How to Pray for Fellow Christians
Do you suppose it was mere hyperbole when the Apostle wrote the Thessalonians, We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers? We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ? Did Paul truly give thanks always to God for this church? Did he actually remember the members continually before God? At the conclusion of this brief gem of a letter the same Apostle urged them to pray continually [5:17] and requested that they pray for the servants of God [5:25]. Who can live up to such a demanding example as this?
I assume, both on the authority of God's Word and because of our common experience, that we Christians desire to pray. I do not say that each of us pray as we ought, nor even as we wish we prayed. I simply state the obvious, that we each find within ourselves a longing to speak with our Father and with our Lord. Nevertheless, I suspect that you, as is true with me, find a sense of frustration within when you are unable to pray in a manner you consider consistent with your confession.
Each of us wishes we would always prayed with power, seizing Heaven's door latch, enjoying power with God and with man. Alas, there are no magic incantations available to make us powerful in prayer. Prayer which is effective requires time and consistent practise; there are no shortcuts. However, with a sound foundation we should discover that building an effective and powerful prayer life will be easier than without such a foundation. So, in a letter to a church under extreme pressure, we can learn from Paul's openly stated example of prayer.
Prayer For Fellow Christians Should Express Gratitude. After the greeting, Paul affirms of these saints: We always thank God for you. Lest you think this statement of Paul's to be an aberration, consider that he commanded believers that arising from the exercise of our ministry to one another we will be always giving thanks to God the Father for everything [Ephesians 5:20]. Furthermore, this was not the only church which brought Paul to a point of thanksgiving. Writing the Romans he stated, I thank my God … for all of you [Romans 1:8]. Paul was in the habit of expressing gratitude for the saints.
I know that we are a grateful people, but I wonder if our prayers reflect a holy gratitude for our fellow saints. It is one thing to give thanks for a great Christian leader or a generous benefactor, but do we give thanks for the less attractive in our midst or for the more demanding saints God has entrusted to our fellowship? Not every believer will cause us to automatically break forth in praise and thanksgiving; such gratitude is the result of discipline of the soul.
I can only wonder what would happen were we to begin to thank God for one another, beginning especially with those we consider to be less important. What do you suppose would result from giving God thanks for the quieter saints in our midst? Or what do you imagine would happen if we began to seek out reasons for gratitude for those among us who we think to be somewhat demanding of our time and attention? I suggest that we don't truly know what might result, but I am willing to speculate somewhat on the matter.
Were I to invest the effort to discipline myself to review the names of saints whom God has placed within this congregation, giving thanks for each individual and considering what God has done through that individual, I suggest that several things would happen. I suggest that I would gain a new appreciation for individual believers. We cannot recount the positive attributes brought to the Body of Christ by one another without effecting ourselves. We cannot remember the gracious gift of God seen in another without having our own view of that individual clarified. No longer concentrating on the negatives, we would see the grace shining through that individual.
I recall hearing of a young man who was embarrassed, as is true of young men unsure of their position among their peers. This particular young man was distressed by the appearance of his mother. Her hands were scarred and the fingers were cruelly twisted. Worse yet, her face was deeply scarred. She was not a pretty woman due to the deep scarring which marred her appearance. One day, in discussing his mother with an older acquaintance, he learned why she appeared as she did.
When he was but an infant, the house wherein he lay helpless was engulfed in flames. Though the fire department had been called, they were delayed in attending the blaze. His mother, panic stricken at the thought that her son lay helpless in the midst of the flames, braved the inferno, making her way to the room in which he lay. Wrapping the child in blankets and clutching the little child to her breast, she again made her way outside and to safety. In the process, though she rescued the boy, she herself was burned horribly, her hands and face suffering the greatest injury from the heat and the flames.
When the boy heard the story, he was quiet, grief-stricken at the way in which he had previously been ashamed of his mother. She had never told him the story of how she was disfigured, and now he knew. Rushing home and to her side, he asked, "Why did you never tell me? Why did I not know?"
The mother was silent, not knowing what to say. But the boy quickly reached to hold her face gently between his hands and began to kiss her cheeks repeatedly. Taking her hands between his own, he gently kissed those hands. Knowing of the sacrifice of his own mother, he was moved to see those marks not as something of which he should be ashamed, but he saw her scars as marks of love.
Something akin to that could well happen in our lives were we to pray for our fellow saints, first giving thanks for them. We would begin to see the marks of the past, the aspects of their lives which are less attractive, in a new light. Perhaps we would begin to view them as people through whom the beauty of God was shining, their outer appearance only casually obscuring the beauty of the Lord.
I would gain a new appreciation of the power and the grace of God displayed among us were I to give thanks for individual believers. If I, though a broken vessel, can become an instrument of God's grace, how much more should I appreciate the work of God in the life of others! As I give thanks for others, I discover that I see each, not as a person to fill the pew, but as a gift from the hand of God to enrich each of us.
