Prayer

Struggling In Prayer.

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Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. – Colossians 4:12 ESV

We all struggle with prayer at times. It comes with the territory. Prayer can be hard. But the kind of struggle we’re going to talk about in this blog is something a bit different than finding prayer hard to do. The word Paul uses in the Greek is agōnizomai and you can see that it is where we get our English words agony and agonize. In Paul’s day it was a word typically used when referring to someone entered into gymnastic games. It had to do with competition, contending, fighting, or laboring against an opponent of difficulty. It also carried the meaning “to endeavour with strenuous zeal.” So when Paul said Epaphras was “always struggling” in his prayers on behalf of the believers in Colosse, he wasn’t inferring that Epaphras had a hard time praying. He meant that this young man’s prayer life was marked by agonizing effort and energetic zeal. Paul had evidently seen and heard him pray. He had been an eye-witness to the determination and dedication behind the prayers of Epaphras. I have a feeling his prayers were much more than just “Lord, would you bless the people in Colosse.” He didn’t just ask God to be with them and watch over them. Paul says that the overriding theme of his prayers was that they would “stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.”

Epaphras was a Greek who had become a follower of Jesus Christ and had played a significant role in helping to establish the church in Colosse. “Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant” (Colossians 1:5-7 ESV). Epaphras had a vested interest in the health of the church in Colosse. He wanted it to thrive. So he prayed for “God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God” (NLT). His was not just a short, sweet prayer offered on a one-time basis, but an ongoing, persevering petition that was accompanied by an intense desire to see God answer. Epaphras wanted to see them mature in their faith and grow in their knowledge of God’s will for them. It is essentially the same prayer Paul prayed for them at the very beginning of his letter. “So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9 NLT). And Paul gave the end result that would accompany God’s answer to his prayer: “Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better” (Colossians 1:10 NLT).

Paul and Epaphras both knew what the believers in Colosse needed. They needed more of God. They needed God to mature them by revealing His will to them. They desperately needed to know what God wanted them to know and do. With that knowledge and the Holy Spirit’s help, they would have what they needed to live lives that honored and pleased God.

Do we agonize and labor prayerfully for that to happen among the believers with whom we worship and serve? Do we go to the mat with God, pleading that He will reveal His will to our loved ones and friends, asking that He make them strong and perfect? Are we concerned enough for the spiritual maturity that we pray fervently and repeatedly that they know and follow the whole will of God? For Epaphras, praying for his friends in Colosse was a labor of love. He did it gladly. He did it tirelessly. Because he was not going to be content until he saw God’s answer in the form of lives that pleased and honored Him. We could stand to struggle a bit more in our prayer lives. Not with prayer itself, but in the content and focus of our prayers. We should so desire what God desires, that we are not content until we see His will done in the lives of those we love. God’s desire for each of His children is their growth in Christ-likeness. He wants to see them mature. He wants to see them living within His will. We should want the same thing. And we should not stop praying for it until we see God’s answer appear in transformed lives that bring glory and honor to Him.

That Hardest Prayer to Pray.

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But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. – Luke 6:27-28 ESV

These two verses are included in Luke’s account of the Sermon on the Mount. They are the words of Jesus Himself and with the rest of His sermon that day, contain His teachings concerning true righteousness. Jesus was presenting a higher standard of righteousness than was being practiced in His day. He was raising the bar, so to speak. He was letting the people know that the righteousness required for inclusion in God’s Kingdom was much more demanding than they had ever suspected. Luke gives a shorter version of Jesus’ sermon because he was writing primarily to a Gentile audience and so he removed much of the content having to do with the Mosaic law or legal matters. He was interested in those words of Jesus that had a universal appeal. The two verses above are preceded by four “woes” that are designed to contrast with the beatitudes or blessings given by Jesus. Jesus said, “woe to you who are rich…”, “Woe to you who are full now…”, “Woe to you who laugh now…”, and “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you…” (Luke 6:24-26 ESV). The Greek word that is translated “woe” means “alas” and carries the idea of pity or sorrow. It conveys a sense of sadness regarding those who are under God’s judgment. Those who choose riches, physical pleasure, temporary happiness, or popularity over a relationship with Christ will suffer in the long run. They will enjoy temporary pleasure, but miss out on the eternal rewards made possible through Jesus.

These woes directly precede the verses above. Jesus said, “But I say to you who hear…” He then gives a series of seemingly impossible standards to live by. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt or abuse you. These words sounded as impossible then as they do now. But they represent the kind of righteousness that God requires. Something far more difficult than had ever been imagined. And only made possible through a relationship with Jesus Christ. In Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount, he records Jesus saying, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20 ESV). For the average Jew in the audience that day, this statement would have sounded implausible and impossible. The scribes and Pharisees were the spiritual elite. They were the religious rock stars of their day. But Jesus was looking for a different kind of righteousness. What He had in mind was not a works-based righteousness based on human effort, but a whole new kind of righteousness made possible by His sacrificial death on the cross.

What Jesus is asking us to do in these verses is impossible. Left to our own devices, we would never be able to love our enemies. We could never muster up enough inner strength to do good to those who hate us or bless those who curse us. And why in the world would we want to pray for those who hurt us? And believe me, Jesus is not suggesting we pray for their destruction. He is telling us to pray God’s blessings on them. Our prayer should be that God does them good even while they are doing us harm. Impossible? You bet. Unless it is done in the righteousness of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Only believers have the capacity to pray that way – and mean it. But in order to pray God’s blessings on those who are in the process of hurting us, we need to be living in submission to the Spirit of God. We must be relying on His strength and not our own. We must recognize that God’s desire is that we live like Christ, Peter writes regarding Jesus’ actions during His trials and crucifixion: “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:23-24 ESV). The writer of Hebrews tells us, “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:3 ESV).

Pray for those who hurt you. That is not our natural response. We want to hurt them back. We want vengeance, retribution, payback. But Jesus came to provide us with a new kind of righteousness, a new way of living in this world. His death provided us with a new capacity to love the unlovely, pray for the undeserving, and to do good to the ungodly. To pray God’s blessings on those who hurt you is to put them in God’s hands and let Him do what He deems best. It is to put your trust in His wisdom and your life in His care, knowing that He can protect you regardless of what others may choose to do to you. Prayer isn’t about getting what you want from God. It is about doing what God wants. It is about living according to His standards and relying upon His power to accomplish His will.

Humble Dependence.

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Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. – Psalm 86:1-2 ESV

God doesn’t need me. As great as I may think I am and as many wonderful attributes I believe I may have, the reality is that God can get along quite well without me. He doesn’t need my help. He can survive without my worship. His plan for the world will still take place even if I’m not in the picture. I am a non-essential when it comes to God’s sovereign plan for the universe. Admittedly, that’s a hard concept for some of us to grasp. We want to be important. We desire greatly to be significant in some way. But King David put it succinctly. “…what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4 ESV). Our only significance comes from the fact that we are created in the image of God. We are His workmanship. It is He who gives us value. As believers, it is our relationship with Jesus Christ that provides us with our worth. As a result of His death on the cross, His righteousness became ours. He took on our sins and condemnation, and His righteousness was imputed to us. Therefore, we have value in God’s eyes. But it is not due to anything we have done. It is “not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:9 ESV)

In his psalm, David comes before God as “poor and needy.” That’s an interesting self-description for the King of Israel to use, since he was one of the wealthiest men alive and had great wealth and power at his disposal. Yet he knew that he was a man in great need – in need of God. He needed God to hear him and answer him. He needed God’s protection and direction. His armies were nothing without God’s leadership. His wealth was insignificant if he didn’t have God’s daily provision of joy, peace, and contentment. He was the warrior-king who had experienced great victories and accomplished amazing feats of bravery. Yet he knew he needed God to prolong and protect his life. He was nothing without God.

Which is why David called out to God. “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul” (Psalm 86:3-4 ESV). He needed God’s grace. He depended upon God for joy. He was totally reliant upon God for inner strength and moral fortitude. David knew his weaknesses. He knew he was sin-prone and self-centered. He knew he was fully capable of not only disobeying God, but dishonoring Him as well. David asked God to save him; not just from his enemies, but from himself. Like all of us, he could be his own worst enemy. His sin nature could wreak havoc on his relationship with God. So he humbly came to God for help, for hope, and for His mercy and favor.

David goes on to ask something from God. “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name” (Psalm 86:11 ESV). He knew he needed God’s help in order to live his life according to God’s truth. He couldn’t do it on his own. He was incapable of learning what he needed to know, so he asked God to teach him. He even asked God to work on his heart so that he might fear Him. The NET Bible translates that verses this way: “Make me wholeheartedly committed to you!” The New Living Translation gives it a slightly different twist. “Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you.” He needed God to literally “bind” his heart so that he would live in a way that honors God. David was familiar with the words of Jeremiah. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 ESV). So even his heart needed God’s help in order to stay united, faithful, true and wholeheartedly committed to God’s cause.

A healthy awareness of our neediness and spiritual poverty apart from God is missing from many of our lives. We have developed an arrogance and attitude of deservedness that somehow makes us believe God is somehow obligated to love us and bless us. David knew better. He recognized the fact that he was completely dependent upon God for all that he had and needed God’s help in every area of his life. Humble dependence is a necessity for the child of God. It reveals our complete reliance upon God for everything. In the old hymn, Rock of Ages, there is a line that expresses the attitude we should hold. It says,…

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.

Humble dependence. We are needy and poor. We are naked and helpless. But when we bring our need to God, we find grace, mercy, help, hope, healing, power, forgiveness, acceptance, and the love of a holy Father who sees us as His own child.

Worthy of Praise.

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Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me! – Psalm 66:20 ESV

Have you ever stopped to consider the unbelievable reality that God hears your prayers? Not only does He hear them, He answers them. Maybe not in the way you would like or were expecting, and perhaps not on the schedule you were hoping for, but He always answers. But the even more amazing fact is that God hears our prayers to begin with. Think about that. Why should He? What have we done to deserve the attention of the holy, righteous, sinless God who created the entire universe. He is the one who made us and yet we have returned the gift of His creation with sin, rejection of His authority, indifference to His Word, and a constant love for creation instead of the Creator. So why does He listen? Because for those of us who are in Christ, He sees us as righteous because of the sacrificial blood of His Son. God no longer sees us as rebellious sinners, but as saints, sons and daughters. We are His children and, as a good Father, He listens to our calls for help, our pleas for direction, and our cries for mercy. The psalmist praised God because his prayers had not been rejected. He praised the fact that God was still in love with him in spite of him. He was able to say, “But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer” (Psalm 66:19 ESV). 

The sad fact is that we take that reality for granted. God listens to our prayers and the unbelievable nature of that thought doesn’t even seem to register with us. God chooses to hear me when I call out to Him. Not because I deserve it, but because His Son has paid the price for my sins so that I can come into the very presence of God the Father with no fear of condemnation or rejection. He hears me and He listens to me as His child. He loves me and answers me like a loving Father would one of His children. And I take it for granted. So do you. We have given God plenty of good reasons to reject our prayers and ample cause for Him to fall out of love with us. But He continues to hear and listen to us. He continues to love us unconditionally and unwaveringly. So why don’t we praise Him more? David did. He got it. He appreciated God’s love and the fact that He heard his prayers. Read the following words of David and ask yourself when was the last time you felt the same way.

Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    may I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins
    and heals all my diseases.
He redeems me from death
    and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things. – Psalm 103:1-5 NLT

God hears you. He answers you. He loves you. So why doesn’t that amaze you? Why doesn’t that produce an attitude of gratitude and praise in you? If you’re anything like me, it is probably because we don’t pray and truly believe He hears us or answers us. Or it could be that we pray and then fail to recognize His answers when they come. David said, “He fills my life with good things.” We have lost the sense of God’s goodness in our lives. We no longer see all the good things that He is doing in our lives every day. Instead, we have boiled down the proof of His activity in our lives to the list of things we ask of Him and expect Him to deliver. We are like a child who wants a new bike, but fails to appreciate the bed in which he sleeps, the food he eats, the clothes he wears, and the room full of toys he already enjoys. We want and demand more from God, while failing to appreciate and show gratitude for all He has already done. God is worthy of our praise – all the time. The very fact that He hears us when we pray and loves us even when we sin, should amaze and astound us. It should produce in us an overwhelming sense of thankfulness. Our attitude should be that of David. “Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise! Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!’” (Psalm 66:1-3 NLT). Praise Him. Not because of what you are waiting for Him to do for you, but for the very fact that He loves you enough to hear you when you call. Praise Him for all He has already done. Praise Him because He provided His own son as a sacrifice for your sins and has made it possible for you to enjoy a relationship with Him, free from fear and condemnation. He is worthy of our praise. So let us praise Him. Shout for joy to the Lord. Sing His praises. Let Him know just how grateful you are that He hears you and loves you.

Parental Prayers.

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Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son. Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly. – Psalm 72:1-2 ESV

What should you pray for your kids? As a father of six, I have struggled with that question over the years. There were times when I prayed for their safety. Prior to their conversions, I prayed relentlessly that they would come to faith in Christ. There were plenty of times I begged God to help them just get along. I asked Him to give them good friends and to help them succeed in school. I prayed for their future mates and, in for the four who are still not married, I still do. I prayed for their healing when they were sick, for them to have joy when they were sad, that they would develop a love for God’s Word and a desire to live for Him all the days of their lives – and I still do. But as my kids have grown up and I have grown older, I have seen my prayers change in both tone and content. I have learned from reading and studying the prayers of the Bible. I have discovered there is something far more important than my children’s safety, happiness, success, future spouses, friendships, or health. It is their godliness. As i read this psalm written by David for his son, Solomon, I was reminded once again that what my children have really needed over the years is rarely what I have prayed for them. David was praying for his son as he began his reign as the king of Israel. And what he prayed for him is revealing. He asked, “Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son.” He didn’t pray that Solomon would be a successful king or a powerful ruler. He didn’t ask God to give him victories over all his enemies. He asked for something far more significant. The NET Bible translates David’s request in a way that makes them even more impactful. David was asking God to give his son “the ability to make just decisions” and “the ability to make fair decisions.” David knew that Solomon’s future success as a king was going to be based solely on his godliness. Solomon was going to need God’s help in the form of God’s wisdom in order to rule wisely, justly, and fairly.

It’s interesting to note that, in the early days of his reign, Solomon had a dream in which God appeared to him and said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!” (1 Kings 3:5 ESV). Solomon’s answer seems to reveal that David had spent some time drilling into his son the understanding that wisdom and godliness were the most important assets he could seek in his life. Because when Solomon responded to God’s question, he said, “Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?” (1 Kings 3:9 NLT). The Scriptures tell us that God was pleased with Solomon’s request and that God responded, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life” (1 Kings 3:11-14 NLT).

David knew that Solomon’s greatest need was God. Whether he became a king or a commoner, Solomon was going to need God to guide him, direct him, and provide him with a sense of right and wrong, justice and mercy, righteousness and fairness. It is interesting to note that the apostle Paul prayed for his children in the faith in a similar way. He told the young believers in Colossae, “We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better” (Colossians 1:9-10 NLT). He knew that the key to them living lives that were God-honoring, God-pleasing, and spiritually fruitful, was that they be godly, being filled with a knowledge of God’s will.

Our children’s greatest need is God. Their future success is dependent upon their dependence upon God. Their future marriages will thrive only to the degree that they are filled with God’s wisdom, justice, righteousness and understanding. It doesn’t matter how much money they make or how many degrees they earn. It doesn’t matter how far up the corporate ladder they climb or how big a home they eventually live in. Their greatest need will remain their need for God. Their greatest strength will remain their reliance upon God. What our children really need can’t come from this world. It can only come from God. Their greatest need is spiritual, not physical, emotional, or financial. Godly children grow up to be godly teachers, parents, husbands, wives, nurses, doctors, accountants, and friends. Pray that they get more of God. Pray that they be filled with His wisdom and understanding. The more they have of Him, the more impact they will have on the world and the greater influence they will have on those around them.

When Things Look Down, Look Up.

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Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven. – 2 Chronicles 32:20 ESV

The psalmist asked the somewhat rhetorical question: “From where does my help come?” (Psalm 121:1 ESV). Then he gives what should be the obvious answer: “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:2 ESV). In times of trouble, the one who believes in God turns to Him for hope and help. When things are down, they look up. David, the great king of Israel, wrote, “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken” (Psalm 62:1-2 ESV). The psalmist, Korah, echoes this sentiment. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1 ESV). And it was with this thought in mind that King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah prayed to their God in heaven. They looked up and they cried out.

The situation was desperate. King Sennacherib of Assyria had invaded Judah with his armies and had Jerusalem surrounded and under siege. He had sent a message to the inhabitants of the city, saying: “Why are you so confident that you remain in Jerusalem while it is under siege? Hezekiah says, ‘The Lord our God will rescue us from the power of the king of Assyria.’ But he is misleading you and you will die of hunger and thirst!” (2 Chronicles 32:10-11 ESV). He went on to threaten the people of Judah with annihilation and warned them that Hezekiah was simply trying to deceive them. He ridiculed the God of Israel and bragged that no other god of any other nation had been able to stand against his armies. “Who among all the gods of these nations whom my predecessors annihilated was able to rescue his people from my power?” (2 Chronicles 32:14 ESV). King Sennacherib even had some of his troops who spoke Hebrew call out to the people of the wall, attempting to demoralize them with threats of destruction. They purposefully ridiculed God. “They talked about the God of Jerusalem as if he were one of the man-made gods of the nations of the earth” (2 Chronicles 32:19 ESV).

Things were definitely looking down. The odds were stacked against Hezekiah and Isaiah. The people were beginning to have second thoughts about Hezekiah’s leadership. They were listening to the words of Sennacherib and wondering if their God was strong enough to stand up against such a great army. There’s no doubt that Hezekiah and Isaiah were hearing a lot of complaining. They were probably getting a lot of advice to simply give up and cave in to the demands of the enemy. Self-preservation was the watchword of the day. Rather than expect victory and deliverance, the people were willing to settle for surrender and submission in exchange for their lives.

But Hezekiah and Isaiah didn’t give up or give in. They looked up and they called out to God. In the darkest of moments they still saw a glimmer of hope, because they believed in the power of their God. They knew Him to be loving, faithful, and fully capable of delivering His people from the greatest of difficulties. Sennacherib and his armies were formidable, but they were no match for the God who had created heaven and earth, who had defeated the armies of Egypt, who had delivered the land of Canaan into the hands of His people by defeating the more powerful nations that lived there. The armies of Judah were nothing compared to those of the Assyrians, but that was inconsequential. It was David, the great warrior-king of Israel, who wrote, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright” (Psalm 20:7-8 ESV). Here was a man who built his reputation on warfare, bravery, battlefield heroics and victories against his enemies. But even he knew that, ultimately, the battle was the Lord’s. Any success against the enemy was His doing.

So Hezekiah and Isaiah cried out to God. And He answered. We’re not told what they prayed. We’re not told how long they prayed. But we are told that God answered, and in a big way. “The Lord sent a messenger and he wiped out all the soldiers, princes, and officers in the army of the king of Assyria. So Sennacherib returned home humiliated” (2 Chronicles 32:21 ESV). God didn’t even have to show up Himself. He simply sent a messenger, much like Sennacherib had done. But God’s messenger brought more than threats and insults. He brought destruction on the enemy and deliverance for His people. In fact, when Sennacherib arrived home, he went into the temple of his god and was murdered by his own sons. His own god wasn’t powerful enough to protect him.

But God proved Himself faithful, powerful, and fully capable of delivering His people from the greatest of difficulties. Sennacherib had boasted, “no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my power or the power of my predecessors” (2 Chronicles 32:15 ESV). But he didn’t know the God of Israel. He had yet to come up against the God of the universe, the one and only true God, the maker of heaven and earth. Like Hezekiah and Isaiah, may we learn to trust God even in the darkest of moments. May we learn to call out to Him even when all looks lost. Like David, may we be able to say, “Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand” (Psalm 20: 6 ESV).

At An Acceptable Time.

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But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. – Psalm 69:13 ESV

The primary purpose of prayer is not to get something from God. But for many of us, that is what we have made it. That is how we understand it and approach it. We pray primarily to receive something we need or want. And while we are encouraged to ask from and offer petitions to God, there is far more to the act of prayer than simply receiving our requests. Prayer is an act of humble submission to a holy, all-powerful God. It conveys our dependence upon Him and acknowledges our understanding that He is the giver of all good things. Jesus said of the Father, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11 ESV). The psalmist reminds us that “the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11 ESV). God loves to give to His children. But there is more to prayer than getting from God. It is an experience in getting to know God. Through prayer we discover the will of God. We experience the nature of God. We begin to understand the attributes of God. We learn the valuable lesson of trusting God. And over time, as we wait for His answer, we grow in our willingness to wait on God.

In this psalm, David makes it clear that his prayer was to God. He wasn’t going to turn to anyone or anything else. His request was going to be made to the only one who could do anything to help him. David was up to his neck in trouble, and he had been for some time. His prayers had been constant and urgent. “ I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God” (Psalm 69:3 ESV). David longed to see God intervene and deliver him from all his difficulties. He wanted to be a living example of God’s saving power. He cried out, “Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies,and from the deep waters. Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me” (Psalm 69:13-14 ESV).

But David was willing to wait. His prayer was based on his understanding of God’s love and faithfulness. While he would have loved an immediate answer to his prayer and a quick deliverance from his trials, he was willing to wait on God, because he trusted God. He knew that God was there and that He cared. His petition was based on what he knew about God. “Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me” (Psalm 69:16 ESV). We sometimes pray and our focus is more on what we want than on the one to whom we are praying. We can become obsessed with our request and fail to give much thought to God and His love, mercy, grace and power. David went to God because he loved God. David made his request to God because he trusted God. David prayed to God because he was completely dependent upon God. And he knew that God would answer him “at an acceptable time.” The Hebrew literally means, “in a time of favor.” David was willing to wait on God to answer his request when He deemed the timing was right – based on His unfailing love, faithfulness, and mercy.

We are welcome and encouraged to make our requests known to God. Paul writes, “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:5-7 ESV). Notice that Paul says the result of our petition will be peace – the peace of God. In other words, the peace we will receive will be a God-based peace, not an answer-based peace. We will not experience peace because we got what we wanted, but because our God has heard our request and loves us deeply and cares about us greatly. The peace will be founded on the character of God. He is sovereign. He hears. He loves us. He is faithful. He is all-powerful. He will always do the right thing. And He will provide His answer at an acceptable time and in the appropriate manner.

Paul said, “The Lord is at hand.” He is near. He is not distant or disengaged from our experiences. He is as near as our next prayer. But rather than simply pray to get from Him, we should pray to get to know Him, to discover His character, to become more convinced of His love and faithfulness. David was so confident of God’s deliverance that he was able to say, “I will praise the name of God with a song;I will magnify him with thanksgiving” (Psalm 69:30 ESV). He knew His God. He trusted Him. He was willing to wait on Him. Because He knew His answer would come at just the right time and in just the right way.

Holy Help.

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You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. – 2 Corinthians 1:11 ESV

Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ and he took his responsibility to spread the good news quite seriously. He traveled far and wide taking the message of salvation made available through faith in Jesus to as many of the Gentile lands he could possibly reach. On those journeys he encountered those who embraced his message eagerly, but also those who offered intense opposition. He was regularly rejected, ridiculed, thrown out of the synagogue, falsely accused, chased out of town and even stoned and left for dead. Paul told the believers in Corinth, “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9 ESV). There were few who could relate to Paul’s experiences. The list of those who were putting their life on the line by sharing the gospel in hostile situations was short. Yes, there was persecution going on all over the world at that time, but there were not many who were performing the role of an official missionary for the gospel. Paul’s calling was unique. His commission to take the gospel to the Gentiles was given to him personally by Christ himself and to him alone. 

Paul wasn’t complaining about his lot in life. He was whining to the believers in Corinth about all that he had to suffer for the sake of Christ. In fact, he was sharing all that he had gained through his trials on behalf of Christ. “But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again” (2 Corinthians 11:9-10 ESV). Through all his difficulties, Paul had learned to trust in God. He had seen God deliver him time and time again, so he knew that God would not fail to deliver him in the future. He was content to trust God’s plan for his life. But his contentment with God’s will did not stop him from asking for prayers on his behalf. He specifically asked those to whom he was writing for their help – in the form of their prayers. “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” While they could not travel with Paul or assist him by taking the gospel to foreign lands, they could come to his aid by going to their knees. They could pray for his ministry, his health, and his safety. They could ask God to continue to provide protection. They could pray for those to whom Paul would minister, that they would have receptive ears and soft hearts. There is power in prayer. Through prayer, we come humbly before God and ask Him to do what only He can do. We acknowledge our need for His assistance. We share our heart with Him that His will be done. We show Him that we care about what He cares about. Paul was asking for their prayers. He coveted their prayers on his behalf. He knew that the greatest assistance they could provide to him would be through their prayers for him. “In prayer, human impotence casts itself at the feet of divine omnipotence” (Philip E. Hughes, Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians, pp. 23). 

Prayer allows us to do things we could not possibly do in the flesh. We can’t be everywhere at once. We can’t physically be with every person in our family at the same time. We have limits. We have physical constraints. But through prayer, we are able to span distances, expand our reach, multiply our efforts and provide our assistance to those we can’t even see. Paul knew there was power in prayer. He had experienced it. He knew there were countless individuals, in cities all across Macedonia, Asia and Galatia who were praying for him as he traveled. They were praying for his work, his health, and his message. He could sense their love for him and their common concern for his work. Paul did not take their prayers lightly. He coveted them. He asked for them. He knew he needed them.

Through prayer we can accomplish far more than we can through our own efforts. Prayer engages God. Prayer unleashes a power we do not possess. Prayer reminds us that God is the one who must accomplish the impossible, not us. God has no limits. He is not hampered by time constraints. Distance creates no barrier for Him. By reaching out to Him, we are able to touch the lives of those we cannot see and the hearts of those we don’t even know. We can pray for the lost around the world. We can lift up the work of missionaries we have never even met. We can offer up our concerns for the work of the gospel in places we will never get to go. Through prayer, we can help in ways that go far beyond our human capabilities and accomplish more than we could ever imagine. They say technology has made the world “smaller.” From the safety of our home we can see what’s going on around the world. We can talk to someone on the other side of the planet. We can watch events taking place in distance lands as if we were there. I can Skype with a missionary working in Africa. I can send a text of encouragement to a friend on a different continent. I can receive images instantaneously from someone thousands of miles away. But prayer does far more. It unleashes the power of God. It allows me to not only stay in touch, but to connect in practical, powerful ways. Prayer shrinks the world, expands our reach, spreads the gospel, and exposes our dependence upon the power of God.

Praying Properly.

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The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. – 1 Peter 4:7 ESV

There is a manner in which we are to pray that will make our prayers proper and appropriate. It has less to do with form, than with our attitude toward prayer. Some of us worry far too much about our words and not enough about our hearts or disposition while we are praying. Peter gives us a valuable lesson on perspective. He reminded his readers that “the end of all things is at hand”. Peter, like the rest of the apostles, lived with a eager anticipation and expectation that the return of Christ was eminent. This attitude produced in him a day-to-day diligence regarding his lifestyle, including his prayer life. It resulted in a desire to live self-controlled. The Greek word he uses is sōphroneō and it means “to put a moderate estimate upon one’s self, think of one’s self soberly”. It can also mean “to curb one’s passions.” The idea is to live with a realistic understanding of who you are and what you are capable of. Don’t get too cocky and sure of yourself. Don’t get complacent about your sin nature and assume you are above giving in to temptation. Paul used the very same word when he wrote to the Romans and told a man was “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12:3 ESV). There is a sense in which we are to come to God in prayer with a sober-minded, realistic view of who we are. We are not to come before Him arrogantly, pridefully or with an attitude of self-righteousness. Pride can have a negative impact on our prayer life.

But Peter also uses the Greek word, nēphō, which means “to be sober, to be calm and collected in spirit”. It carries the idea of watchfulness or wakefulness, to be clear-headed and alert, capable of recognizing what is going on around you at all times. Paul used the same word when he wrote to the believers in Thessalonica. “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 ESV). Paul was also talking about the “day of the Lord”, the end times. He warned his readers that the day of the Lord would come like a thief in the night, suddenly and  unexpectedly. At that time there will be those who believe all is well. They will have a lazy attitude toward the Lord’s return. They will be caught by surprise. But Paul told his readers, “you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 ESV). As believers we are to live with an expectation of the Lord’s return. It could happen any day. And our awareness of that reality should change the way we live. It should impact the way we pray. Peter said that we should be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of our prayers. We should have a strong awareness of what we are capable of apart from the Spirit’s indwelling presence within us. We have the capacity to sin at any time. We have a sin nature that is constantly battling with the Spirit within us. That realization should produce in us a dependence upon God. It should show up in the way we pray. Our prayers should contain requests for wisdom, strength, protection, direction, and the capacity to live in obedience to His will. We also need to stay alert and awake, fully aware of what is going on around us. Our ability to sense the dangers surrounding us will keep our prayers focused on our need for God. We must constantly remind ourselves that this world is not our home. We don’t belong here any more. In fact, Jesus told us that the world would hate us. It hated Him and so it hates us. We must never lose sight of that reality. Satan would love to convince us that the world is our friend, that everything we need can be found right here. We can even buy into the lie that the things of this world can bring us satisfaction and contentment and allow our prayer lives to be filled with requests for more of what this world has to offer, rather than for requests of those things that God has promised – like peace, joy, contentment, and a hope for His Son’s return.

Prayer is not easy. But it is far more painless and effective when done with a proper perspective. We must remain constantly aware of our sin nature and our predisposition to disobedience. We must never think too highly of ourselves or see ourselves as somehow above the need for prayer. We must also live with a sense of expectation and wide-awake awareness of the Lord’s return. We can’t afford to get lulled into complacency or contentment with life as it is in this world. When we lose sight of the end that God has in store, we can find ourselves living as if this world is all there is. Then our prayers can become filled with requests for temporal rewards and earthly treasures. But God has far more in store for us. He offers us strength for the journey, not stuff to enjoy along the way. He offers us peace and joy in the midst of trial, not a trouble-free life. We are to live with the end in mind. We are to pray with our focus on what God has promised, not on what the world offers. We are to be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of our prayers.

Prayer for the Lost.

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Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. – Romans 10:1 ESV

How many people do you know who are lost, who don’t know Jesus as their personal Savior? We all know someone. We are surrounded by an endless number of individuals who have yet to hear of the good news of salvation made possible by the death of Jesus on the cross. They remain ignorant of the free gift of grace available to them. They don’t know how to be restored to a right relationship with God. They live in the world, blind to their own sin, oblivious to their own eternal destiny and hopeless as to how to do anything about their situation. They search for meaning and significance in this world. They seek to find fulfillment in the things this world offers. Some are religious. Some are good people who have good intentions. Others are prideful, arrogant, boastful, self-righteous and satisfied with their lives just like they are. Paul described some of the people in the word as those “who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NLT). Paul told Timothy that the “last days” would be filled with lost people, who he described in very detailed terms: “For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly” (2 Timothy 3:2-5 NLT).

And sadly, we find ourselves surrounded by people who fit those descriptions. But what do we do about it? Paul would suggest that we pray for them. In his letter to the believers in Rome, Paul said that he prayed for the Jews living there. He longed to see them come to faith in Christ. They were his fellow brothers and sisters. He was a Jew who had been saved by Christ and he longed for them to have that same experience. That’s the reason Paul made it a habit to head to the synagogue every time he entered a new town on one of his missionary journeys. He made a bee line to the place where he knew he would come into contact with the greatest number of Jews, and he would share the gospel with them. He prayed and he preached. He lifted them up to God and he brought the message of Jesus to them. And in most cases, his efforts resulted in insults, rejection, and on one occasion, stoning.

But he wouldn’t stop sharing. He couldn’t stop praying that they might be saved. He had a love for the lost. He had a passion for the gospel. He couldn’t stand the thought of even one person not having the opportunity to hear about Christ. His heart’s desire was their salvation. And he turned his heart’s desire into prayers to God on their behalf. He wanted to see God save them. He wanted to see them come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and accept His free gift of salvation. He knew they were relying on their own righteousness and that it wasn’t going to get them anywhere. They needed Jesus. So he shared Jesus with them. But he also prayed for them. Regularly and fervently.

So do you pray for the lost? Do you care about their spiritual condition? Do you understand that the salvation you have received from God was totally undeserved and that you were once in the same condition as all those around you who live without Christ? Paul reminds us, “Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11 NLT). We were lost, but then we heard the good news of Jesus Christ. Someone prayed for us. Someone shared with us. So why wouldn’t we want the same thing for those who have yet to hear? Ask God to give you a burden for the lost. Ask Him to help you to see them as He does. Ask Him to give you a love for them like He has. And pray for them. By name. With persistence and with passion.