Our Stories
Praying Continually
By Keith Ferrin | posted 08/09/2007
"With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith." (II Thessalonians 1:11)
I think God's trying to tell me something. No, I didn't receive an amazing vision of things to come. Nor did I discover some deep, Biblical truth I'd never seen before. This is more like a tap-on-the-shoulder-are-you-paying-attention sort of thing. And it all centers on the topic of prayer.
In the last three days, I can hardly count the number of prayer requests that have come my way. Not only did the regular, Tuesday morning prayer requests come in from our weekend worship service, but several more emails kept on coming with additional requests. At the end of a meeting yesterday, the guy I had just met with said, "By the way, if you could pray for..." Then last night, Kari and I got a phone call from someone across the country who wanted us to pray with her son and her over the phone.
Not only have there been a lot of prayer requests, but the nature of these requests has been uncommonly heavy. The death of a sister/wife/mother. Paralyzing car accident. Spouse abandons marriage. Cancer treatment trials. Addiction. Honestly, I'm not sure how to best pray for all of these people I care about who are sad, confused, and deeply hurting.
As I sat down to write this article, I wasn't sure I was going to write about all this. I opened my Bible to II Thessalonians (the book I'm currently studying), and the five words my eyes went to almost immediately were "...we constantly pray for you..." Okay God - I get it. And so I started writing.
These are words from the Apostle Paul. He had written the Thessalonians once before. Toward the end of that letter, he gave them a two-word command - "Pray continually." Now he gets to his second letter and he's telling them that he's actually living that out - on their behalf.
Paul doesn't go into a lengthy description of how to pray correctly, with step-by-step instructions on what to say, how long to pray, or how to deal with different answers (or silence). Sometimes I think that sure would be helpful. There certainly are places in Scripture that give some insight into this, but here it is as if the most important piece of the puzzle is that we simply do it - and do it a lot.
We pray when we're alone. We pray together. We pray in person. We pray on the phone. We pray over email. We pray when words gush like a river. We pray when "Come, Lord Jesus" is the only phrase we can muster. We pray...continually.
And this passage tells me that we need to let people know they are being prayed for. They are being blanketed by prayer. They are not alone. They are being lifted up when their own strength won't even allow them to raise a hand toward heaven.
Father God, Hearer and Answerer of our prayers, You indeed are trying to tell me something. Grant me the grace to listen...obey...and pray.
Praying...continually,
To respond to this message, email Keith at keith@thatyoumayknow.com.
Keith Ferrin is founder of That You May Know Ministries.
Keith
|
"With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith." (II Thessalonians 1:11)
I think God's trying to tell me something. No, I didn't receive an amazing vision of things to come. Nor did I discover some deep, Biblical truth I'd never seen before. This is more like a tap-on-the-shoulder-are-you-paying-attention sort of thing. And it all centers on the topic of prayer. In the last three days, I can hardly count the number of prayer requests that have come my way. Not only did the regular, Tuesday morning prayer requests come in from our weekend worship service, but several more emails kept on coming with additional requests. At the end of a meeting yesterday, the guy I had just met with said, "By the way, if you could pray for..." Then last night, Kari and I got a phone call from someone across the country who wanted us to pray with her son and her over the phone. Not only have there been a lot of prayer requests, but the nature of these requests has been uncommonly heavy. The death of a sister/wife/mother. Paralyzing car accident. Spouse abandons marriage. Cancer treatment trials. Addiction. Honestly, I'm not sure how to best pray for all of these people I care about who are sad, confused, and deeply hurting. As I sat down to write this article, I wasn't sure I was going to write about all this. I opened my Bible to II Thessalonians (the book I'm currently studying), and the five words my eyes went to almost immediately were "...we constantly pray for you..." Okay God - I get it. And so I started writing. These are words from the Apostle Paul. He had written the Thessalonians once before. Toward the end of that letter, he gave them a two-word command - "Pray continually." Now he gets to his second letter and he's telling them that he's actually living that out - on their behalf. Paul doesn't go into a lengthy description of how to pray correctly, with step-by-step instructions on what to say, how long to pray, or how to deal with different answers (or silence). Sometimes I think that sure would be helpful. There certainly are places in Scripture that give some insight into this, but here it is as if the most important piece of the puzzle is that we simply do it - and do it a lot. We pray when we're alone. We pray together. We pray in person. We pray on the phone. We pray over email. We pray when words gush like a river. We pray when "Come, Lord Jesus" is the only phrase we can muster. We pray...continually. And this passage tells me that we need to let people know they are being prayed for. They are being blanketed by prayer. They are not alone. They are being lifted up when their own strength won't even allow them to raise a hand toward heaven. Father God, Hearer and Answerer of our prayers, You indeed are trying to tell me something. Grant me the grace to listen...obey...and pray.
Praying...continually, To respond to this message, email Keith at keith@thatyoumayknow.com. Keith Ferrin is founder of That You May Know Ministries. |