The church is the Body of Christ and each of us are members of that Body. Redeemed by the infinite God, we obtain infinite worth because of His grace. Redeemed, we are gifted and placed within our particular congregation by God's Spirit. Not only are we gifted, but because of His divine work we are a gift to that congregation. Each of us, as we exercise the gifts God has given to us, builds the Body and glorifies God. Together, we see the power and grace of God revealed.
Were I to give thanks for each individual believer within the Body, I suggest that I would be better equipped to build fellow believers in the Faith. I would build my fellow believers because I would then be actively employed to encourage each to grow in grace and in knowledge of the mind of Christ. Appreciating my fellow saints because I appreciated God’s display of divine power and glorious grace through them, I would cease to focus on what I considered offensive in their life while concentrating on effective ministry to each one, employing the gifts God had entrusted to me.
You will perhaps recall the words which are recorded in 1 Corinthians 12:7. Listen to them once again. To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. This is a truth which has been neglected in this day. Writing later in the same letter to that delinquent congregation, Paul again emphasised, Now you are the Body of Christ. This is a point to be seized upon as vital for each believer. The Apostle then drives the point home for us … and each one of you is a part of it [1 Corinthians 12:27].
May I state without equivocation that if I were to give thanks for individual believers within the assembly I would be enabled to pray more effectively. Gratitude for the saints, gratitude for one another, is foundational to an effective prayer life. In fact, I recommend to you that it is impossible to ever hope to pray effectively until we have cultivated the attitude of gratitude to God for the gift of the individuals who share our Christian life. I commend to each of us the adoption of this precious spirit of thanksgiving for one another.
Prayer For Fellow Christians Should Be Regular. The second direction in developing an effective prayer life is the cultivation of regular times of prayer. We continually remember before our God and Father is the manner in which Paul introduces the issue of regular prayer. It is not that Paul is issuing a command, but that he is making a statement concerning his own practise and the practise of those men who shared in his ministry. Here he makes a statement concerning his priorities, modelling practical Christianity for the Thessalonians.
Take time to pray is the essence of the apostolic model; plan for prayer. Without doubt the hardest work any of us will ever pursue is the work of prayer, and for that reason we manage to put off the labour. We recognise intuitively that prayer demands discipline and we shy from such demands. Yet I contend that were we to prepare for prayer through planning to pray, we would discover that it is less a hardship to invest time in prayer than we at first supposed.
One of the silent heroes of the Bible is a man named Epaphras. His name is not well known to us, but what an example he provided the saints of Colosse! Near the conclusion of the Colossian letter Paul spoke of him, noting that he was always wrestling in prayer [Colossians 4:12] for them. Apparently this was a man who realised that prayer required effort; he was willing to labour in prayer, even agonising in prayer. Neither did Paul hesitate to challenge the Roman believers to join [him] in [his] struggle by praying to God [Romans 15:30]. The work of prayer united believers in a common battle against wickedness and in advancing the Gospel. Thus the Apostle spoke of uniting in struggle through prayer. Do you work at prayer? Or are you content to mumble a few pious phrases, calling that prayer? The question serves to challenge us to review our prayer. The church dies for lack of men and women willing to wrestle in prayer.
I suggest that for us as believers in these modern times one great deterrent to the development of a life of prayer is our failure to discipline ourselves to the act of prayer. It is not so much that we cannot pray, but it is rather that we do not pray. Are we truly so busy that we have no time to pray? Has the pace of our lives become so hectic that we have no time for prayer? If we believe this to be so we are too busy and in desperate need of rescheduling our lives to insure that our priorities are in accord with the will of God. Take time to pray.
Years ago a former student supplied me with a prayer notebook entitled the 2959 Plan. Followed faithfully it required 29 minutes and 59 seconds each day. The time was to be invested in prayer following a guided program. I do not suggest that we must time our prayers, such action would but engender pride, but a program of regular prayer has much to recommend itself to us in our busy lives.
I suggest that something akin to this program would prove profitable to us. We need not purchase fine printed notebooks in order to pray; it would be sufficient if each of us were to secure a spiral notebook, dividing it into eight divisions. The first division in our prayer book would be organised into matters for which we feel we should pray daily. On those pages we might list our spouse, our children, occupational concerns, our ministry and the general needs of our church and our personal ministry.
The following seven divisions could be labelled according to the days of the week and organised to direct us to pray: [1] for the salvation of lost friends, neighbours and acquaintances; [2] the spiritual growth and welfare of fellow believers; [3] the advance of sister churches in our town; [4] the missionary endeavour supported by our church; [5] special needs represented within our own congregation; [6] grace for national, provincial and municipal leaders; and [7] God's goodness toward those who persecute us. Thus organised, list specific concerns under the appropriate headings, noting the prayers offered and the means by which God answers your requests as you pray.
James notes that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective [James 5:16], but that righteous man must pray in order to unleash that effective power. The concept of a prayer notebook is but a tool to be employed in assisting in organising our prayer life so that we will practise regular prayer.
