Hello, prayer buddy!
Here are a couple of favorite lines from a favorite song:
“We know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives. It’s time for us to more than just survive. We were made to thrive.”
This song by Casting Crowns joyfully proclaims a powerful truth: Christians are meant to flourish.
We have a God who invites us into a relationship with Him and who paid a very high price to make it possible. In His very presence we find fullness of joy. He tells us in no uncertain terms that He cares about every detail of our lives, and He provides abundantly for our every need.
We have a Savior who understands us, who relates to us, and who intercedes for us.
We have a Spirit who guides us, convicts us, and reminds us of who we are and Who we belong to.
We have a Word that enlightens us, strengthens us, and comforts us.
We have an incomparable hope that no matter our circumstances, “there are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” (C.S. Lewis)
God has given us everything we could possibly need that pertains to life and godliness. In His Son Jesus Christ, every single promise that God ever made is a resounding “YES!”
Hallelujah!
I know you want to see your friend walk in these truths – faithful, fruitful, and fulfilled. Let’s offer to the Lord these prayers for her to flourish.
Prayers for Your Friend to Flourish
- Lift your friends to the Lord, asking that He would keep them from walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of scoffers. Pray that their delight would be in God’s Word, and that they would meditate on it day and night. Ask that they would be like trees planted by streams of water that yields fruit in their season, and their leaves do not wither. Pray that your friends would prosper in all that they do. (Psalm 1:1-3)
- Implore God that your friend’ love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that they may approve what is excellent, and so 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. (Philippians 1:9-11)
- Acknowledge in prayer that Jesus is the true vine, and the Father is the vinedresser. Confess to Him that every branch in Him that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Ask for His pruning in your friends’ life, not that you wish on them the pain of the shears but that you desire their fruitfulness and you trust the hand of the Pruner. Pray that your friends would abide in Him, and He in them. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can your friends, unless they abide in Him. He is the vine; they are branches. Claim on their behalf the promise that if they abide in Him and He in them, they will bear much fruit. Ask for your friends to have a humble awareness that apart from Him they can do nothing. Pray that they would abide in Jesus, and that His words would abide in them, so that them may ask whatever they wish, and it will be done for them. Beg the Lord to glorify Himself in their lives, that they bear much fruit and so prove to be His disciples. (John 15:1-8)
- Thank God that your friends have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that they may belong to Another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that they may bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4)
- Pray that your friends would make every effort to supplement their faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. Thank God for the promise that if these qualities are theirs and are increasing, they keep them from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8) Pray that He would fulfill these words in the life of your friends.
- Ponder the truth that the righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. If your friends are believers, thank God that they are clothed in the righteousness of Christ and pray that He would grant them the strength to walk in that righteousness each day. Pray that they would be planted in the house of the Lord, flourishing in the courts of our God. Ask that they would bear fruit their whole lives long, ever full of strength and vitality, declaring that the Lord is upright, their wholly righteous rock. (Psalm 92:12-15)
- Praise God for your friends’ lives, acknowledging to Him that their lives here on earth are for the purpose of fruitful labor. (Philippians 1:22) Ask that He would direct them to the specific tasks He has just for them, and that He would grant them the grace to fulfill them so they might bear fruit for His glory.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus to give us abundant life overflowing with joy and fulfillment and confidence, not because of who we are but because of who You are and what You accomplish for us and through us. I pray that my friends would walk in the abundant life You died to secure for them; that they wouldn’t just survive but would thrive; and that their lives would bring You much glory as they abound in fruitfulness. It’s in the Name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, that I pray. Amen.
I can’t believe we just have a couple of days left! Press on, dear one – your labor in prayer is not in vain! Tomorrow we’ll pray that your friend will be filled with strength and courage. I already look forward to seeing you then! 🙂
Click here to navigate to the main page and find Day 20 of the challenge. Care to share? You can do so here. Thanks a bunch!
