Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for another person's heart and mind to be changed is a beautiful example of intercession, which is prayer that reaches beyond your own needs to bring someone else before God.
Prayer has different dimensions. There is worship, where we acknowledge who God is and simply live in awareness of His goodness and mercy. There is petition, where we bring our own needs to Him. And there is intercession, where we stand in the gap for others. All three belong together, and worship is the foundation. As you pray for this person, begin by remembering who God is, His character and love, and spend time in communion with Him, not just asking for an outcome.
Scripture encourages us to pray and assures us that God hears and answers. More is accomplished through prayer than we will ever see on this side of heaven. It is the quiet power behind what God does in the world. The fact that you have this burden to pray at all is itself something God has placed in your heart, just as He placed love for the people in Moses when Moses interceded for them. God moves on the heart to pray.
At the same time it helps to remember what prayer is not. It is not a way to make God see things our way or to persuade a reluctant God to do our will. God will not force Himself on anyone or override the free will He has given. He is not subservient to us, we are subservient to Him. Prayer opens the door for God to do what He has long desired to do, but He waits for a willing heart. He only does for a person what that person is willing to allow Him to do.
That is why the most biblical way to pray for another is to ask God to work according to His will and to create what only He can create. David prayed, search me and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and also, create in me a clean heart. He also prayed that God would unite his heart to worship Him, because our hearts can be divided and unstable. Only God can give a new heart, a pure heart, a heart that is fixed on Him. You can ask God to do that very work in this person's life, to reveal Himself, to draw that person to Jesus, to bring conviction where needed and to give a willingness to follow Him.
It is also good to let this prayer search your own heart. Ask God to show you your motives, to keep your heart pure and fixed on Him, and to align your desires with His purposes rather than simply asking Him to make a situation more convenient for you. He knows the heart of every person, yours and the one you are praying for, and He accounts what is in the heart.
So continue to bring this person before the Lord faithfully. Pray with worship, with trust, and with submission to God's perfect will. Pray that God would work in both hearts, that He would be exalted and that His glory would be seen, and trust Him to do what is right and loving in His time and way.
Prayer has different dimensions. There is worship, where we acknowledge who God is and simply live in awareness of His goodness and mercy. There is petition, where we bring our own needs to Him. And there is intercession, where we stand in the gap for others. All three belong together, and worship is the foundation. As you pray for this person, begin by remembering who God is, His character and love, and spend time in communion with Him, not just asking for an outcome.
Scripture encourages us to pray and assures us that God hears and answers. More is accomplished through prayer than we will ever see on this side of heaven. It is the quiet power behind what God does in the world. The fact that you have this burden to pray at all is itself something God has placed in your heart, just as He placed love for the people in Moses when Moses interceded for them. God moves on the heart to pray.
At the same time it helps to remember what prayer is not. It is not a way to make God see things our way or to persuade a reluctant God to do our will. God will not force Himself on anyone or override the free will He has given. He is not subservient to us, we are subservient to Him. Prayer opens the door for God to do what He has long desired to do, but He waits for a willing heart. He only does for a person what that person is willing to allow Him to do.
That is why the most biblical way to pray for another is to ask God to work according to His will and to create what only He can create. David prayed, search me and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and also, create in me a clean heart. He also prayed that God would unite his heart to worship Him, because our hearts can be divided and unstable. Only God can give a new heart, a pure heart, a heart that is fixed on Him. You can ask God to do that very work in this person's life, to reveal Himself, to draw that person to Jesus, to bring conviction where needed and to give a willingness to follow Him.
It is also good to let this prayer search your own heart. Ask God to show you your motives, to keep your heart pure and fixed on Him, and to align your desires with His purposes rather than simply asking Him to make a situation more convenient for you. He knows the heart of every person, yours and the one you are praying for, and He accounts what is in the heart.
So continue to bring this person before the Lord faithfully. Pray with worship, with trust, and with submission to God's perfect will. Pray that God would work in both hearts, that He would be exalted and that His glory would be seen, and trust Him to do what is right and loving in His time and way.
