Habitual prayer

Any study of Paul’s letters will reveal his intense commitment to prayer, and a Christian’s reliance on prayer—or lack thereof—will always tell us much about that person’s relationship to God. That is especially true for anyone engaged in Christian ministry. And really, we are all to be engaged in Christian ministry. Charles Spurgeon wrote, If you are a genuine minister of God, you will stand as a priest before the Lord, spiritually bearing the ephod and the breastplate, whereon you bear the names of your children, pleading for them within the veil. Ministers who seldom pray for their spiritual charges, or parents who seldom pray for their children, reveal either a callous indifference to the spiritual well-being of those close to them or a tragically mistaken reliance upon the flesh.

Well, what also tells us much is not merely whether or not someone prays, but what is the habitual content of that person’s prayers. Now, most of us, I suppose, pray in large part—at least if not primarily—for ourselves, and with a heavy emphasis on material needs. There is nothing wrong with that in itself, but we will be struck by the contrast of the Apostle Paul. He prays almost exclusively for others. He prays in praise and thanks to God, and then for the spiritual needs of other people. That is his strong priority. Richard Mayhew summarizes Paul’s prayers as directed to God, focused on others, spiritual in content, and acknowledging his utter dependence on God. Now this shows that Paul not only preached salvation by grace alone, but he actually relied on that grace—and it was only from God himself. And so he appealed to God for that grace that would enable him to be used for the salvation of others, even as he was himself being saved.¹

Richard D. Phillips