This is part one of three in a series of guest posts by Steven Rossi while I’m on a Spring Break service trip in Denver, Colorado. Check out Steven’s blog, LetsMoveToTheMoon.

When Richard asked me to do a few guest posts while he was on his trip to Denver, I immediately came up with several topics which I he would never let me post about, knowing that he’d be gone for a week and had given me complete control. Unfortunately, I discovered through his last post that he has at least some sort of Internet connection this week (which I guess I should have expected considering he’s in Denver and not some third world country), so that ruined my fun. Instead I’ll write about something a little more acceptable: relationships.

I chose for this first post the topic of prayer. I chose this for two main reasons regarding relationships: (1) it’s important and (2) I’m not very good at it. I also love this idea because it’s applicable to anyone at any age in any stage of life. I’ll therefore focus on the importance of prayer in relationships, but I’ll skip over general things about prayer since most would be boring and repetitive.

Two thoughts from the Bible: (1) Paul mentions his prayers for his friends in almost all of his letters. Examples of this include Romans 1:8, 1 Corinthians 1:4, Ephesians 1:15-16, Philippians 1:4, Colossians 1:3,9, and numerous others. Furthermore, Paul frequently requested that his friends pray for him. Paul certainly saw value in praying to God on behalf of friends. (2) In Luke 6, Jesus commands His followers to pray for (and love) their enemies and those who hurt them. In the past I’ve thought to myself, “If we’re to love and pray for our enemies, what about our friends? Should we not do the same for them?” This is huge. I’d wager that praying for our friends is pretty high up on the list of loving things we can do for our friends.

And here’s one thought from me: I have found that I am most stirred up with love for the people I know when I am praying for them. I think there’s something about passionately asking for the Lord’s total reign in the life of a friend that creates a deeper love for that person. And don’t get me started about praying WITH friends. Talk about getting to know someone.

I confess that I have presented nothing revolutionary in these few paragraphs. I am satisfied with that, though, as I intend for this post to serve primarily as a reminder of something that we already know: we must be praying for our friends.

Thanks for reading, and I’ve got two more posts coming. Get excited.