Article April 20, 1987 Issue

Including the whole world in our prayers

Praying for ourselves and praying for the world aren't mutually exclusive activities. To do a thorough job at one, we have to do our best at the other.

Marjorie Russell Tis

I Used to think I could be excused from praying for the world. It wasn't that I didn't want to do my part. Nor that I doubted the power of prayer. It's just that I thought I had enough problems of my own to solve first.

In time, however, I discovered I could not really work out my own salvation while turning away from others. After all, part of working out one's own salvation is gaining a more universal, unselfish outlook. In fact, I learned that reaching out to God on behalf of others does not put one's own spiritual progress on hold at all. Instead it promotes that progress. As the Bible says, "The Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before."^{ Job 42:10.} This didn't mean I should stop praying for myself. I just needed to stop praying for myself exclusively.

I also knew, however, that if my efforts to help were to be effective, they would have to be reinforced by an honest commitment to regeneration in my own life. Without this commitment, my best intentions could never get off the ground.

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