What Foundation are You Laying?

There’s this principle in the Bible called sowing and reaping. The premise is that whatever you sow, you will reap, which is pretty simple. In our American culture, we would say “what goes around comes around”. Which means if you’re being a jerk, you’ll get jerkiness back. If you’re kind, you’ll generally receive kindness back. If you’re sowing into godly things then you’ll reap godly rewards. If you’re doing and focusing on fleshly things you’ll get back fleshly things.

This morning I felt this unction to pray for friends’ marriages. I’m going be honest with you, I have a lot of friends who are married. In fact, I’m usually the 15th wheel when hanging out with friends because 85% of them have significant others. I could’ve prayed a blanket prayer over all of them and called it a day, having checked that odd urge off my to-do list, but I didn’t. I waited. I was quiet. I was intentional. I was specific.

Then the Lord reminded me that what I do now is laying the foundation for the future. As uncomfortable as it makes me, I’m 99% sure that I’m going to be married someday, most likely a lot sooner than I’d be comfortable with. And, because I’m involved, that relationship will need to be covered in prayer. I will need a whole army praying for that union when we’re together. I’m laying the foundation for that now. By praying for others, some know that I’m praying for them because we talk about it, but most don’t, I am setting the stage for them to pray for me when the time comes.

I think we absolutely underestimate the power of prayer in our lives. What would it look like if we prayed as if prayer really did change things? What if the act of submitting our wills, our requests, our concerns, and our praises to the Lord became a habit?

I encourage you to pray for others today. Focus on the people around you, submit their needs to God; intercede for them believing that God will do amazing in their lives. Pray for marriages, families, businesses, health, finances, freedom, hope, joy, peace, salvation, and deeper intimacy with the Lord. Go to the mat for those people in your life, pray and pray hard.

I believe that when we step out of ourselves for a little while, when we willingly set aside our problems to champion the cause of another, God is honored. The Lord is so selfless and this act of selflessness in prayer, I believe, pleases him. I think it warms his heart when he sees his children standing up for each other, protecting each other, and loving each other well. I also am sure that as we do this, the Lord will lay us on the hearts of others to pray for. In our times of need, because we were willing to lift up the needs of others, we will be lifted up when we can’t do it ourselves.

To go deeper: Read Watch Your Six