Christians are called to stand in the gap for many things, and pray for God's Kingdom to come. Many, however, spend more time praying for their own personal desires and wishes. While there's nothing wrong with asking God to bless us, there's something wrong if that's all we ever ask for.
Biblical Mandate
The Bible gives us many reasons to pray. We are to pray for everything we worry about, what we will do, what God wants us to do, and what we cannot do. We are to pray for all people, including our enemies. We are to pray for ourselves and our families and even those we don't know.
In short, we are to be a praying people.
Philippians 4:6 tells us, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done."
We are to develop in ourselves a heart of prayer that chooses to come to God with every single worry, need, longing, desire, or request that we have.
To help us develop that praying heart, here are three things that we Christ-followers should all pray for, whether we feel good or not.
1. God's Will to Be Done
We are a people whose desires are often put in front of our eyes. In short, we always want our will to be done. The Lord Jesus, however, has a different attitude about it. Luke 22:42 records for us what He prayed:
"Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine."
This kind of surrender is necessary if we want to follow Christ, who said we must deny ourselves before we could follow Him.
2. The Salvation of All Men
1 Timothy 2:4 tells us that God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." We should pray for that to happen.
How?
Pray for labourers in the harvest field. Pray for God to open the eyes of those blinded by Satan. Pray for the boldness to preach the gospel wherever we go. Pray for those who hurt us and offend us, even persecute us.
In short, we must pray for God to be glorified among men and His will to be done to all the earth. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10).
3. For Us to See God
God told King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
Seeking God is the main goal of praying, not receiving answers. When we pray, we must all humble ourselves, and seek His face, not His hand. This simply means we must want to have less of ourselves, less of our desires, and more of Him and not just His hand.
When we truly repent and seek Him, He will respond by showing who He is: our mighty God who is in the heavens, who, because of Christ, is able to forgive men of their sin and heal their land.
