Tag Archives: fellow believers

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Praying for Believers

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“For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you, and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers” (Eph. 1:15-16).

Your love for other Christians is as much a mark of true faith as your love for God.

The Ephesian Christians demonstrated two important characteristics of genuine Christian faith: faith in the Lord Jesus and love for fellow believers.

“Faith in the Lord Jesus” implies both an affirmation of Christ’s deity and submission to His sovereignty. Because He is God, He is the Sovereign Lord, so we must obey what He commands (John 14:15; 1 John 2:3-6).

Your “love for all the saints” is as much a mark of true faith as your love for God. John said, “The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now” (1 John 2:9). In that passage “light” is a metaphor for righteousness and truth, and “darkness” is a metaphor for sin and error. It is sinful and erroneous to claim you love God if you have no love for other believers. Those who love God will love fellow believers as well.

If you love others, you will pray for them and praise God for their spiritual progress—as Paul did for the Ephesians—and they will do the same for you. That’s a wonderful dynamic within the Body of Christ, and one that you must diligently pursue.

Suggestions for Prayer

  • If you haven’t done so already, start a prayer list of individuals for whom you will pray each day. List their names and some specific requests. Record answers to your prayers as you see God moving in their lives.
  • Remember to thank God for their spiritual progress as well as praying for their needs. Let them know you are praying for them. That could be a source of great encouragement for them.
  • If you are at odds with another believer, seek to reconcile immediately (Matt. 5:23-24) so your witness will be strong and the Lord’s name won’t suffer reproach.

For Further Study; Read Philippians 1:9-11 and Colossians 1:9-14.

  • What requests and concerns did Paul express in his prayers?
  • Do your prayers reflect Paul’s priorities? If not, what adjustments must you make to have a more biblical pattern of prayer?

 

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Praying for Believers

1 Comment

John MacArthur

“For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you, and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers” (Eph. 1:15-16).

The Ephesian Christians demonstrated two important characteristics of genuine Christian faith: faith in the Lord Jesus and love for fellow believers.

“Faith in the Lord Jesus” implies both an affirmation of Christ’s deity and submission to His sovereignty. Because He is God, He is the Sovereign Lord, so we must obey what He commands (John 14:15; 1 John 2:3-6).

Your “love for all the saints” is as much a mark of true faith as your love for God. John said, “The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now” (1 John 2:9). In that passage “light” is a metaphor for righteousness and truth, and “darkness” is a metaphor for sin and error. It is sinful and erroneous to claim you love God if you have no love for other believers. Those who love God will love fellow believers as well.

If you love others, you will pray for them and praise God for their spiritual progress–as Paul did for the Ephesians–and they will do the same for you. That’s a wonderful dynamic within the Body of Christ, and one that you must diligently pursue.

Suggestions for Prayer:

If you haven’t done so already, start a prayer list of individuals for whom you will pray each day. List their names and some specific requests. Record answers to your prayers as you see God moving in their lives.

Remember to thank God for their spiritual progress as well as praying for their needs. Let them know you are praying for them. That could be a source of great encouragement for them.

If you are at odds with another believer, seek to reconcile immediately (Matt. 5:23-24) so your witness will be strong and the Lord’s name won’t suffer reproach.

For Further Study:

Read Philippians 1:9-11 and Colossians 1:9-14

What requests and concerns did Paul express in his prayers?

Do your prayers reflect Paul’s priorities? If not, what adjustments must you make to have a more biblical pattern of prayer?

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – When a Fellow Christian Stumbles

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Charles Stanley

Galatians 6:1

Believers sometimes make wrong choices that result in their stumbling on the path of faith. According to the apostle Paul, our responsibility is to help fallen brothers and sisters to get back on their feet. Here are six areas where you can assist.

1. Try and help the believer to be able to recognize his failure as sin.

2. Does he accept responsibility for his sin? It is easy to blame one’s own transgression on the influence of someone else, but each person is ultimately responsible for his own behavior choices.

