Command 45 : Watch and Pray | Day 311

Watch for Fellow Believers!

The preacher could tell by the expressions on their faces that two of his listeners were praying for him during the service. Week after week they would pray for him as he preached and tell him after the service that they had done so. Finally, he asked them, "Why don't you pray for the people?" to which they responded, "Because you need the power of the Spirit."

Nothing created as great a hunger in D. L. Moody's soul for the filling of the Holy Spirit as did the earnest and faithful prayers of these two parishioners. God did indeed fill Moody with an uncommon passion for souls and used him mightily for His kingdom in the United States and England.

By supporting other believers through prayer, especially pastors and Christian leaders, we can play a vital part in their ministries.

These two parishioners understood that in addition to watching and praying for ourselves that we enter not into temptation, we should also intercede in prayer on behalf of other believers, even as Jesus did for Peter. “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not ...” (Luke 22:31-32). Jesus also prayed for all believers who would come to a saving knowledge of Him through the testimony of the apostles. (See John 17:20.)

Pastors, missionaries, and other Christian leaders are especially in need of our prayers. No one is immune from the temptation of sin, and those who are doing the greatest damage to Satan's kingdom will often fall under the greatest attacks of spiritual warfare. In addition to praying for God's blessing and grace to be upon their lives, we can ask God to keep them from the temptation of pride. This is vital, because “pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18; see also I Corinthians 10:12).

When we see others depending on their own abilities, we should ask God to bring them to a place of total dependence on Him and His grace.

Watching and praying requires vigilance and spiritual discernment. We often are unaware of the struggles and temptations that other believers are facing, but through prayer we can still "bear their burdens" and thus fulfill the law of Christ (see Galatians 6:2).

In my life, the Holy Spirit has often brought to my mind an individual whom I have not thought about for years. I have learned that God often reminds me of individuals at the precise moments that they are especially in need of prayer. When I have prayed for them and then called them to see how they were doing, I have been amazed to learn what they had been going through. A few of them have even said that they were praying that I would call them!

Let's purpose now to become those who watch and pray for other believers “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Ephesians 6:18).