Hello, friend! I’ve already been so blessed by our prayer time together, and I sincerely hope that you have, too. That’s one of the many beautiful things about intercessory prayer: it’s a three-fold blessing. By our prayers, God is blessed, both through our desire to spend time with Him and through our display of trust in Him. We are blessed as we take the time to discern His will as spelled out in His Word. And those we pray for are blessed, as the power of God is unleashed through the Word of God in our prayers for them.
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 Their Identity in Christ
- Ask the Lord to help your friend grow in their understanding of the Father’s love, that they would marvel in it, and that they would embrace their identity as a child of God. (I John 3:1)
- Pray that your friend would acknowledge their identity as one of God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, and that as a result they would put on a compassionate heart, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. (Colossians 3:12)
- Thank Jesus for being your friend’s Vine, and ask Him to grant them a comprehension of their role as a branch. Pray that He would abide in them, and they in Him, bearing much fruit as a result. Beg the Lord to help your friend always remember that apart from Him, they can do nothing. (John 15:5)
- Implore God to help your friend know that their old self was crucified with Jesus in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that they would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6) Pray that they would walk in the freedom Christ secured for them, 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 their heart the freshness of their new identity, and that they wouldn’t live in self-condemnation over their past. (2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:1)
- Acknowledge to the Lord your friend’s 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 their new identity as they grow to know Him better. Pray that from their understanding of these roles would spring their proclamation of Christ’s excellencies as the One who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. (I Peter 2:9)
- Pray that their 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 their body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within them, and that His presence is a gift from God. Beg him to awaken their understanding that they are not their own, but that they are bought with a price – the precious blood of Jesus. Ask Him to help your friend glorify God in their 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, they 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 they undertake as part of the Church would not define their 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 them to be, and that your Spirit would enable them to fulfill the unique purpose you have for them on this earth. May my friend be confident in the One they belong to, and in His ability to keep them from falling and to present them faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. It’s in the Name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, that I pray. Amen.
I truly thank you for praying with me today. Tomorrow’s topic: prayers that your friend would live a life surrendered to God. Click here to navigate to the main page and find Day 4 of the challenge.
