Ongoing Prayer Without Knowledge of the Situation

Dear brothers and sisters,

Lately, I have felt increasingly pressed to broaden my scope of prayer. In this regard, I am seeking, with God's help, to move from the very personal and insular to include the various ones God has clearly brought into my life for my intercession, as well as beyond.

I have been impressed to realize that my prayer life is very scattered. I do not pray regularly or consistently, and I want this to change.

Therefore, I have begun a short list of those for whom I feel constrained to pray, with the intention that I would bear these ones in regular prayer indefinitely. The Lord has touched me that it is for this very reason that these ones were brought into my life, and then implanted into my memory.

My struggle in this is - how do I reconcile the realization of this need when it comes to persons with whom I have no regular contact, and whose actual situation is unknown to me?

For example (and this is just one example), I feel strongly to pray in an ongoing way for a student I had in 2003 and 2004, from a Communist country, to whom I preached the Gospel. Now, I do not know where this young man is, whether he is even dead or alive, whether he is saved or unsaved, or what he is doing. How do I pray? How do I keep praying? What do I actually pray?

Another example, I had a close friend when I was a teenager who was several years older than me. This brother was very instrumental in leading me on to a closer walk with the Lord. Later, I learned that he backslid, fell into a sinful way, and went in and out of practical fellowship with other believers. Today, I know nothing of his situation, how he is, or what he is doing. How do I pray?

Thank you so much for any help offered. I am very much in need of advice and counsel as I endeavor to keep this charge.

Yours,
DanielJ

You may not know or understand their hearts and
needs; but God knows. If you will commit to
pray for those whom He leads and seek His insight
and wisdom, He will teach you how to pray for
them with the help of His Spirit.

For your encouragement.

I few years back I had been introduced to teaching of strong ferevnt prayer. Off I went to practice this so I decidede I would pray for someone of God chosing. All I would do was pray strongly and fervently for ten mintues everyday for someone, I didn't know who.

After a week of prayer on the Saturday afetrnoon I was going about my buisness as usual. My wife was doing some Christain womans hair the kids where playing as they had no school. Along to my door comes this woman who is drunk, she is the woman I try to avoid, if I go past her house and if she sees me she will call me over and want to talk to me. So in she comes to the house drunker than drunk. We get round to the subject of God and she starts asking for prayer and how this Rev Bar once prayed for her and she felt such a great peace, she says that she has been seeing Jesus's face everynight of the last week and she needs peace can I pray.

So I say to my wife, the other christian woman my children that we will all pray for her. As I laid my hand on her head I could with my own eyes see the Power of God go over the woman she had the most shocked face as she became aware of God and his power was touching her life.

After the prayer stops she jumps up sober and starts shouting it's you, it's you, I start shouting it's not me it Jesus. Eventually we are all shouting and praising God and thanking him. I don't know what the neighbours thought through the week they must have heard the strong ferevnt prayer, then at the weekend a drunk comes to house and it gets even noiser. My wife done her hair she went out the house with the biggest smile I have ever seen, I also had a big smile to along with everyone else in the house.

God had touched here in a mighty way.

God also did a work in my heart over me trying to avoid this woman isn't God good.

Keep your head up and your faith strong, don't listen to the devil and pray strongly and fervently because God will use your prayers mightly.

I would encourage you to ask the Lord about purchasing two books on intercession. The first is entitled "Rees Howells: Intercessor" written by Norman Grubb. The other book was written by a dear brother named G.C. Bevington and goes by several different titles, one is which is "Remarkable Incidents and Modern Miracles Through Prayer and Faith."

Brother Bevington was one of the first students of God's Bible School in Cincinnati OH and was a student of one Oswald Chambers. I'm not saying this to name drop but these dear brothers knew how to touch the throne of God and provide a roadmap to intercession.

I pray that you would prayerfully consider the purchase of these books.

Thank you all for your encouragement. To clarify - I am not questioning the need of prayer. This is where I am. I am questioning as to the [i]content[/i] of ongoing prayer. I simply do not know [i]what[/i] to pray - what [i]words[/i] to pray - when I know nothing of a person's actual situation, particularly in a regular way.

I do have a copy of the Rees Howells book on my shelf, which I have never read. I will give it a look.

Thanks again.

Your brother,