Set aside time to pray for others

"Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in chains, that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." - Colossians 4:2-6 (ESV):

Confessions

I’ve got a confession to make. I struggle to pray for my non-Christian friends—and I work full-time for an outreach organisation. When I’m praying with my wife, we often pray for our children or the challenges we are facing. It takes a big effort for us to make our non-Christian friends the loving focus of our prayers. In fact, just stopping to pray at all is a massive challenge in our smartphone-busy world.

That’s why I want to encourage you to try to find someone, or a group, to pray with at work—for outreach.

Stop and consider: How often do you pray for your non-Christian contacts?

Benefits:
I’ve just come from my fortnightly evangelistic prayer team meeting with guys who work nearby, and I feel ‘up’. During the meeting I asked the guys how they benefit from our time together. Here’s what they said:

• “It helps me to be bold.” Today Rob shared that someone in his office took a copy of Luke’s Gospel, which he had offered in an email to his whole work group. Rob plans to invite this guy to a Bible talk on Luke being held near his office. If Rob can do it, why not me?
• “It gives me creative inspiration.” As I hear what others are doing and trying in order to share Christ at work, I think to myself, “Maybe I could try that too”.
• “It gives me peace.” It’s easy to be overwhelmed when thinking about trying to share Christ with my work colleagues. As I pray with our group, I know that God is in control of situations, can provide opportunities, and gives me words to say. This is comforting.
• “It’s so encouraging.” Just meeting together gives me extra motivation, but there is special encouragement from seeing God take action after we’ve prayed.
• “I actually pray.” We are all busy. Setting aside time to pray for outreach means that I actually do it. And I pray with more enthusiasm and vigour in a group.
• “I take action.” Rob said that the only reason he thought of emailing his work group about Luke’s Gospel is because of our prayer group.
• “I love the team.” I enjoy getting to know these people. When I leave and head back to work, I know that I’m not alone. We are in it together—with Jesus.

Action: Are there Christians you know who work nearby who might form an evangelistic prayer team with you?