would challenge you to do. I focused on this sermon, because the idea of praying for one another (I believe) lies at the very heart of who we are believers.

Paul wrote: "Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

Jesus Himself sets the example for us. We’re told "Jesus… is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." Romans 8:34

So, I went looking for Scriptures that I could use in the sermon. Scriptures that talked about praying for each other.

Scripture about praying that people would get well

Texts about praying that people would find jobs

Verses about praying for families who’d experienced loss or needed healing.

But as I went looking for passages of scripture like that I was puzzled because I only found one text that I felt could be used for prayers like that. It’s found in James 5:16 where we’re told to: "…pray for each other so that you may be healed…."

In other words, WE ARE commanded (by God) to pray for each other like we’ve been praying.. BUT most of the Scriptures that I found focused on prayers for each other in an entirely different way.

II. For example: Look at how Paul prays for the Philippians in Philippian 1:3-4

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy."

This passage that we’ve read this morning is the ONLY place in Philippians where Paul talks of praying for the Philippian church…

· Do you suppose that no one in Philippi was sick?

· Do you think that no one there was having family problems?

· Do you think there wasn’t anybody having financial difficulties or job problems?

I don’t think so. In fact, I believe they had problems… I believe they were just like us. I believe they had the same problems, same difficulties, same hardships.

But not once in his letter to the Philippians does Paul EVER pray for any of that

INSTEAD, his prayers for them are filled with thanksgiving and joy.

And this isn’t the only time that Paul speaks of this

· He tells the church at Colossian: "We always thank God … when we pray for you" Colossians 1:3

· And he tells the Ephesian Church: "I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers." Ephesians 1:16

And, it’s not just churches Paul prays this way for

· When he writes to Timothy: "I thank God… as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers." 2 Timothy 1:3

· And he informs a friend named Philemon: "I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers," Philemon 1:4

Now… I believe it is VITAL that we pray for each other when we’re sick and hurting and struggling in our faith. BUT, I think we "needs" to pray something else even more. I think we "needs" to pray: "thanking God" for each other.

III. Now… why would we "needs" to do that?

Because we’re ALWAYS going people in this church who have trouble

Jesus said that: Jesus said: "…In this world you will have trouble…." John 16:33

In this world, people are always going to have trouble.

BUT, they’re not always going to have people who care for them. (repeat for emphasis)

I got to thinking that it was the people I CARE about, who are people I’m thankful for.

Those are the people I’m going to pray hardest for. They MATTER to me. When they hurt, I hurt. When they rejoice, I rejoice

In fact… when I’m thankful for others, that’s when I really love them

When I’m thankful for people I reflect an attitude toward them - we find in I Corinthians

"I’m patient with them, and I’m kind.

I don’t envy them… nor am I rude

I don’t seek my own advantage over them

And they’re not as prone to make me angry,

In fact, I don’t keep any record of wrongs they’ve done me….

When I’m thankful for people I want to protect them, trust them, and hope the best for them…" (I Corinthians 13:4-7… Jeff’s Revised Version)

ILLUS: When Lee Iacocca (the genius that created the Ford Mustang, and who revitalized Chrysler Corp.) was fired as president of Ford Motor Co., he said: "I was hurting pretty bad. I could have used a phone call from someone who said ’Let’s have coffee.’ But most of my friends deserted me. It was the greatest shock of my life."

Well, why didn’t Iacocca’s friend’s call him? Didn’t they like him?

Oh… they liked him well enough. He just wasn’t all that important to them.

And it wasn’t that they didn’t think highly of him…

They just didn’t think about him.

IV. The reason we need to focus our prayers for each other on thanksgiving is because it forces us to THINK about each other

It forces us to think beyond our prayer NEEDS and to concentrate on why we should like each other.

How many of you remember this cartoon from last week’s bulletin? (It showed a man thinking the following thought: "Oh no, here comes Bob. I promised him last week I’d pray for him. Dear God, please help Bob!" Then in he says to Bob "Hey, Bob… been praying for you."

Did the man in the cartoon pray for Bob?

Yeah. But he hadn’t "thought" about Bob until he saw him…

He’d taken Bob for granted, and so he forgot all about his promise to pray for him until just that moment.

You know why that cartoon seems funny to us… because we know it happens. It has happened to you and to me. It’s not that we mean to be mean. It’s just that we don’t think about each other, and so the needs each of us have kind of drifts out of our minds.

So, we don’t end up praying for people unless they are close at hand, or unless they are part of our close circle of friends

How do we fix that?

We fix that by praying ABOUT each other in a way that goes BEYOND simply praying for the needs in each others lives. We fix it by giving thanks for each other whenever we think about one another.

ILLUS: I find it real easy to pray like that here. I’ll be thinking about one of you, and I’ll start praying about you… and the first thing that comes out of my mouth in prayer is almost always thanksgiving. I suppose I do that because I’ve preached in a couple of really difficult churches before this, and I KNOW what kind of people we have here.

It’s easy for me to be thankful for people like you. And I find myself being thankful for you - a lot.

V. The fact that I’d experienced difficult people in the past ministries got me to thinking

… there’s some people that aren’t real easy to be thankful for.

Have you ever met someone like that? (I asked for a show of hands). People that have disappointed you, or hurt you…, or whatever. And so you find it real hard to thank God for that person.

ILLUS: Two sisters spent the day fighting. That evening they prepared for bed, still mad at each other. As usual, they knelt beside their beds for their prayers.

"Dear God," the 8 yr. old began, "Bless Daddy and Mommy, bless our cat and dog."

Then she stopped.

Her mother gently prodded, "Didn’t you forget somebody?"

She glared across the bed at her 6 yr. old sister and added, "And, oh yes, God bless my ex-sister."

Paul gives us a word of advice on who to deal with that problem. In Philippians 1:3-6 he writes: "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that HE WHO BEGAN A GOOD WORK IN YOU WILL CARRY IT ON TO COMPLETION until the day of Christ Jesus."

When we’re praying for others in this church we need to be praying for them - not so much for what they have ALREADY done but for what God may yet do through them.

That person sitting next to you may not be living up to your expectations. And you may not - at this moment - be real thankful for them BUT… our confidence needs to be in what God will YET do in their lives.

Our confidence needs to be in God not the Christians who aren’t living up to our expectations.

We must be thankful for them, believing that "He who BEGAN a good work in (them) will carry it on to completion"

Jesus saved them for a reason… and Jesus isn’t done for them yet.

So…even if you can’t think of anything to be thankful for (when you pray for someone) focus on being thankful that God isn’t finished with them yet.

PRAYER TIME: What I want you to do this morning is pray for each other. I want you pick 3 people be thankful for this morning:

· A person beside you

· A person on the prayer list

· A person you’re having trouble liking this morning.

CLOSE: As I was thinking about today’s sermon, I came across the following sermon that spoke of the differences between what Church should be like and what the world tries to substitute for Christ’s family. One person once wrote:

The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give his church.

The bar is an imitation dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality, but it is permissive, it is accepting and it is an inclusive fellowship. It is unshockable. It is democratic.

You can tell people secrets and they usually don’t tell others or even want to.

The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics, but because God has put into the human heart, the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved.

And so many people seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers.

BUT, there is one more thing that makes the church different than the local tavern. In fact, it is the one thing that makes us different than any other human organization

The church is a place where we train each other to care for one another. And that training starts when we learn to pray - giving thanks for one another… both for what we are, and for what we are yet to become.