Prayer For Fellow Christians Should Focus On God's Accomplishments. I note that Paul reviews the life and ministry of the Thessalonians, focusing on the expression of God's effective work in their life as an assembly. He takes note of their work produced by faith of their labour prompted by love and of their endurance inspired by hope. How very different from the focus of many prayers in this day! Reviewing the ministry of a particular church, we are prone to see their gifts, the wealth they possess, the size and visibility on the major arterial roadways passing through our cities. We rejoice in the size of a church's physical plant, the beauties of their properties, the notoriety of their pulpit, and a thousand other aspects which in our eyes make churches great.
Paul could not speak of such things when he reviewed the ministry of the Thessalonians. Paul focused on something entirely different, quieter features easily neglected by too many in the crush of daily living. Paul saw the Spirit of God quietly, though effectively, at work among the impoverished believers of Thessalonica. He saw the impact of the Spirit through their actions, and he accordingly gave thanks for what God was doing through them.
Work produced by faith is suggestive to my mind, for the word work is singular. Some have supposed that the Thessalonian church had engaged in one great endeavour which Paul had learned of and which was the object of his commendation. I find that while the explanation is plausible it generates more questions than answers. I find rather than Paul took note of an energetic church life which was characterised by work.
It is true that faith is not quantitated by how busy we are; but neither is there any premium in laziness as an indicator of faith. While I do not say that we will be able to determine the quality of faith by how busy we are, I do say that faith will of necessity eventuate in lives which are busy! Faith is never passive; it is ever active, energetic and productive, always revealing itself through work. Just as the Spirit who called us to life is ever active, so it is that what we have believed is revealed through our lives.
In Paul's view, there is probably not much difference between work and labour. The former speaks of the expression of faith which characterises the whole of the Christian life whilst the latter speaks of the exertion, fatigue and exhaustion demanded by the labour … of love seen in the Christian life. The labour Paul saw among the Thessalonians was probably their persistence in evangelism despite opposition, their refusal to respond in kind to the hatred shown them by the pagans and by the religionists surrounding them, their insistence on worship despite the problems which such worship entailed. Love demands that we continue our race with eyes focused on the goal set before us. Love demands that we not lose heart despite opposition and difficulties.
Intimately associated with work and labour is endurance which arises out of hope. One of the surest evidences that an individual is a Christian is seen in what is required to cause that person to cease their service to Christ. A Christian will persevere in the Faith, because that believer is deeply in love with the Saviour. A Christian cannot cease being a Christian. I remember a young man who confessed Christ in a former congregation. He had found the Lord and now requested baptism. I visited the parents to speak of the young man's decision and to seek opportunity to speak with them concerning the Faith.
When I met the parents of that young man they were most gracious to me and pleased with the fact that their son had decided to join the church. They informed me that they had each been active in the church in years past. The father had been a Sunday School teacher for years, and the mother had been an elder in her church. Each had been a member of a major denominational congregation for years. But that was past them; they had done their time and now they were content to just stay at home. I was gracious but insistent that despite their avowals of faith they were not Christians. Faith is seen in work, love in labour, and hope in endurance; they had none of these graces.
When you pray for fellow saints, what do you mention before God? What aspects of the lives of fellow saints make the greatest impression on your mind? May I recommend that you focus on what God is doing in the life of others so that you may accurately recognise the work of God among us as a Body. Permit me to make a practical suggestion to aid in cultivating your prayer life. I recommend that you secure a copy of our church directory for the purpose of familiarising yourself with the names of those who share or who have shared in the services. Then cultivate the habit of praying individually for the names listed therein. Whether you work your way through the directory on a daily, a weekly or a monthly basis, pray for those whose names appear there, first giving thanks to God for the work He has performed in placing them among us. Give thanks to Him for each life – individually.
You can readily incorporate such a suggestion into the previous suggestion of employing a prayer notebook. I suggest that the practise will revolutionise your prayer life. Especially make mention of the manner in which God is demonstrating His power in the lives of fellow worshippers.
Now, permit me to conclude the message by reviewing what the Apostle has revealed of his own prayer life urging each listener to view his actions as a model for our own life of prayer. Our prayers should express gratitude for individuals. Moreover, our gratitude should focus on precisely why we are grateful by remembering God's accomplishments in those lives. Our prayers ought always to be regular, constant and consistent.
To assist us in developing lives characterised by prayer pleasing to God, I recommend that we invest in small spiral notebooks. These inexpensive books will become priceless to us as we transform them into tools to glorify God and to build the Body. In your notebook, organise the prayers you will offer so that you may guide your thoughts even on the busiest day imaginable. Enter in an appropriate place the answers God provides to the request you offer up to Him so that in the days to come you may give thanks to Him for what He does. In this way you will become a powerful servant of God, providing strength to the saints and serving to build the Body to the glory of God. Amen.