Praying from a Distance
Ephesians 1:16, 21 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4
Ask God to deepen the faith and understanding that your brothers and sisters have of the gospel—that they would strive for more truth of Christ in their lives through knowledge, discernment, and insight.
“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you . . . and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe . . . far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named” (Ephesians 1:16, 21).
“We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the affliction that you are enduring” (2 Thessalonians 1:3-4).
Pray for believers to rest in the Spirit, who opens the heart and mind to wisdom and knowledge. Ask that in what your brothers and sisters cannot control, they would remember the hope of glory and the exceedingly great power of God. Pray that though the outside world becomes reordered or even disordered, their lives would remain ordered as always—by operating in submission to the kingly rule of Christ. Ask God to remind your brothers’ and sisters’ hearts that He is over all things—every authority, power, dominion, and name. Pray that, in thinking of the might of God who indwells them, they would experience an increase in faith and have endurance in affliction.