When Your Life Depends on the Prayers of Others

Daily Devotional – Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Therefore, I exhort first that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 (NKJV)

In late 2020, I spent close to three weeks in a COVID 19 isolation unit at a local hospital. During the first five days, I was on supplemental oxygen support. I would slip in and out of sleep for short spans both at night and during the day.

I do not remember starting any prayer and ending it. I would mumble a few words as I gradually slipped into brief slumber. In fact, there were days when I never prayed.

For that reason, I am sure that the prayers that brought healing to me were not my own. My family was praying for me. My fellow believers and friends were fervently pleading with God to heal me.

If my healing depended solely on my prayers, then I would not be writing this devotional today. It required the intercession of others for me to be healed.

When I gained full control over my mind, Paul’s words made perfect sense to me. “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men” (1 Timothy 2:1).

If God would open your spiritual eyes, you would realize that there are countless times when the prayers of others saved you from many troubles. Perhaps it was you mother, father, brother, sister, spouse, pastor or a stranger that intervened for you.

My experience taught me to ‘stand in the gap’ (Ezekiel 22:30) for other people.

Whom can you intercede for today? On whose behalf will you request God for forgiveness, healing, salvation and restoration?

Father, reveal to me a person that needs my intercession today.