Example of Praying for Others in Sin – Christian Training Online

EXAMPLES OF PRAYING FOR OTHERS IN SIN

(Thirty plus years ago God put Don Rogers in my life. He trained and mentored me in spiritual ministry. When he was no longer able to minister, I had the privilege of taking over his “Spiritual Warfare Ministries”. He had written many articles about spiritual warfare. I have edited and added to his work for this blog.)

In the previous blog we talked about the importance of intercessory prayer for those in sin. We ask God to forgive their sin and confess it as sin so that it’s power will be broken in their lives and so that demons cannot us it to work against them. In this blog we’ll look at Bible examples of this in operation.

Nehemiah understood that Israel had been taken into captivity because of their sins. He prayed to God and said, “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I prayer before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.” (Nehemiah 1:5-7)

As a result of this intercession, Nehemiah received favor with the king and was sent back to rebuild Jerusalem as governor. After Jerusalem’s walls were repaired and gates built, Nehemiah and Ezra, who had also been confessing Israel’s sins (Ezra 9:5-15), both witnessed God’s Spirit bringing conviction and repentance to the people following the public reading of God’s word in chapters 8 and 9. God honored their obedience with a spiritual revival!

Stephen was a man full of God’s grace and power. He did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. He was brought before the Sanhedrin because of false accusations and he spoke eloquently but was condemned to death by stoning.

Acts 7:59-8:1 “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.”

Shortly after Stephen’s prayer and death, Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and was converted. God had honored Stephen’s prayer. On the Cross, just before His death, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” The book of Acts is a record of many that came to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Savior. They became the basis of the Church that God called into being to become the body of Christ continuing His work here on earth. Both Jesus and the Holy Spirit continue to make intercession for us. This is part of God’s wondrous plan of grace.

Summary of the principles for praying for others in sin:

Adopt a Christ-like attitude toward the person for whom you are interceding. Realize God’s desire to see people repent and be free. Ask God to show you any wrong attitudes or motives which remain in you. Pray for God’s love to overcome your prejudice and judgmental attitudes.
Ask God to show you the sin areas in a person’s life that need to be addressed. Make a list of these sins so that you may intercede daily concerning them. Bringing them to God daily is necessary because people renew their sins daily.
Address every act of sin that occurs around you immediately. This can be done by quickly praying silently or going into another room for privacy.
Use your believer’s authority in Christ to address demonic activity and bind the authority of the demon that is working at the time. Command that the demon’s power be broken and order him to leave and go to where Jesus sends him. Mental commands can be effective in circumstances where you cannot speak aloud. Spirits communicate on a mental level anyway and the Holy Spirit anoints our commands with the authority and the power of God. Always learn to act on the basis of faith, because you will not always see a reaction in the natural. If Christians only realized what often happens when they pray or exercise spiritual authority, they would truly be amazed.
Test the spirits (1 Jn 4:1). Do not always assume that your problems are always natural ones, or always the enemy. Pray for spiritual discernment. It is possible to test situations by confessing any sin connection and then exercising spiritual authority against any demonic activity associated with the problem. You will be surprised in the number of times your situation will change as a result. This principle of intercession can be summed up by the words God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel concerning Jerusalem’s sins. “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none” (Ezekiel 22:30).

If you are willing to step out in faith and explore this biblical principle of “intercessory repentance” you will soon realize it is possible through God’s grace and power to pull down strongholds that the enemy has built. But you will have to learn to be patient, persevering and stand in faith on God’s promises.

Recently I have compiled my almost 400 SPIRITUAL WARFARE BLOGS INTO 3 BOOKS (PDF) and put them on the spiritual warfare web site (https://www.christiantrainingonline.org/our-ministries/spiritual-warfare/learning-more/) You can find them on www.christiantrainingonline.org/ Go to the Spiritual Warfare web site ten clock on Learning More (Books) and you’ll find them. The best part is that I’ve thoroughly indexed them so you can look for any subject or topic you are interested in. There is an index in each book, but also a separate book that is just an index for all the topics covered in all the blogs. Hopefully you can easier find the information you are looking for that way. Pass these books on to others who might enjoy them. Read a blog a day and you’ll learn about Spiritual Warfare a little bit at a time. God bless!