Lasting Prayers

Elisabeth Elliot, in her book A Lamp For My Feet, makes the following point regarding how to pray for those we love:

"Because I am 'of the earth, earthy,' I find that my prayers for the people I love are mostly bound by very earthy concerns--Lord, help P. to find a good wife, show G. which college to attend, provide money for W.'s house and E.'s car, help T. with his book, give X. a better job. It is meet and proper to pray for such things, but not to pray only for such things. There are prayers of far more lasting import which we must also learn to pray. We can find words for those in the prayer of Jesus for the people He loved:
that they may be one;
that they may find his joy completed in themselves;
that they may be kept from evil;
that they may be made holy by the truth;
that they may live in Christ;
that they may grow complete into one;
that they may be with him;
that the love which God has for Christ may be in their hearts.
If we learn to pray that kind of prayer, it will perhaps amend the "lesser" prayers.
Lord, teach me to pray. Open my eyes to see beyond the earthly to the heavenly. Let my primary concerns be heavenly ones, that your kingdom may come on earth, your will be done in me and in those I love. Teach me to pray with Jesus, for his sake. Amen."

Posted by Meg Spear