Remember to Pray for Other People

1. How we know da our prayers important to Jehovah?

PRAYER da wonderful gift from Jehovah. Just think about this one: Jehovah na give the angel dem certain work to do. (Ps. 91:11) He also na give his Son important work to do. (Matt. 28:18) But you think he na assign somebody to listen to our prayer? No. Da something Jehovah hisself decide to do. Jehovah da the “Hearer of prayer.” So hisself can listen to us.—Ps. 65:2.

2. When it come to praying for other people, what example the apostle Paul set?

² Even though we can pray for ourself, we mon also pray for other people. Da what the apostle Paul use to do. For example, he write to the congregation in Ephesus and say: “I continue mentioning you in my prayers.” (Eph. 1:16) Paul use to pray for each person too. For example, he tell Timothy: “I am grateful to God, . . . never ceasing to remember you in my supplications night and day.” (2 Tim. 1:3) Paul use to be having his own problem dem to pray for. (2 Cor. 11:23; 12:​7, 8) But he still use to pray for other people.

3. Why we can forget sometime to pray for other people?

³ Sometime, we can forget to pray for other people. Why? One sister name Sabrinaa give one reason. She say: “The problem dem in this world too plenty. And because we can be thinking too much about our own problem, we can only pray for ourself.” It can happen to you sometime? Then this article will really help you. It will explain (1) why it important to pray for other people and (2) how you can do it.

WHY WE MON PRAY FOR OTHER PEOPLE?

4-5. When we pray for other people, how it can get “powerful effect”? (James 5:16)

⁴ When we pray for other people it can get “powerful effect.” (Read James 5:16.) You think when we pray for other people it can help to change their situation? Yes. For example, Jesus knew da the apostle Peter wor coming deny him. So he tell him say: “I na really beg God so yor can’t lose your faith.” (Luke 22:32) Paul too knew da when we pray for people, it can help to change their situation. When Paul wor in jail in Rome for the thing he not do, he write to Philemon and say: “I am hoping that through your prayers I will be given back to you.” (Philem. 22; see study note “for I am hoping that through your prayers.”) And it not stay long, they free Paul and he wor able to start his preaching work again.

⁵ But this one not mean da we can force Jehovah to answer our prayer. When we praying for something da really catch our heart, Jehovah can know it. And sometime he can decide to answer our prayer. When we know this one, it can help us to pray to Jehovah from our heart and be convince da he will answer it the best way.—Ps. 37:5; see 2 Corinthians 1:11 and study notes.

6. When we pray for other people, how it can make us to feel about them? (1 Peter 3:8)

⁶ Praying for other people can helps us to show “tender compassion.” (Read 1 Peter 3:8.) Compassion mean, to see somebody suffering and we do something to help them. (Mark 1:​40, 41) One elder name Michael say: “When I pray for other people, da the more I can see da they really going through problem and this one can make me to love them more. It can also make me to feel close to them, even if they not know it.” One elder name Richard talk about another benefit. He say: “When we pray for somebody, we can really want do something to help them.” He also say: “When we do small-small thing dem to help the person we praying for, it just like we answering our own prayer for them.”

7. When we pray for other people, how it can help us to not put our own of problem on our head? (Philippians 2:​3, 4) (Also see the pictures.)

⁷ Praying for other people can help us to not put our own of problem on our head. (Read Philippians 2:​3, 4.) All of us get some kindna problem we going through because we living in Satan world. (1 John 5:19; Rev. 12:12) But when we make it our habit to pray for other people, it can remind us da “the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by the entire association of [our] brothers.” (1 Pet. 5:9) One pioneer sister name Katherine say: “Praying for other people can help me to remember da other people going through problem too. Knowing this one na help me to not put my own of problem on my head.”

WHO DEM WE CAN PRAY FOR?

8. Who all we can pray for?

⁸ Who dem we can pray for? We can pray for different-different groups of people. For example, we can pray for people who sick, young people who in school and they facing peer pressure, or people who suffering because of old age. Plenty of our brother and sister dem facing problem from their family member dem or from governments. (Matt. 10:​18, 36; Acts 12:5) Some of them na run away from their homes because they fighting in their area. And other people suffering because of natural disaster. We not know some of this brother and sister dem. But when we pray for them, we doing what Jesus tell us to do. He say we mon “love each other.”—John 13:34.

