With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18
The more people you know and the more you get to know people, the more you become aware of their need for prayer. This is especially true within the body of Christ where the struggles of others are made known through prayer requests. When I was able, an additional benefit to singing with our church’s worship team was the ability to scan the congregation and offer prayer for those before me that I knew were struggling. While I no longer have that opportunity, I find that social media provides the same advantage as friends’ posts become reminders to pray. Given my own circumstances, I would guess that a greater than average percentage of my friends face their own battles with chronic illness in addition to the “normal” trials of life. Consequently, I often find myself overwhelmed and, therefore, offering many simple prayers for: the need, wisdom, peace, their soul, and the glory of God.
Be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.
Certainly as God’s children we should pray for the needs of one another. However, our prayers should also naturally include those outside the body of Christ. That part is rather basic. To fully apply this teaching, we should not just pray, but persevere in prayer. I personally find that rather convicting. It’s one thing to offer a quick prayer, but it’s quite another to persevere in prayer. It’s something I certainly need to work on.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5
Regularly, the focus of many prayers is the direct need and it stops there. In the case of medical situations one might address the need for wisdom on the part of the doctors. However, it really shouldn’t end there. Everyone involved needs some amount of wisdom. Those at the center of the request will definitely need prayer for wisdom with respect to decisions that must be made especially when stress often clouds one’s judgment. Those surrounding them need wisdom in conversation and prayer so that they truly support, encourage, advise, and comfort those who struggle. Even those on the fringes, need wisdom to know how to pray effectively. Finally, it’s not just any wisdom, but rather God’s perfect wisdom.
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
In our frantic world it doesn’t take much to steal our peace. It’s no wonder then that we have difficulty maintaining a peaceful spirit in the midst of trials. Yet Christ promises peace because He has indeed overcome the world. Do we believe that? If we believe it, do we live it? When we lay our concerns at the throne of God, do we honestly expect peace to come? I certainly struggle with it. Given the events of the past few months, I can say that my long-term perspective has an abiding peace, but my short-term perspective is still a bit frantic and frustrated. I’m working on it, but it’s certainly a challenge. Do we have the confidence of David before Goliath knowing that our God has already won the battle, or do we focus so intently on the problem that we don’t even consider that Christ has overcome the world and thereby provides the victory? Yet that is how we are called to live. God through Christ offers us and endless supply of peace. Will we choose to accept it? I hope we do so that we may live as calmly in this life as we expect to in the one to come. Further, by living peacefully in this life we testify to the God’s goodness and faithfulness in the lives of His children. If this is how we should live, should we not pray this for those who are struggling so that they too might not only find peace in the storm, but may also have a testimony of peace?
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 42:11
Shortly after the onset of my illness, I remember lying on an exam table while waiting for the doctor and trying to reconcile what I had been taught about God’s love and the extreme pain that I was experiencing. I was surrounded by Christians who were very pleasant people. I was continuously asked about the condition of my body, but nobody asked how my soul was or offered biblical guidance to help accept my circumstances. Seven or eight years later God began to bring biblical studies in various forms to lay the groundwork for living well amidst difficult circumstances. For years I began leading studies for the chronically ill the required that I learn God’s perspective and wisdom on the matter. I write and reach out others who are hurting because I never want anyone else to live in that confusion. It’s a lonely place. It is from that perspective that I pray for the souls of others. The peace of Christ will never come if we don’t understand and believe that He loves us and walks with us in the trials of life.
Further, if you look at Ephesians 6, the command to pray for others in verse 18 sits squarely between the passage explaining the armor of God and Paul’s own request for prayer for his ministry. We are truly in a battle and Satan knows that we are weakened when we struggle with one or more trials. The more layers our problems have, the easier it is to forget that Christ has already overcome. Prayer for the soul of our brother or sister in Christ as they struggle is a way that we can fight with them in the battle for their soul.
Finally, we should pray for our own souls as well so that we may truly encourage others. Psalm 42:11 is a mantra that I regularly employ when I’m struggling. It is both a reminder to hope in God my help and call to pray for my soul so that I can stand strong and unwavering knowing that Christ has indeed won the battle and sustains me.
But I am afflicted and in pain; may Your salvation, O God, set me securely on high. I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:29-30
I touched on the subject of the glorifying God in my last post Home Improvement. Think about how fervently we pray for God to intervene or sustain us in the struggles of life. Now compare that to the amount of glory that we give God when we have endured. Is it proportionate? Often it’s not. And when we pray for God to intervene is it merely for our relief or also so that we can glorify Him. Notice in Psalm 69 how David moves from despair to glorifying God even before He has been rescued by his Lord. Should we not pray with the same hope? Should we not glorify God as we present our request, glorify Him as we endure, glorify Him when He has acted on our behalf, and even glorify His name when we feel that He has failed to act. I am always blessed when a prayer request includes an appeal that God would be glorified in their circumstances. It’s a mature request that gives greater priority to God’s will than man’s comfort while also having a balanced current and eternal perspective. If we live to glorify our God, than our prayers should do the same whether we are praying for others or for ourselves.
First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men. 1 Timothy 2:1
Certainly as we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ, we should pray that our Father would address the need, provide wisdom and peace, that He would guard and strengthen their souls, and that He would be glorified. However, as directed in 1 Timothy 2:1 we should not limit our prayers to Christians, but extend them as well to those who do not yet know God. For those who believe, we pray as encouragers and defenders; for those who do not know Christ as savior, we should pray that God would intervene in such a way that they would come to a saving knowledge of God and that He would be glorified through them.