Hello prayer friends!
We have three children. They are all adults now, but none of them started as full-grown humans. We brought them each home from the hospital as teeny tiny, hungry, sleep-disturbing, life-changing, diaper-messing, newborn bundles of joy.
We had a job to do as their parents. Not one of them raised themselves. They required our attention. We cared for them continually. Fed them constantly. Changed their diapers endlessly. When they were asleep, we stood over their crib and watched to make sure they were breathing. And when they were awake, we endeavored valiantly, sometimes in vain, to get them back to sleep.
But somehow the church has lost sight of the fact that when people get born again, they need the same care as a newborn baby. We pray them into the kingdom and then say, “Okay, you’re heading to heaven, but now you’re on your own down here.” Our prayer job doesn’t end with their salvation. That’s just the beginning. Now we get into the real work of “raising” them up in the Lord.
Over and over in the writings of the apostle Paul, you’ll see him saying to the church, “I never stop praying for you.”
Prayer was a huge part of his care and ministry to the church, and it should be to us as well. At some point in our day every single day, we should pray for the people that make up the Church. How many of us can honestly say we do that?
“My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.”
Galatians 4:29 NKJV
It’s our responsibility to pray for those who got born again through Love the Lost, and we aren’t to stop until Christ is fully formed in them. The Amplified Classic Version says, “Until Christ is completely and permanently formed (molded) within.”
That’s a big job. Starting Monday, July 1st, we will be praying through the devotional called Till Christ be Formed. This devotional will help guide us through some practical prayers taken right from scripture that we can pray for the new babes in Christ, for the Church, for our families, and even for ourselves. (You will find these prayers in their entirety in the post called Paul’s Prayers for the Churches.)
We firmly believe things happen when we pray that won’t happen if we don’t pray. I’m so thankful that someone prayed for me when I first surrendered my life to Christ and likely someone prayed for you too. I’m so glad people are still praying for me today. Aren’t you? Will you be that person for someone else? Let’s pray until Christ is fully formed in them and in us.
Blessings….
The Warren Prays Team