9. Why we mon continue praying for the brother dem da taking the lead in Jehovah organization and their wife dem?

⁹ We mon also pray for the brother dem who taking the lead in Jehovah organization. Like the Governing Body and their helper dem, the Branch Committee members, the department overseer dem to the branch office, circuit overseers, the elder dem in the congregation, and ministerial servant dem. Plenty of this brother dem get their own problem. And at the same time, they can work hard to help us. (2 Cor. 12:15) For example, one circuit overseer name Mark say: “One of the problem da I face da for me to be living far off from my ma and pa who already old. Two of them not alright in their body. Even though my sister and her husband taking care of them, it can worry me because I not there to help them. Sometime we can’t know what all the brother dem going through. Da why it will be good for us to pray for dem. (1 Thess. 5:​12, 13) We can also pray for their wife dem because they can work hard to help their husband dem so they can continue taking care of the congregation.

10-11. You think Jehovah can listen to us when we pray for different-different group of our brother and sister dem? Explain.

¹⁰ From what we na talk about, we can pray for different-different group of our brother and sister dem. For example, even if we not get anybody on mind, we can still ask Jehovah to help our brother and sister dem who in jail or to comfort the one dem who somebody na die from. One elder name Donald say, “We get plenty brother and sister dem who really going through problem. So sometime we can just pray for all of them.”

¹¹ You think Jehovah can listen to this kindna prayer dem? Yes! In fact we not know the problem each of our brother and sister dem going through. So it good to pray for different-different group of our brother and sister dem. (John 17:20; Eph. 6:18) When we do it, it will show da we get “love for the whole association of brothers.”—1 Pet. 2:17.

TRY TO PRAY FOR EACH PERSON

12. When we learn to observe people, how it can help us to know what to pray for?

¹² Learn to observe. Beside praying for group of our brother and sister dem, we can even call their name one by one and pray for them. For example, somebody in your congregation suffering from serious sickness? You get any young person in your congregation who feeling discourage because their school mate dem tempting them to do wrong thing? You get any single parent da doing their best to raise their child “in the discipline and admonition of Jehovah”? (Eph. 6:4) When we learn to observe people, it will make us to love them more and we will want pray for them.b—Rom. 12:15.

13. How we can pray for our brother and sister dem who we not know?

¹³ Try to remember people name and pray for them. We can even do it for our brother and sister dem who we not know. For example, some of our brother and sister dem in jail in Crimea, Eritrea, Russia, and Singapore. You can go on jw.org and you will see their name dem there.c One circuit overseer name Brian say: “I can write the name of any brother or sister who in jail and say it loud. When I do it, it can help me to remember the person and use their name when I praying for them.”

14-15. How we can know the main thing to pray for?

¹⁴ Pray for particular thing. Michael who we talk about before say: “When I read on jw.org about some of our brother dem who in jail, I can put myself in their shoes. If da me, I will be worrying about my wife and I will want make sure da she get the thing dem she need. So this one can help me to know the particular thing to pray for when I praying for my brother dem who marry and they in jail.”—Heb. 13:​3, ftn.

¹⁵ When we think about what our brother dem going through in jail, it can help us to know the main thing to pray for. For example, we can pray for the soldier people who minding them to be kind to them and to also allow them to be free to worship Jehovah. (1 Tim. 2:​1, 2) We can also pray for the brother dem in the congregation to learn from this faithful brother dem who in jail. Or for people who not Jehovah witness to see their good behavior and want listen to our message. (1 Pet. 2:12) And we can do the same thing too when we praying for our brother and sister dem who going through other problem. We can show da we “abound in love for one another” when we learn to observe, pray for other people by using their name and pray for particular thing.—1 Thess. 3:12.

BE BALANCE WHEN YOU PRAYING

16. How we can show da we balance when we praying? (Matthew 6:8)

¹⁶ We na learn da when we pray for people, it can help to change their situation. But when we praying, we mon be balance. Da because Jehovah can already know what his people want even before they theirself can know it. So we mon not think da we telling Jehovah something da he not already know. Or we mon not advise him on how to handle the situation. (Read Matthew 6:8.) So why we mon pray for other people? Beside the reason dem we na talk about in this article, da what people who care for each other can do. Da Love can make us to pray for each other. And Jehovah can be happy when he see us following his example to show love.

17-18. Give example to show why it important to pray for our brother and sister dem?

¹⁷ Even if we pray for people and their situation not change, it still show da we love our brother and sister dem and Jehovah can be happy. Let look at this example. This man and his wife get two small children, one boy and one girl. The boy get sick and he to the hospital. The girl beg her pa and say: “Papa, please help my brother. He really sick!” The pa already know what to do. He love his son and he taking good care of him. But the way his daughter begging him to help her brother make him happy. Because it show da she really love her brother.

¹⁸ Da the same thing Jehovah want us to do. He want us to take care of each other and pray for each other. And when we do it, it will show da we not only care for ourself, but we really love our brother and sister dem and Jehovah can see it. (2 Thess. 1:3; Heb. 6:10) We also na talk about how our prayer can help to change somebody situation sometime. So let all of us try our best to remember to always pray for each other.