Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!
Stand in the Gap
We Are Called by Your Name
So That All the Kingdoms of the Earth May Know
I Have Prayed for You
This Is My Prayer
Many of the Bible’s prayers are for someone else. Abraham bargains for Sodom down to ten. After the golden calf, Moses asks God to forgive the people, “But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.” When his sister turns on him and becomes leprous, his whole prayer is “O God, please heal her!” A psalm remembers that Moses “stood before Him in the breach,” and through Ezekiel God says He looked for someone to stand in the gap, “But I found no one.” Samuel calls it a sin to stop praying for the people. These prayers almost never argue from the people’s goodness. They argue from God’s name. Moses asks how anyone will know these are God’s people unless His Presence goes with them. Joshua asks, “Then what will You do for Your great name?” Jeremiah prays, “Although our iniquities testify against us, O Lord, act for the sake of Your name,” because “we are called by Your name.” Ezra, grieving over what others had done, still says “our iniquities.” Isaiah: “we are all Your people!” Habakkuk: “In Your wrath, remember mercy!” The reason reaches past Israel. Solomon prays for the foreigner who comes from a distant land, Elijah “so that this people will know,” Hezekiah “so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know.” Threatened, the first church asks for boldness, not safety. Jesus prays the same way. He asks the Father to “protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me,” not to take them out of the world. He tells Peter, who is about to deny him, “I have prayed for you,” and tells his followers to “pray for those who mistreat you.” Paul prays for Israel’s salvation and for a church’s love to “abound more and more,” Epaphras is “always wrestling in prayer” for his church, and kings are to be prayed for. The last prayer here asks that “the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him.”
Many of the Bible’s prayers are for someone else. Abraham bargains for Sodom down to ten. After the golden calf, Moses asks God to forgive the people, “But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.” When his sister turns on him and becomes leprous, his whole prayer is “O God, please heal her!” A psalm remembers that Moses “stood before Him in the breach,” and through Ezekiel God says He looked for someone to stand in the gap, “But I found no one.” Samuel calls it a sin to stop praying for the people. These prayers almost never argue from the people’s goodness. They argue from God’s name. Moses asks how anyone will know these are God’s people unless His Presence goes with them. Joshua asks, “Then what will You do for Your great name?” Jeremiah prays, “Although our iniquities testify against us, O Lord, act for the sake of Your name,” because “we are called by Your name.” Ezra, grieving over what others had done, still says “our iniquities.” Isaiah: “we are all Your people!” Habakkuk: “In Your wrath, remember mercy!” The reason reaches past Israel. Solomon prays for the foreigner who comes from a distant land, Elijah “so that this people will know,” Hezekiah “so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know.” Threatened, the first church asks for boldness, not safety. Jesus prays the same way. He asks the Father to “protect them by Your name, the name You gave Me,” not to take them out of the world. He tells Peter, who is about to deny him, “I have prayed for you,” and tells his followers to “pray for those who mistreat you.” Paul prays for Israel’s salvation and for a church’s love to “abound more and more,” Epaphras is “always wrestling in prayer” for his church, and kings are to be prayed for. The last prayer here asks that “the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him.”