prayer for other BELIEVERS

Jesus spent his last days building up his disciples and praying for them. He prayed for unity, protection from the 'evil one' and that the disciples shold be 'sanctified' (this means 'set apart for Holy use'). He also prayed for unity for the 'not yet followers' i.e. you and me.

The apostle Paul spent his second career planting churches; winning people for Christ, building them up and sending them off to do the same. In his letters, time and time again he encourages believers to pray for each other and gives examples of his own prayer.

In the book of Ephesians Paul tells us in chapter 6 that our struggle is a spiritual one and tells us to put on the 'armour of God' (Eph 6: 10-17). When he's finished describing this armour he brings it to a head by saying:

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. " (Eph 6:18-20)

So it's important to pray for other believers, important in a way that we don't really understand because we are all part of a spiritual battle that we only rarely get glimpses of.

In particular, we pray for:

Unity in Christ - that believers will be unified by their faith in Christ and by the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in their lives
That God will protect believers from the 'evil one' (in practice we should at least pray that believers will be protected from temptation)
That believers should be distinct, set apart by their faith in Christ and by the way that they ive out their lives
We should be alert to what is goiing on around us and Spirit led in our prayers (in practice this may mean that we have to take times of silence to ask God to lead us in what to pray about)
Pray that Jesus followers will be bold in their faith, without fear and that they will declare their faith (not keep it a secret!). N.B. Fear of what others might think is often a reason for believers not declaring their faith