3. Encourage the Christian to confess and repent. True repentance is marked by a change of mind that results in a change of behavior.

4. Restitution may need to be made. For instance, if something was stolen, it must be paid back, or, if someone’s been harmed emotionally or spiritually, forgiveness should be sought. Circumstances may warrant advice from a pastor.

5. Help him to determine what lesson God may be trying to teach. We often overlook the fact that the Lord wants to communicate with us in our hard time.

6. Counsel the believer to respond to God’s chastisement with gratitude. This is a difficult step for anyone, but through discipline, we can always learn more about our heavenly Father.

Our responsibility as brothers and sisters is not condemnation, but restoration with gentleness. We must be sensitive to fellow believers’ hurts and needs. And then, if we ourselves should ever stumble, we can expect similar treatment in the same loving spirit.

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For the Sake of the Gospel – Greg Laurie

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“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” —Matthew 5:44

Even in the church today, we can write off a lot of people, sometimes even fellow believers. It seems that sometimes the slogan is, “Us four and no more.” We can divide over minutiae and allow second-tier and third-tier issues to bring unnecessary division in our ranks.

I have had people criticize me for those whom we involve in our Harvest Crusades: “Why do you let that church come? If that church is coming, then our church isn’t going to participate.” Or, “Why did you let that pastor pray at the crusade? I don’t agree with that pastor, because in one of his books, he quoted someone who once had coffee with someone else, and it is guilt by association. I want nothing to do with any of this.”

But I will say, “Look at the essential areas where we are in agreement, and we can get together—even though there are some minor differences—for the sake of the gospel of Christ. That is all I am trying to do.”

If people want to withdraw over that, then I guess that is what will happen. But I am going to keep doing what I do and keep preaching the gospel and trying to get as many people to join me as possible. And I want to join as many others who are doing this too.

Here is the thing: Sometimes there are people we don’t want to bring the gospel to, because if we were honest (we probably would not verbalize it), we don’t want them to come to Christ. But the Bible says we are to love our enemies (see Matthew 5:44).

So here is my suggestion to you: Go to them. Take the message of the gospel to the people who have offended you and hurt you.

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Praying for Believers – John MacArthur

1 Comment

 

“For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you, and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers” (Eph. 1:15-16).

The Ephesian Christians demonstrated two important characteristics of genuine Christian faith: faith in the Lord Jesus and love for fellow believers.

“Faith in the Lord Jesus” implies both an affirmation of Christ’s deity and submission to His sovereignty. Because He is God, He is the Sovereign Lord, so we must obey what He commands (John 14:15; 1 John 2:3-6).

Your “love for all the saints” is as much a mark of true faith as your love for God. John said, “The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now” (1 John 2:9). In that passage “light” is a metaphor for righteousness and truth, and “darkness” is a metaphor for sin and error. It is sinful and erroneous to claim you love God if you have no love for other believers. Those who love God will love fellow believers as well.

If you love others, you will pray for them and praise God for their spiritual progress–as Paul did for the Ephesians–and they will do the same for you. That’s a wonderful dynamic within the Body of Christ, and one that you must diligently pursue.

Suggestions for Prayer:  If you haven’t done so already, start a prayer list of individuals for whom you will pray each day. List their names and some specific requests. Record answers to your prayers as you see God moving in their lives.

Remember to thank God for their spiritual progress as well as praying for their needs. Let them know you are praying for them. That could be a source of great encouragement for them.

If you are at odds with another believer, seek to reconcile immediately (Matt. 5:23-24) so your witness will be strong and the Lord’s name won’t suffer reproach.

 

For Further Study: Read Philippians 1:9-11 and Colossians 1:9-14

What requests and concerns did Paul express in his prayers?

Do your prayers reflect Paul’s priorities? If not, what adjustments must you make to have a more biblical pattern of prayer?