Christmas is a time for lists. Lists of gifts to buy. Lists of guests to invite to the Christmas party. Lists of friends’ addresses who will receive the annual holiday letter. Lists of volunteers for the Christmas Eve Services.
May I propose another list this Christmas season? A prayer list. Christmas is a great time to pray for the people in your life. And as a church leader, specifically for the teams of people you lead in ministry. As you run across their names on ministry schedules, and as you reflect on a year of serving Christ together, what better time than to stop and pray for them.
But it seems we’ve acquiesced to a constricted vocabulary when it comes to praying for our people. Prayer vocabulary can become like a muscle we haven’t worked out enough; a bit weak and atrophied. In fact, our prayers usually revolve around three main topics, SAFETY, SUCCESS, and COMFORT.
Don’t get me wrong, everything is worthy of prayer, from the biggest thing to the smallest. You can pray for the people on your teams about anything and everything that they may be going through. But I have noticed during my many years of being part of circles of leadership prayer in a variety of ministry contexts in multiple countries and on multiple continents – that when we pray for others, the vast majority of our modern prayers center on safety, success, and comfort. Someone you know is going to be traveling, someone’s kids are going off to school, and you pray for safety. Someone is starting a new job or entering a new season of life, and you pray for success. Someone is going through a difficult time… “God keep them safe, protect them so that nothing bad happens to them.” These are fine prayers, and I’m certainly not trying to be picky. Any praying is better than no praying! But here’s the strange thing… as I read through the prayers on the Bible, I almost never see these modern themes.
I wonder if our prayers for safety, success, and comfort are more a reflection of the values of our American culture than a reflection of the heart of God.
I’m proposing that this Christmas, we start adding some additional biblical themes to our prayers. Because shockingly there are times when God does not primarily want us to be safe, or successful or comfortable, instead He wants our character to grow and for us to walk resolvedly through danger, defeat, and discomfort.
You see, at the heart of our praying for our team members, is a deep love and confidence in God himself. In prayer we acknowledge and rightly express both His place as the sovereign creator of this world, and our place as those who trust Him in all things. In prayer we trustingly live out the reality that all good things come from his hand, that our lives are in his hands, and that all things happen in conformity with the purpose of His will. And I’m just convinced that he wants to do far more in the lives of people you know than just give them safety, success, and comfort. He has a deep rich story for them to live. So, let’s borrow from the scriptures and try to:
Expand your prayer vocabulary
Can I encourage you right now to make this blog post an interactive experience? Wherever you are, find something to write on. And I would ask you to put down three names under the heading MY MINISTRY TEAM MEMBERS. This will be a list you can add to later, but for now start with the first three that come to mind. Now instead of praying for safety or success or comfort for them, let’s expand our vocabulary using some biblical prayers to give us new language. If one of these themes applies to one of those people on your list, write it next to their name and you’ll have some new things to pray for them.
9 things to pray for the people in your life:
- Wisdom Use Paul’s prayer from Ephesians 1:16-17 as your guide, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him… Do any of the people on your list need wisdom? Maybe they’re facing a decision or a crossroads. Pray that God would grant them wisdom for the road ahead of them.
- Hope and power This is from Ephesians 1:18-20, that the eyes of your hearts may be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places… Does anyone need hope and power? Maybe instead of safety they need hope. Maybe instead of comfort they need power to walk through whatever they’re walking through.
- Strength and faith to endure difficult circumstances Consider this prayer from Ephesians 3:14-17 where Paul says, I bow my knees before the Father, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. In a season of affliction, maybe that person needs an infusion of strength or a firm reminder of their faith in Christ.
- Knowledge of God’s love
Are there people on your list who need to know the love of God? Paul prays in Ephesians 3:17-19, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Think about how it would change that person if they truly knew in the depths of their being the love of God.
- Spiritual discernment
In Philippians 1:9 Paul says, it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment. Discernment means having an understanding of what’s right and what’s wrong. Maybe someone on your list would benefit from that right now.
- Personal holiness Can you imagine what God might do if we prayed this prayer over one another consistently? Paul prays in Philippians 1:10-11, that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. The fruit of righteousness are things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. Do any of your people need this?
- To know God’s will
Do you have anyone on your list that would benefit from knowing God’s will for their life? Consider Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9, We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
- Steadfastness
I call this one the “hang in there prayer.” Does any one of your three people just need to hang in there? Pray this prayer for their steadfast perseverance from 2 Thessalonians 3:5, 7, “The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one… May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. Hang in there!
- Boldness in sharing their faith
This is a request that Paul made often for himself. Listen to what he requests in Ephesians 6:19 He says, pray also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.
Can you imagine if, instead of just praying for safety, success, and comfort, we added to our prayer vocabulary these kinds of intercessions for our ministry leaders? For strength and faith and holiness and discernment and steadfastness and wisdom and hope. We might walk in a whole new level of power if we consistently prayed these things over one another. These 9 only scratched the surface.
When you pray for your team members, when you pray for God’s work to be done in their lives, for his will to be accomplished in their lives, he will not only do a mighty work in them, but he’ll do a mighty work in you too. It is when we pray for others, when we enter the battle for their souls, that we will start to become more like Jesus. And as we become more like Jesus, God will grow us more, show us more, and use us more than we ever dreamed possible.
Let’s make this Christmas a season of prayer like never before.
