“I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus” – Philemon 1:4-6
LIGHT FOR NOW: Praying for fellow believers is part of the responsibility of the praying believer.
It is clear from our studies so far that the believer must be diligent with prayer; he must have a prayer life. Prayer therefore is as much a necessity as it is a responsibility for men. Jesus and the Apostles example in teaching and by precept therefore provide an endearing example for the believer today to have a consistent, enduring, in season, out of season attitude to prayer. Prayer is not all for us; it’s not only about us and our needs. We pray for others; and at this point we are looking at praying for fellow believers. The scriptures are replete on praying for fellow believers. Our key text is an example; here, Paul prays that the communication of the faith of believers may be effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing that is in you in Christ. That word “acknowledging” was translated from the Greek word epignosis; it refers to comprehensive, precise and exact knowledge. In essence, that was a knowledge based prayer for believers. That prayer implies that the believer will be effective or active in his Christian walk or walk of faith to the degree to which he appreciates or knows precisely the good thing that is in him in Christ, that is:
- Who he is in Christ;
- What he has in Christ
- What Christ can do through him.
In essence, when a believer is deficient of the knowledge of who he is in Christ, what he has in Christ and what Christ can do through him, he will not be effective in his Christian walk. In essence, the believer is deficient in ignorance and efficient in knowledge as far as the Christian faith is concerned. The knowledge you have about the faith determines how far you go in the faith. We pray for believers to come to knowledge; we pray for believers to come to the enlightenment of their realities, identity and personality in Christ. So, praying for fellow believers is a crucial part of the prayer lifestyle. Glory!
INSTRUCTION: Pray for fellow believers.
CONFESSION: I pray for believers all over the globe; they come to the precise knowledge of their realities in Christ, in Jesus Name, Amen.
QUOTE: Knowledge is the believers’ greatest need after salvation.
DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: EPHESIANS CHAPTER 1; EVENING: EPHESIANS CHAPTER 2
LIGHT FROM THE WORD 