In Chapter 11 of his book"The Necessity of Prayer", E.M. Bounds wrote:
The soldier-prayer must reflect its profound concern for the success and well-being of the whole army. The battle is not altogether a personal matter; victory cannot be achieved for self, alone. There is a sense, in which the entire army of Christ is involved. The cause of God, His saints, their woes and trials, their duties and crosses, all should find a voice and a pleader in the Christian soldier, when he prays. He dare not limit his praying to himself. Nothing dries up spiritual secretions so certainly and completely; nothing poisons the fountain of spiritual life so effectively; nothing acts in such deadly fashion, as selfish praying.
One should not think that prayer for one's self or those near you (such as family, friends or community) is wrong. The Bible shows us how the Lord Jesus prayed for Himself and for His disciples just prior to His arrest (John 17:1-19). The prophet Samuel knew that a lack of his praying for his people would constitute a sin (1 Samuel 12:23). However, there is a tendency for us to become insular and limit our focus to those immediately around us. When viewing the world around us, a tribalistic perspective is often the easiest default into which we can fall.
The teaching of Christ indicates that His church and its activities would not be confined to a localized region or a single people group. The church's mandate is world-wide in scope:
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)
Therefore, when it comes to prayer and those for whom you pray and the situations for which you pray, don't limit yourself to the local. Don't pray only for family and friends and local situations. Don't neglect them but don't limit yourself to them either. Pray on the global scale. Pray for situations in other countries (the technology of the early 21st century allows us to know about events around the world as they happen). Our senior pastor once noted that reading the daily newspaper can have a great devotional quality. A newspaper can inform you of world events and provide a framework from which to pray.
Lastly, don't forget that, to use the E.M. Bounds and biblical metaphor, a Christian is a soldier of Christ in a vast worldwide army of other Christians. Pray for your fellow-believers across the globe. There will be millions who do not share your culture, language, racial or ethnic background. They may live lifes of persecution unimagined by you and your experience. Yet, what you share and have in common is the knowledge that
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6 NIV)
The journey that a Christian makes in this life can often be a lonely journey. The account of Christian's journey to the Celestial City, in John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" is a wonderful allegory of the Christian life which demonstrates a distinct "aloneness" quality. Even when surrounded by those we love and who love us, in our hearts and minds, the words of Proverbs ring true to us: "Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy." (Proverbs 14:10 NIV).
