Ablaze for God - Day 27 Devotional

“Your Responsibility to Intercede for Others”
Submitted by Anne Kuehl
Key text: Colossians 4:12-13

This has been the summer of my dreams. Nearly every morning I have woken up before my children to sit quietly and pray on my patio overlooking our property. The warm light, the primary colors, the fresh smells, and the quaint sounds of songbirds have been so nurturing. My days have been productive and balanced. My children are thriving, and getting along with each other. My husband is succeeding in his business despite the recession. I have the most interesting, mature, and loving friends. And most recently, I have been blessed with the birth of a perfectly healthy baby girl. Life is so very good right now; sometimes I just shake my head in awe at the abundance of blessings God has given me. I feel like there is a supernatural glow and smoothness infiltrating every part of my life.

Before I go on, let me offer an important disclaimer: there is nothing special or holy about me that warrants this level of blessing. I cannot take credit for it. I remember years when I exerted more effort for far less results, simply because God had withdrawn His presence and power from my life for the purpose of refining me. No matter what I did, it failed, and my life was in total chaos. At that time, the season of blessing I am experiencing now seemed impossible.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked God what He wanted me to do with all this goodness. Do I just absorb it for myself? What came to my mind is to pray deliberately for all the people God has brought into my life so that they can experience what I am experiencing. Over the last two years, God has brought the most interesting and diverse group of friends my way. Some don’t know Jesus at all, some do but are stuck in dysfunction, others are more mature believers than me but are “going through the ringer.” God reminded me that when I have been stuck, I have relied on others’ prayer to be able to take a victorious step. There were times I was so anxious and depressed that I could not even read my Bible and pray until my mom’s noon hour prayer group met to pray for me each week.

Prayer works, gang. Let’s not assume victory is a one-man show of valiant effort, that with enough willpower an individual can do anything. The truth is, we need each other; our survival, our victory, depends on our deliberate investment in one another. Let’s get in the game with the expectation that together we will win. God’s kingdom will come in our lives and the lives of those around us. The prayer of a righteous man avails much! (James 5:16)