There is nowhere in the Bible which indicates that praying for the dead was approved by God. It is a false doctrine propagated by men. This is why it is so important to prioritize studying the Bible and drawing your definition of topics from the word of God exactly as it is. And this is why we’ll be answering the question “Do our loved ones in heaven pray for us?” in this article, just to shed more light on the topic and help you better understand the subject.
Can the dead intercede for the living?
A dead person cannot intercede for someone alive.
And here’s why.
It is essential to know that death is the end of biological life. And death, in this sense, means to be inactive in the affairs of the natural world. It means to cease existing. This means that a dead person does not have anything to do with things happening in the world because the body which gives him the privilege to relate has expired.
Psalms 146:4 made us know that the day a man dies, his breath goes forth from him and that he returns immediately to the earth; on that very same day, his thoughts perish.
David called the man a mortal being who would one day die. And at death, the spirits of all men will depart from them, and their bodies will return to dust.
On the day of their death, all their projects and plans are over. Their hope and expectations become ineffective; therefore, it is impossible for a dead person to make prayers, not to even talk of them praying for the living. The living can only do prayer, and it only works for the living.
So, do our loved ones in heaven pray for us?
No! Remember, I mentioned earlier that “death is the end of every biological life.”
Everyone and everything on earth is subjected to dying due to the fall of the first man created by God. And after death, the next thing that happens to them is judgment. The Bible made us know in Hebrews 9:27 that “it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment.”
It is not an avenue to be wandering the earth and laying hands, so to say, on your loved ones to pray for them.
When a man dies, he’s dead. No amount of praying or sacrifices can alter the things they’ve done or haven’t done.
If you believe in the prayers of the dead and neglect the place of your praying, it might affect your spiritual walk with God because it has no effect. It’s like someone boxing the air and depending on something that cannot yield results.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 says that the living know that they shall die and the dead know nothing.
Do the saints in heaven pray for us?
The word of God remains our standard for answering this question, and no place in the Bible attests to the fact that saints in heaven can intercede for people on earth.
The word of God teaches us that Jesus is the one interceding for us in heaven. We see this in Romans 8:34. Hence, the one who intercedes for us in heaven is Christ Jesus, the only mediator who fills the gap between God and Man (1 Timothy 2: 5).
Another personality that prays for us, which the Bible talks about, is the Spirit of God in Romans 8 and verse 26, which says that “the Spirit of God intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.” The Holy Spirit helps us in prayers and leads the way of our hearts toward doing what pleases God.
What does the Bible say about loved ones in heaven?
The only thing relevant to our dead loved ones which the Bible talked about is that “If they die, having believed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, there’s the hope of seeing them again.”
1 Thessalonians 4: 13–18 talks about the fact that we should not sorrow because of our loved ones who are dead.
There is an assurance that they will all be raised back to life at the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ the second time, as long as they believe that He died and rose again for them. So, there is still hope for those who are asleep in Christ.
Ecclesiastes 9 and verse 4 says, “A living dog is better than a dead lion.” The person should be alive for the prayers to be more effective than when they are dead.
God places so much more importance on those who are alive than those who are dead. The dead can’t praise God or even act on God’s behalf to do ministry on earth. Prayer is your duty as a living soul, not for the dead ones to do.
Conclusion
The Bible didn’t teach us about dead people praying for the living to be saved. It is an instruction given to the living that we must pray for the living – pray for one another (Ephesians 6: 18). So, God won’t ask a dead person to pray for you when there are many men on earth He can use. Thus, the dead doesn’t have any prayer responsibility towards those alive.
