Lesson 24: Be Filled by Hope (3)
Read Luke 11:1-13 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/luk.11

At the end of the last lesson you were encouraged to write out a prayer of thanks to God for something in your life that you are finding it hard to thank Him for. Did you do this? There are many things in our life with God which sometimes almost seem like magic – but they are not magic; they are God’s power working in our lives.

This brings us to the third point to our life here which is PRAYER. Prayer for our own lives builds a relationship with God as we learn to build our faith through watching Him work in our lives. Prayer for others is called intercessory prayer. This is our action on behalf of God in another person's life. God has given us the ability to choose, which means He will not interrupt our lives without permission. This permission, however, is something we as believers can give to God on behalf of another person. In other words, by my intercessory prayer I give God the moral right to step into another person's life to take action there. The story of the four friends who brought their sick friend to Jesus and lowered him down through a hole in the roof so Jesus might touch him is a beautiful picture of intercessory prayer. We find this story recorded in Matthew 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5. But note the words which are clearly stated in each of these accounts: "and Jesus seeing their faith." Jesus did not look at the faith of the sick man to take action; He looked at the faith of the four intercessory friends. He acted on behalf of them to heal the man; He healed based on their faith.


But please notice Jesus did not heal him physically first – Jesus’ highest priority and purpose for this man was to heal him spiritually first. It is God’s purpose in our lives too – our spiritual health is far more important for eternity than any other circumstance in our lives.

Our prayer on behalf of others, our intercessory prayer, should first of all be courageous. We find in Luke 18:1 a parable Jesus told for the specific purpose. Those who heard should always pray and not lose heart. No matter how bleak things look around us, how impossible the situation seems, we must pray as God directs our prayers. This does not mean we should pray our desires no matter what the circumstances may be. It means we should seek His kingdom no matter the circumstances. There is a huge difference here, one we must recognize and one on which we must act. Jesus said we are to seek His kingdom first, not our own (Matthew 6:33). Only doing things His way guarantees our victory.

We are also commanded to pray constantly. Ephesians 6:18 tells us that we are to pray "at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication." This prayer is not necessarily always intercessory, but we should always be ready to pray on behalf of those we see or meet.

*How does praying for others give you hope today?