This post is part of a prayer challenge, 21 Days of Prayers For Your Friends. If you would like more information about the full challenge with daily email prayer guides, I invite you to find it here.
One of the most foundational principles of the Christian life is our identity in Christ.
The Bible tells us that before our salvation, we are sinful, desperately wicked enemies of God (Romans 3:23; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 5:10).
But at the point when we come to Jesus for forgiveness and cleansing of our sin by faith in His death and resurrection, we become a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Old things are passed away. All things become new! Hallelujah!
Our identity in Christ is a rich inheritance indeed, but it’s one we must apply. Thankfully, the Bible has much to say about who we are in Christ. In fact, I’m pretty sure we could study this topic our whole lives long and never get to the bottom of it.
Let’s spend some time praying the Scriptures for our friends, that they would understand and live out their identity in Christ.
Prayers For Your Friend To Live Out Her Identity in Christ
Ask the Lord to help your friend grow in her understanding of the Father’s love, that she would marvel in it, and that she would embrace her identity as a child of God. (I John 3:1)
Pray that she would acknowledge her identity as one of God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, and that as a result she would put on a compassionate heart, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. (Colossians 3:12)
Thank Jesus for being her Vine, and ask Him to grant her a comprehension of her role as a branch. Pray that He would abide in her, and she in Him, bearing much fruit as a result. Beg the Lord to help her always remember that apart from Him, she can do nothing. (John 15:5)
Implore God to help your friend know that her old self was crucified with Jesus in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that she would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6) Pray that she would walk in the freedom Christ secured for her, not being enslaved to any yoke of bondage. (Galatians 5:1)
Praise God for making your friend a new creation in Christ. Ask Him to engrave on her heart the freshness of her new identity, and that she wouldn’t live in self-condemnation over her past. (2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:1)
Acknowledge to the Lord her identity as part of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for his own possession. Ask Him to train your friend in these aspects of her new identity as she grows to know Him better. Pray that from her understanding of these roles would spring her proclamation of Christ’s excellencies as the One who called her out of darkness into His marvelous light. (I Peter 2:9)
Pray that her heart’s cry would echo Paul’s in saying: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Ask God to grip your friend’s heart with the truth that her body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within her, and that His presence is a gift from God. Beg him to awaken her understanding that she is not her own, but that she is bought with a price – the precious blood of Jesus. Ask Him to help her glorify God in her body. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)
Thank God that your friend is no longer a stranger and alien to God, but is now a fellow citizen with the saints and members of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:19) Pray that as a fellow citizen, she would walk in harmony and unity with other saints.
Confess to God that your friend is the body of Christ and individually a member of it. (I Corinthians 12:27) Pray that the ministry she undertakes as part of the Church would not define her identity, but would instead be defined by it.
Dear Heavenly Father, how I thank You for sending Your Son to be the sacrifice for our sins, that we might receive a new identity from You. I pray that you would open the eyes of my friend to all that you have created and re-created her to be, and that your Spirit would enable her to fulfill the unique purpose you have for her on this earth. May she be confident in the One she belongs to, and in His ability to keep her from falling and to present her faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. It’s in the Name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, that I pray. Amen.
If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to sign up for the rest of the prayer challenge! It will be a source of blessing in your life (and your friend’s life) as you continue to pray the Scriptures over her.
Beautiful words! Thank you Jennifer!
Thanks for your encouragement, Terrie!
Wow, you are the real thing. So refreshing in today’s commercial Christianity. I can learn much from you.
Much thanks,
Larry
Larry, your words humble me. I very much identify with Paul’s statement in I Corinthians 15: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” It’s all by His grace. I look forward to more interaction with you in the future!