Daily Devotional February 12 - Are you praying for others?

"We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;" 1 Thessalonians 1:2

I wish I had friends like this. Are you waking up and praying for someone everyday? I want to be mentioned to God by others who talk to God. I want my name to come up with favor from those who have known me and understand my faith, my life, my struggles, my turmoils. I would that they were praying as if I was important and they wanted God to bring down from heaven His very best for me.

This might not be your experience, but as a pastor I have seen a lot of superficial praying; a lot of praying just to "get it out of the way and say they did" prayer; a lot of "if I have to" prayer; a lot of "why bother God doesn't listen anyway" prayer; a lot of "don't embarrass me" prayer; a lot of ten seconds or less prayer. Prayer is direct communication with God and deserves our deepest thought and full attention. God designed us to interact with Him and in that interaction, what we cannot do due with our human limitations is accomplished by God. Together with God we are a whole being. Together with God no thing is impossible. Together with God your prayers move mountains.

Praying as if you are praying to the wind brings about a faithless and powerless generation. If enough people see you pray pitifully and nothing happens, they will pray that way too and in just a short time, what should be prayer becomes nothing but confusion; There's no connection with Holy God and the next generation of young Christians pray because they have to and that's not prayer at all.