Prayer Part Two
In my last post I talked about the Lord’s Prayer and how it can be useful to us. At the end I made an editorial note encouraging you to check out Luther’s “A Simple Way to Pray” as a missed reference in that post. In light of the previously missing background information, I’ve approached the second part of this pair of posts on prayer with a more prudent mindset. Armed with the Bible and a concordance I’ve gone through every instance of every variation of the word “pray” in the New Testament. You’ll have to forgive me for not also including the Old Testament, but I reserved that task in order that I could make this article in a timely manner and retain my sanity at the same time. (even without the Old Testament I may have failed one of those two goals, but I’ll let you decide which one)
What I discovered was that prayer is powerful and ever present throughout the New Testament. There are some amazing prayers on display in the New Testament from the garden of Gethsemane to written prayers inside of letters, and I’m excited to dive into what’s there. In the front of my mind is this powerful prayer from Paul:
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
There is a lot going on here, but the concept of grasping the full scope of the love of Christ is almost too much to think about, and yet Paul is praying for this exact thing for the Ephesians and all believers. What God is doing in his heart and prayer life is a challenge to me to pray differently than I do. That is to pray less selfishly and to keep other’s spiritual health in mind. There are other great prayers in the bible as well, but my intent here is to take a broader look and later on we can do some deeper dives. Below I’ve put some scriptures and the insight gathered from them. Some of them are commands given by the apostles around prayer, and others are followed examples. These are a mixture of word for word scripture and derived meanings. I’d like to challenge you to think of these as actionable and instructive as you read through them.
The prayers of the saints are an offering to God.
Revelation 8:3-4, 5:8
Be clear minded and self controlled so that you can pray.
1 Peter 4:7
The Lord hears the prayers of the righteous
1 Peter 3:12
Pray in all situations, in trouble, in joy, and in sickness. Prayer offered in faith is effective. Your righteousness and sin affects how your prayers are heard. Pray for each other’s sins that you might be healed.
James 5:13-16
Pray with brothers and sisters in Christ without dispute between you
1 Timothy 2:8
Prayer is a part of hope in God
1 Timothy 5:5
Pray that God may be effective through brothers and sisters in the faith
2 Thessalonians 3:1-2
Pray continually and with thanksgiving
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Pray that what is lacking in faith may be supplied
1 Thessalonians 3:10
Wrestle in prayer for your brothers/sisters that they may stand firm.
Colossians 4:12
Devote yourself to prayer being watchful and thankful. Pray for others that the doors may be open for them to proclaim the gospel and they may do so clearly.
Colossians 4:2-4
Pray for your brothers and sisters. Give thanks for them. Pray continually that God will fill them with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that they may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that they may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified them to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
Colossians 1:3-12
Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Ephesians 6:18
Pray for brothers and sisters for spiritual fortification. Pray that they may know the fullness of Christ. Pray for all the saints. Pray they might make known the gospel with efficacy.
Ephesians 3:16-19
Pray that your [or other’s] love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:9-11
Pray for others’ spiritual integrity
2 Corinthians 13:7
Sometimes, devote yourself to prayer to the exclusion of other things.
1 Corinthians 7:5
Be faithful in prayer
Romans 12:12
The spirit prays for us and intercedes for us
Romans 8:26
Prayer is powerful.
Acts 28:8-9,16:25-34,12:5,10:31-48,4:24-31 Luke 1:13-17, Mark 11:23-25, Mark 9:25-29, Matthew 21:21-22
Pray that others be saved
Acts 26:29
Prayer is part of God fearing.
Acts 10:2
Have a quiet place to pray.
Matthew 6:5-8, 14:23, 26:36 Mark 1:35, 6:46, 14:34-35, Luke 5:16, 6:12, 9:18, 9:28 Acts 10:9
Pray for forgiveness
Acts 8:22
Pray constantly/continually. Devote yourself to prayer
Luke 2:37, 18:1 Acts 1:14, 2:42 1 Corinthians 7:5 Colossians 1:9, 4:2 1 Thessalonians 1:2 2 Timothy 1:3 Ephesians 6:18-20.
Pray for the glory of God and Christ. Pray for the unity of the body. Pray for protection. Pray for all believers
John 17:1-26
Pray to not fall to temptation. Pray to stay vigilant
Luke 22:40 & 46
Pray humbly
Luke 18:13-14
Ask to be taught how to pray
Luke 11:1
Pray for those who mistreat you
Luke 6:28
Ask for what you want. Ask for it inside of God’s will
Mark 14:35-36 Matthew 26:42
Pray for grace during hard times
Mark 13:17-19
Pray when you are persecuted/ Pray for your enemies.
Acts 7:59-60
Pray together. Pray for the power of God.
Acts 4:24-31
What we receive is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
1 Timothy 4:2-5
Pray for brothers and sisters in Christ
Luke 22:32 John 17 Romans 1:9-10, 15:31 2 Corinthians 1:11, 13:7-9 Ephesians 1:16, 3:16-19, 6:19 Philippians 1:4,9 Colossians 1:9-12, 4:2-4,12 1 Thessalonians 3:10, 5:25 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 1 Timothy 2:1 2 Timothy 1:3 Philemon 1:4,22 Hebrews 13:18 James 5:15-16 3 John 1:2
You can see that the New Testament says a lot on prayer, and some of those things it points to over and over again. I’ve taken the liberty of grouping some of the recurring themes in prayer which you can see above by the number of scriptures that accompany them. They are as follows:
Prayer is powerful.
Have a quiet place to pray.
Pray constantly/continually.
Devote yourself to prayer
Pray for brothers and sisters in Christ
My first impression given this grouping of themes is that we need to get in our closets and go to war for the body of Christ. My second impression is that my current prayer life and requests are, in short, inadequate. 1 Peter 2:2-3 tells us to crave pure spiritual milk so that we can grow up in our salvation, yet Hebrews 5:13-14 exhorts growing believers to move on from the spiritual milk and to solid food. That is, that we should become mature enough to (with help from the spirit) distinguish good from evil so that our efforts can be placed on producing fruit instead of just surviving as christians while we are in the world. To me, the transition in prayer life from praying solely for our needs and the needs of our family to praying for others and the body is part of that milk to solid food transition. It is a transition that I am still in the process of making myself, and as I’ve learned from Paul, I too will ask for prayer. Pray for me that I might take on the solid food in my prayer life and pray continually for the body and its members.
All of this is not to say that we should stop asking for our needs from God. Our dependance on God is a core part of our faith and I believe that daily coming to God and asking him for what we need and want for ourselves increases our knowledge of that dependency and helps us to relinquish the things we try to control. There is a quote attributed to C.S. Lewis on prayer. To the best of my knowledge the quote is from his character in “Shadowlands” and not directly from the man himself, though I’d love to find that conclusion to be false. The quote goes as this : “I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God, it changes me.” Whether or not Lewis said it, it’s still a great quote that rings true. My conclusion from 1 Timothy 5:5 is that prayer is a part of hope in God and the above quote underscores that. A personal prayer life is important because God is the spiritual air we breathe. To cease personal communication with him is analogous to cutting off our oxygen supply.
So then, from all of these things what is the conclusion? That we should go to God in daily prayer and ask for everything in support of a life giving personal fellowship with the Father and our Savior, but that included in that personal prayer life is a brotherly love that prays for the body of Christ, for its members, for the spiritual growth of others, and the efficacy of the gospel in all corners of the world. Finally, pray for all things at all times.
Image Credit: McKenna Phillips
