What role does prayer play in our discipleship journey and how can it be the best thing we can do for others?

Dr. Joel Beeke emphasizes the pivotal role of prayer in discipleship, sharing his own practice of praying with every individual who seeks his counsel. Whether in his study, in the middle of a crowd, or on the church parking lot, he affirms the power of prayer as the capstone for discipleship. He cites John Newton's words, asserting that praying for someone is the best thing one can do for them. This practice not only offers support but also conveys a sense of profound friendship that can move both parties to tears.

Prayer, according to Dr. Beeke, should not only be urgent and passionate but also rich in content. As pastors and laypeople pray for others, they are not only interceding but also discipling them through the words they choose. These prayers can provide instruction on how to approach God, addressing specific requests and walking through major points, thus embedding instruction within the appeal to God for help. Even as prayer primarily serves as a direct plea to God, it also carries an instructional aspect to guide people in their spiritual journey.

James 5:16 (NKJV): 'Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.'

Prayer has a critical role in discipleship in every way, shape, and form. I've had a habit now for about 40 years of my, at this point, close to 50 year ministry of, I wish I would have done it the first 10 years too, of praying with every single person that walks in my study. Praying in the middle of a crowd when I hear a need after church, with everybody milling about, I pray with the individual. Praying with people on the church parking lot, praying everywhere. I just finished speaking here and a guy came to me and expressed a few needs and I said, okay, I'll pray with you.

And then there was a little boy that came up to me, seven years old, and said, how do I get a new heart? And I told him and then I got down on my knees beside him and prayed with him. And I don't care how many people are standing in line. Prayer is a capstone for discipleship. In fact, as John Newton said, praying for someone is the best thing I can do for them.

In fact, he said this, I love this statement. He said, my best friends are the ones who pray for me, who lift up my worthless name and lisp it in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. I feel that way. When people say to me, Pastor, we're praying for you every day, it's just like instantly I get tears in my eyes. This is a real friend.

So when you pray for people also as a pastor, but also as a lay person, but especially as a pastor, there should be an urgency in your prayer, a passion in your prayer, there should be rich content in your prayer. You're actually discipling people in the very words you're choosing in the prayer. And you're teaching them how to approach to God, even as you're praying for specific requests. And when I hear someone out, say in a constant session, and then I go to pray for them I Walk with my prayer I walk through all those major points and Now I'm not preaching to them in my prayer, but I'm praying for them in all those situations we talked about, how to handle this particular point correctly. And so prayer also has instruction embedded in it, even though primarily it's a direct appeal to God to help this individual.