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Thus concludes the first epistle to those in Thessalonica, with a general request for prayer for Paul and his traveling companions. (1 Thessalonians 5:25)
No specific prayer requests are mentioned, just a simple “pray for us.”
I can’t help but notice how frequently Paul mentions that he is praying for those to whom he is writing. He tells them he is praying for them, and then tells them what he is praying for concerning them. One of my favorite of these “I am praying for you” passages is in the first chapter of Colossians (1:9-12).
“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” He prayed for the knowledge of His will, for wisdom and spiritual understanding, for a walk worthy of the Lord and for fruitfulness, strength, patience and longsuffering, concluding with a prayer of thanksgiving. This makes my intercessory prayers for God to “be with them” and “bless so-and-so” pale.
When Jesus, in John 17, prayed for his disciples, the original twelve as well as for those of us who have followed through the ages, he used phrases like “keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be as one as we are one”, “keep them from the evil one”, “sanctify them by Your truth”, “I pray that they all may be one . . . that the world may believe that you sent me” and “that the love with which You loved Me may be in them.”
Security. Holiness. Unity. Love. Grand themes that ought to be the petitions we bring before the throne on behalf of the people and churches in Oregon.
What would you like your family and friends to be praying for on your behalf? In the epistles to the Ephesians and to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul asked for prayer on his behalf with some specificity. In Colossians (4:3,4) Paul asked, “pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ.” One group refers to these “open doors” of opportunity as “divine appointments.” He goes on to further request, “Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”
In a parallel passage in Ephesians (6:19) he further asks, “pray for me . . . that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.”
Opportunity. Clarity. Boldness. Even after years as an ambassador for Christ, Paul is keenly aware that he needs his fellow believers to be praying for him and his ministry. He knows not to take anything for granted. He wants to go only and everywhere God is opening doors. He wants to be intentionally clear as he proclaims spiritual truth to those who don’t have a theological vocabulary. He still finds the boldness he needs to be elusive at times. They prayed and God answered.
Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us. And pray for each other.
Amen.
Rev. Steve Bils
Executive Minister |
