We are selfish many times in our praying. Really, we should put others first in our prayer life. Most of the time, all we do is pray for ourselves and our own little group or family—our own needs.

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.
(Phil. 1:9)

Many times when praying for Christians we say, "God bless Sister So-and-so" and "God bless Brother So-and-so," yet we don't find where Paul ever prayed that way. That kind of praying really doesn't do much good; it only salves our conscience and makes us feel we've prayed.

Paul was specific when he said, "…I pray, that your love may abound more and more." That's a good way to pray for Christians, isn't it? Paul is praying for believers.

Notice Colossians 1:9:

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
(Col. 1:9)

This is Paul's prayer for the Church at Colosse. If you are filled with the knowledge of His will, then you're going to know what all these blessings are with which the Father has blessed you.

In Ephesians 1:3, Paul prayed:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
(Eph. 1:3)

That means He already has provided everything we need—all the blessings we will ever need. They are all wrapped up in Jesus.

To pray, "God bless So-and-so" would cause God to say, "I can't answer that prayer. I've already done that, but they don't know it." Instead of Paul's saying, "God bless them," he said, "…[My] desire [is] that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." That would be a good way to pray for Christians. That's what most Christians need, isn't it?

Paul wrote this prayer under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Since it's Spirit-given, it would be a good prayer for you to pray for yourself.

You can say, "Lord, I'm going to pray this prayer for myself. It's my desire and prayer that I might be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding."

I think these prayers Paul prayed for these churches will give us insight on how to pray for other believers as well.

For example, in Second Thessalonians, Paul wrote:

Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Thess. 1:11-12)

I particularly like where Paul said, "…fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power." (That's what God wants fulfilled in us.) I also like the phrase, "That the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you."

Who ever thought of praying for a whole church that the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in them? Are you praying that way? This is a clue for us. I'm convinced we need to be specific in our praying one for another.

Paul was very specific and very definite in his praying. Let's look at more scriptures where Paul said something about prayer. Second Corinthians 1:11 isn't his prayer for the Corinthians, but Paul is asking their help in prayer: "Ye also helping together by prayer for us..."

Paul already had said in the tenth verse, concerning his difficulties, "Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us." And then he said, "Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf" (v. 11).

He is talking here about the prayer of the church "helping together." The church had prayed for him, hadn't they? The Bible says, "…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16). We are encouraged to pray one for another. When people are in trouble, or if their lives are in danger—like Paul's was—we need to remember to pray.

In Second Corinthians 9:14, Paul said, "And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you." Here he is talking about other people in his company who also had prayed for the Corinthians. They prayed one for another; they were concerned one for another.

We are selfish many times in our praying. Really, we should put others first in our prayer life. Most of the time, all we do is pray for ourselves and our own little group or family—our own needs.

We are much like the farmer who said, "God bless me and my wife, my son John and his wife, us four and no more." We wouldn't say it that way, but if you analyze it, that's about the extent of many of our prayers!

For an individual to grow spiritually, he's going to have to reach out and help others. You can't put yourself first. For a church to grow and develop, it's going to have to do the same thing.

Source: Praying To Get Results by Kenneth E. Hagin.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications