Praying for Others
A church is about fellowship, friendship, and caring for one another. One very important way we can care for one another is through prayer. We must always remind ourselves that the church is not about the building. The church is about the people. We can have a building and have no church, but we have to have people to have a church. A church does not consist of perfect people. A church consists of people who are fallen, redeemed and in the process of being sanctified. Therefore the people (the church) are always in need of prayer and ministry.
My concern in recent weeks has been that we attempt to erect programs to attract people. We come up with good ideas that attempt to encourage people to be more faithful and devoted. It seems as though we are constantly making proposals in order to deal with all sorts of issues that arise from simply having people around. With people comes a whole range of problems from inconsistency, complacency, laziness & contentment to pride, anger, lust, selfishness, backbiting, gossip & meanness.
Often pastors will design sermons to nurture people, instruct them, admonish them, rebuke them, encourage them, and challenge them, but the one grave mistake the pastors and the people often make is forgetting to pray for one another. Often biblical prayer is missing in church life and this is one of the reasons the church experiences such little power.
In church conferences, Christian seminars and Christian literature, we ask questions like: “What king of evangelistic strategy will best bring people to Christ? What kind of leader will best nurture the people of God & thus build the church? What is best for the people of God?” Those questions are good & appropriate to answer because they force us to ask what is best for the people of God. However, if we are not careful our aim of serving & ministering to people focuses more on leadership p& management skills (man centered ideas) & less on bending our knees to pray (God’s plan).
If we are not careful we can make the sermons, the programs, and the committee meetings more about our agendas, our pursuits, our goals, our earthly wisdom and neglect prayer. God finds great joy when His people pray. Prayer is not a burden to God. When we pray, we are not “bothering this busy God.” God is glorified when we pray.
While prayer is many things (thanksgiving, praise, confession, supplication, requests, listening, etc.), it is God’s gift to us to communicate to Him. Prayer ushers in real change, progress & power. God desires to be asked, sought, and trusted–thus we pray. I think one of the major reasons churches experience little power is because we are neglecting prayer.
I like how D.A. Carson put it, “When we live up to our calling, we remember that in God’s church, people do not set the agenda, they are the agenda.” Since we are God’s agenda, we must pray and minister with that truth in mind. The church is God’s agenda for reaching a lost & dying world. In order for people to live out true allegiance to Jesus, to become God’s people and to live lives worthy of the Gospel, to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, and to know how to live every day dealing with the issues of life, we must ask and think through what is best for the people, but we also must pray for them.
One of the characteristics of Paul’s prayers is that he devoted time to pray for others. How would you classify or categorize Paul’s prayers? What observations do you make as you read through his prayers? When you read the following passages, what does God impress upon you?
Romans 1:8-10, 10:1, 12:12, 15:5-6, 15:30-33
I Corinthians 1:4-9, 16:23
II Corinthians 1:3-7, 2:14-16, 9:12-15, 12:7-9, 13:7-9
Galatians 6:18
Ephesians 1:3, 1:15-23, 3:14-21, 6:19-20
Philippians 1:3-6, 1:9-11, 4:6-7, 4:23
Colossians 1:3-14, 4:2-4
I Thessalonians 1:2-3, 2:13-16, 3:9-13, 5:23-24, 5:28
II Thessalonians 1:3, 1:11-12, 2:16-17, 3:2-5, 3:16
I Timothy 1:12, 2:1-6
II Timothy 1:3-7, 1:16-18, 4:22
Titus 3:15
Philemon 25
(Hand-out from Jason Evans, Wednesday Bible Study, August 18, 2010)