Learning to Rule

 ‘Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.’ 
                                                                                                         Luke 22: 31 - 32

It helps me to have this example of Jesus' prayer. Here Jesus says that he has prayed for Peter's faith not to fail and that once he has "been sifted" by Satan, that he would "turn back" and strengthen his brothers. Peter has free will, but Jesus prays that God will strengthen his faith. This helps me to know that it is a good thing to pray for what is going on in the hearts of those we love. It reveals a spiritual truth: God interacts with us as we focus our attention on the good of others. At our request, he will find a way to strengthen another's faith.

I don't think that praying for another's spiritual condition means that the person whom we pray for does not have free will. I do think it means that our wills are not always adequate to fight against Satan's attacks. Peter, like me, is weak. He loves the Lord, but in many ways he is not strong. He needs God's strength to help his faith when he is at his weakest, as he will be when he realizes the extent of his failure. He agrees with God's purposes for him, but he needs God to strengthen his faith when he is afraid or after he has failed.

So we pray for others, knowing that God finds ways to interact with our hearts to sustain us in our best hopes and desires. Praying like this is one of the ways that we extend the kingdom, encouraging God's reign in others as well as in ourselves. We are learning what it means to take care of what has been entrusted to us within his kingdom. Praying for others' faith - it is one of the major ways available to us to learn God's ways and "to rule."

Haven't you prayed for people to come to the Lord, or to come back to the Lord or to have their faith strengthened during difficult times and seen it happen? This is a great blessing because not only are their hearts being strengthened, but you are being made stronger as well. When you are praying for them, you are wanting what God wants, learning to see what he sees, and participating in God's life and work.