Recently, our discipleship group received an e-mail from one of the men in the group asking us to pray for him because he was experiencing some tough times. As I read his request, my heart went out to him. In between the lines, there was a sense of anxiety and the feeling beaten down and discouraged.

Having the elephant-like memory that I do, I stopped what I was doing to pray for my brother. I asked the Lord to provide him with an extra measure of peace and a remembrance of God’s sovereign will, limitless grace and overwhelming love. Then I wrote him to let him know that his request had not been ignored.

Shortly thereafter, I was studying the Word and came upon Romans 15:30, “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf . . .”

When I read this I was reminded of my brother’s e-mail. In the same way he had asked us to lift him up in prayer, so Paul had asked fellow believers.  In fact, Paul asked them to “strive” or contend with him indicating that he, too – obviously – was experiencing tough times.

But, even deeper than that, this particular example of Paul reaching out to other Christians and asking them to contend in prayer with him shows us that we as believers should pray for one another and in so doing assume their burdens as if they were our own. In doing this we relieve our believer of carrying the burden alone. And, knowing that the scripture is true and that our strength is found in our prayers (Psalm 138:3), there is nothing greater that we can do to help bolster fellow believers than by praying to God on their behalf.

And, that is where the RMG comes into play. Having a group of men or women that you know well enough to ask them to help carry your burden is an amazing gift from God!

So, once again, if you have not found an RMG, we encourage you to do so. It’s not just about helping others; it’s about helping you too. You can find a list of our RMGs here.